According to reports from Korea, Samsung Display recently approached AU Optronics with a request to develop a 12.7" microLED LTPS TFT backplane to be used in Samsung's MicroLED TVs.
These new backplanes will be used in Samsung's 2022 microLED TVs. This will be a change from Samsung's current microLED TVs that use printed circuit boards (PCBs), and will allow Samsung to release TVs with higher pixel densities, and thus enable smaller 4K TVs. According to the report, Samsung's plan is to launch 89-inch, 101-inch and 114-inch LTPS-based microLED TVs in 2022.
The reports suggests that Samsung's goal is to acquire these 12.7-inch backplanes at around $70-$80 per unit. But actual costs could be around double due to low production yields (as the TFT production is complicated and requires double the masks compared to OLED backplanes).
A single 89-inch MicroLED TV will require 49 12.7-inch backplanes (7x7) - so just the cost of the backplane is expected to reach around $7,000 USD.
Last month we reported that Samsung scrapped its plan to release 77-inch microLED TVs in 2022 as these will be too expensive.