Will micro-LED ever really replace OLED? The next-gen TV tech takes a blow as Samsung’s TV boss pulls back from investing in making it — it’s a bad sign, but will TCL and Hisense keep the flag flying?
- Samsung is reportedly scaling back micro-LED TV production
- High production costs are an ongoing problem
- Facing a double blow of stagnant demand and rising costs
This time last year, we were told that micro-LED would make OLED and LCD redundant as it became affordable in smaller panels — but it seems that Samsung didn’t get the memo. A new report says that it’s scaling back its micro-LED business.
The report, by ETNews via DigiTimes, says that Samsung is reducing its micro-LED TV manufacturing after previously making the TVs on an order-to-order basis. That production has apparently stopped, with Samsung also outsourcing processes such as panel manufacturing and bonding, which is had previous done internally.
It’s all about the numbers, it seems, and Samsung is having difficulty selling TVs that cost so much. According to ETNews’ sources, Samsung is only selling “around 100 units” per year.
Is Samsung getting out of the micro-LED TV business?
Not yet: the report says that Samsung is still handling final product assembly. But industry watchers believe that it’s the first step towards what could be a withdrawal from this part of the TV market unless things turn around.
Within the last year, Samsung introduced its Micro RGB LED TVs, which are a kind-of halfway house between micro-LED and mini-LED. These don’t have the same self-emissive pixels as a true micro-LED TV, but use the same kind of RGB LED arrange to replace a single-color mini-LED backlight behind an LCD panel.
The idea is to deliver visual improvements without the very high cost of true micro-LED and, according to DigiTimes, was seen as being a way to boost awareness and adoption of micro-LED technology.
Demand for new TVs has been relatively low in the last few years, and production costs are rising, which makes TV a tough business to be in right now — and Samsung is also dealing with very intense competition from rivals such as TCL and Hisense, as well as the upcoming Bravia TV partnership between TCL and Sony.
So what does this mean for micro-LED TV? It does help that TCL and Hisense are both also getting aggressive in this area. Samsung and Hisense have both shown off some very impressive TVs as recently as CES 2026, when Samsung showed off a clever 140-inch TV where the bezel was also a screen, while Hisense showed off micro-LED tech with extra colors built into each pixel (which will be released later in 2026).
But the technology is still some way from being mass market; earlier this year we reported that TV firms are telling us it’s five years away from being mainstream, and even that is among the more optimistic options.
If you’re hankering after a new TV, the tech in the current best TVs isn’t going to be usurped any time soon, except by more refined version of the same tech. Micro-LED TVs might yet have their time, but if Samsung isn’t holding its breath internally, then you probably shouldn’t either.
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