Samsung now selling 55-inch curved OLED in South Korea for $13,000

By Caleb Denison June 27, 2013

Samsung Curved OLED TV

Earlier today in South Korea, Samsung announced its 55-inch curved OLED TV is now available for the rather lofty price of 15 million Korean Won, or about $13,000 U.S. The announcement comes less than two months after LG touted it’s similarly-priced 55-inch model was available. So what does this mean for those of us outside Korea?

Considering that neither Samsung nor LG have brought their flat OLED TV’s stateside just yet, we think it’s safe to say we’ll be waiting a while for the curved version to make its way here. We were teased with an up-close look at LG’s OLED TV last July in Moncao, where LG seemed optimistic that it would be available in the U.S. soon. Then, at CES 2013, LG announced its OLED would be shipping in the U.S. by March. And while Samsung has been a little less specific with us in terms of when we could see its OLED come this way, it would appear it is still “testing the waters” in Korea before it allows its OLED TV’s to make their U.S. market debut.

While this may feel disappointing to those of us salivating from across the ocean, the wait may actually be a good thing. OLED manufacturing has proven to be tricky for both Samsung and LG, and we would hope that once the technology does make its way here it will make a strong showing.

OLED technology utilizes organic materials that generate light when charged with electricity. The result is a stunning picture with absolute blacks and incredible brightness. Another benefit to OLED is that it can be used in extremely thin and, as seen with the curved displays, flexible panels. The benefit to the curved design is meant to be an “IMAX-like” experience, where the sides of the image are equidistant to the viewers eyes as the center of the image. The wrap-around effect is intended to be more immersive.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Editor at Large

Digital Trends Editor at Large Caleb Denison is a sought-after writer, speaker, and television correspondent with unmatched…

Deals

65-inch Sony OLED TV is $700 off for Cyber Monday, and it’s selling fast

sony a80j oled tv deal best buy may 2022 4k feature

Even among Cyber Monday deals, it's fairly unusual to see a deep discount on any Sony TVs. Fortunately, we've spotted a fantastic one at Walmart. Right now, you can buy a Sony A80J 65-inch OLED 4K TV for $1,298 saving you $700 off the usual price of $1,998. Sure, this isn't impulse buy territory but if you've been looking through the Cyber Monday TV deals for something truly exceptional, this is it. A great TV in so many ways, it's likely to sell out fast so let's take a quick look at why it's worth the money.

Why you should buy the Sony A80J 65-inch OLED 4K TV
Sony is one of the best TV brands around so you know you're onto a good thing with the Sony XR65A80J 65-inch OLED 4K TV. With the Sony A80J 65-inch OLED 4K TV, you get a truly premium OLED picture. Thanks to how OLED works, each pixel is self-lit so that blacks stay as deep as they need to be while colors elsewhere on-screen light up as needed. Thanks to some smart technology, the Sony A80J 65-inch OLED 4K TV has a Cognitive Processor XR which optimizes thousands of on-screen elements simultaneously so you get a truly lifelike picture. Additionally, there's XR Triluminos Pro which formulates billions of accurate colors so you get picture quality that is natural and beautiful to look at.

Audio / Video

Samsung S95B vs. Sony A95K QD-OLED battle: we all win

Samsung S95B OLED TV with image of a bright flower on screen.

There are two QD-OLED TVs you can buy in 2022 — the Samsung S95B and the Sony A95K. Both use the same new quantum dot-infused OLED panel technology, and they both put out excellent picture quality. But the similarities end there. Everything from design, to sound quality, to gaming features and the price is significantly different.

Read on to see how two of the best TVs of 2022 stack up when directly compared to each other.
Video review

Audio / Video

LG’s 42-inch LX3 OLED TV can bend when you want it to

LG OLED Flex LX3 curved television.

Is it a TV? Is it a gaming monitor? Something different altogether? The answer is "Yes," when it comes to the newly announced LG OLED Flex (aka the LX3, if you're the sort who cares about model numbers) — a 42-inch OLED screen that can be viewed flat, like a traditional television, or curved, a la a newfangled gaming monitor.

The bend can hit a maximum of 900R (that's a measurement of how much things bend in terms of the radius in millimeters), which means it's likely a little less than the curvature of gaming monitors you've already seen, but definitely way more than any television you've got in your home currently.