Last month we were surprised by LG's ultra-thin OLED display, but today is a good time to explore Samsung's territory and take a closer look at its developments. Like its competitor, the Korean TV giant has revealed two new 55-inch OLED displays: one completely transparent and the other with a mirror finish, opening a wide range of possibilities for the commercial environment and advanced augmented reality projects.
In general, buying a television is a decision that affects the user's life for several years. Unlike a smartphone or a laptop, the replacement cycle for a TV is much longer, though there are always dubious failures that make us think about planned obsolescence and other nefarious tactics (if your TV broke, check YouTube; the repair can be simple in many cases). 3D wasn't enough to conquer living rooms, and 4K content is still a bit far off, but manufacturers have had better luck incorporating Smart features, turning the historic boob tube into a much more flexible device.
Samsung's Mirror OLED Display
Now, the next step in the arms race is OLED technology, and the market titans don't seem to intend to hold back. LG shook the hornet's nest with its 0.9-millimeter screen, but today it's Samsung's turn, with two very particular OLED displays. Both have a size of 55 inches, a kind of standard that has been gradually establishing itself. However, the difference is that one has a mirror finish and the other is transparent. On the mirror display we find a reflectivity of 75 percent, which according to Samsung surpasses available mirrored LCDs by 50 percent, and also beats them in both contrast (over 100,000:1) and response time (below one millisecond).
Samsung's Transparent OLED Display
The transparent OLED display also has no trouble beating its direct competitors. Samsung reports a transparency of 40 percent, a notable increase over the 10 percent of transparent LCDs, and a color gamut of 100 percent NTSC. As expected, Samsung did not announce the cost of these displays, but it did admit that it is not viable (yet) for general consumption. Therefore, the company believes they will have better chances in the commercial realm when used as storefronts and virtual fitting rooms, or sales systems with applied augmented reality. This last part appeals to Intel's RealSense technology; however, we'll have to wait.
