(image: Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Oct. 16 (Korea Bizwire) — Samsung Electronics Co.’s latest aggressive marketing tactic against rival LG Electronics Co. in the high-end TV field appears to be part of its efforts to get ahead in the consumer electronics sector.
Samsung Electronics has been at the forefront of liquid crystal display (LCD) TV technology that has helped it become the biggest selling TV brand in the world. But LG Electronics has led in organic light-emitting diode (OLED) TV technology in the ultra-high-definition market.
Samsung Electronics recently came up with the term “QLED,” a marketing acronym created by the electronics giant for its high-end liquid crystal display (LCD) TVs that use quantum-dot technology. Quantum-dot sets are an improvement on existing LCD technology, which the majority of TVs on the market use.
The move comes after Samsung Electronics posted an operating profit of 700 billion won (US$620 million) in the consumer electronics division, including the TV business, for the January-June period. During the same period, LG Electronics reported an operating profit of 720 billion won in its TV business alone.
In a move to promote its QLED technology, Samsung conducted a comparison test between its QN55Q7F TV and LG’s OLED55B7K TV in a 103-second-long video uploaded to YouTube last month under the title “QLED vs OLED: The 12-Hour Image Retention Test.”
After having six professional gamers play games for 12 hours in turns, Samsung claimed, “Image retention has not appeared” on its QLED TV.
“It was a display comparison test. It was simply aimed at delivering information about TV displays to customers. We just mentioned the product name (of the competitor),” a Samsung Electronics spokesman said over the phone.
LG Electronics has not issued any official statement regarding the test.
The test appears to be in line with the electronics giant’s previous attempts or marketing activities to promote its smartphones — the Galaxy S6 Edge and Galaxy Note 4 — in comparison tests with Apple’s iPhone.
OLED stands for organic light-emitting diode, a very different way of creating a picture. LG is the only company that produces large panel OLEDs for TVs. OLED TV makers such as Philips, Panasonic and Sony use LG’s panels.
(Yonhap)
