Although among the best performing, Samsung QD-OLED TVs are not selling so well

Samsung unveiled its new QD-OLED TV offering last year, with representatives such as the Samsung S95B impressing with both the sleekness and elegance of the design, but more importantly the quality of the picture displayed. However, sales didn’t go so well for the South Korean manufacturer.

According to the explanation found by specialists of the Omdia analysis company, the lower than expected sales are not so much the result of buyers’ hesitation at the price starting at 8200 Lei, asked in Romanian stores for the 65-inch model, as a consequence of Samsung’s inability to produce the new OLED TVs in sufficient numbers.

Specifically, the South Koreans faced early 2022 defect rates on assembly lines well above the predicted limits. The solution found by Samsung DX (the company’s TV division) was to postpone the launch of the S95B series for smaller markets. Even though the success rate in manufacturing QD-OLED panels passed 80% as of July 2022, it was too late to make up for the missed sales in the first part of the year.

So while Samsung hoped to ship over 600,000 QD-OLED TVs in 2022, sales barely passed 350,000 units. Counting sales of the Sony A95K, a series also equipped with Samsung-supplied OLED panels, shipments still haven’t passed 440,000 units.

The good news is that the growing success rate of QD-OLED displays will be reflected in the price lists, with successive cheapening inevitably leading to the “retirement” of the old LCD solutions.