Sony relaunching OLED TVs

Sony’s high-definition OLED television, which hits domestic stores next month, will mark a return after sales were halted in 2010. But instead of maintaining its fiercely independent streak, the Japanese group is enlisting the aid of South Korea’s LG Display this time around.

Good vibrations

The Bravia A1 series, which Sony said Monday will go on sale June 10, will carry a price tag of around 800,000 yen ($7,092) for the 65-inch model, while the 55-inch will go for about 500,000 yen. Not only does the organic light-emitting diode display generate realistic hues, it also doubles as a speaker. These sets do not come equipped with conventional speakers since the thin, bendable OLED layer is capable of emitting sound vibrations.

LG Electronics, sister company of Sony’s panel supplier LG Display, also produces its own OLED TVs. Japan’s Toshiba and Panasonic are rivals as well. “OLEDs will really take off this year,” said a source from a major Japanese electronics retailer.

Sony developed a prototype OLED TV in 2001 and launched the world’s first household model in 2007. But those 11-inch sets failed to attract buyers, and Sony suspended sales in 2010.

Around that time, a glut in global LCD supplies led to a drop in prices, sending TV segments across the board into the red. Sony withdrew from a joint panel operation with South Korea’s Samsung Electronics. The Japanese company’s TV business later underwent restructuring and a spinoff.

Sony merged its OLED panel business with Panasonic’s, and that unit is due to become a subsidiary of Japan Display later this year. Sony no longer has in-house panel technologies for consumer TVs.

The company is making a comeback to big-screen OLEDs because “the performance of the panels we can procure have reached a convincing level,” said Ichiro Takagi, executive vice president at Sony.

The group continued to develop professional-use TVs and advanced image processing technology even after suspending sales in 2010 in order to “be in a position to release a new model at any time,” said a Sony executive.