The industrialization process of OLED TV is slow and it will be difficult to popularize it within three to four years.

This year is the breakthrough year of 4K LCD TV and the exploration year of OLED TV. During the press conference of Hisense ULED TV on the 27th, Liu Hongxin, general manager of Hisense Electric (600060.SH), told a reporter from China Business News that due to the impact of yield and cost, the industrialization process of OLED TV is slower than expected and will be difficult to popularize in the next three or four years. Therefore, Hisense will focus on the optimization and upgrading of 4K LCD TVs in the next three years.

ULED is essentially an LED backlight image processing technology that optimizes image quality through multi-zone independent backlight control. Hisense has applied ULED technology to 4K (ultra high definition) LCD TVs, making the picture quality of 4K LCD TVs close to that of OLED TVs, but the cost is much lower than OLED TVs.

Liu Hongxin said that Hisense's 65-inch 4K ULED TV is less than half the price of the 55-inch OLED TV currently on the market. The price of a 55-inch OLED TV can buy four 55-inch ULED TVs. "We have defeated the OLEDs of international brands with good cost performance."

LG and Samsung will launch more OLED TVs in the Chinese market this year; among domestic brands, Skyworth announced last week that the first batch of mass-produced 55-inch OLED TVs has been launched in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen. Whether Hisense will promote OLED TVs or not, Liu Hongxin said, "it still depends on the market conditions."

He is not optimistic about the prospects of OLED TV: it will be difficult to popularize it in the next three to four years, and 4K OLED TV will be even slower to come to market. Research organization Display Search has recently lowered its global OLED TV sales forecast for this year from 250,000 units to 100,000 units.

The 4K LCD TV is ushering in a period of popularity. Data from CMM shows that the sales penetration rate of domestic 4K TVs in the first quarter of this year was 8.5% and will reach 25% by the end of this year. The sales share of 4K LCD TVs in the domestic color TV market will reach 40% by the end of the year.

In terms of hardware, there is a "stuck position" between 4K LCD and OLED. In terms of software, Hisense is laying out "entry value". Hisense announced last week that it is cooperating with 11 video websites including Future TV, iQiyi PPS, Phoenix Video, Kuliu, LeTV, Lekan, PPTV, Sohu Video, Tencent Video, Youku Tudou, and Youpeng to build a "gather good" entertainment content platform.