LG Electronics announced its latest microLED ultra-large display, the MAGNIT Active Micro LED. This is the company's first microLED display that is based on an LTPS backplane (rather than a PCB one). The company says that these new displays offer increased image clarity, contrast and depth.
LG's new MAGNIT displays are now available in Korea. While these are tiled displays, it seems that LGE is offering a single size - 136" with a 4K (3840x216) resolution and a 144Hz refresh rate. The new displays are powered by LG's 6-Gen α9 AI Processor and its WebOS platform, and include built-in 100 Watt speakers and enhanced Audio Return Channel (eARC) for lossless playback of high-quality audio. Finally, LGE says that the new microLED displays received a Color Consistency Wide Viewing certification from TÜV Rheinland.
A few months ago we reported that LG Electronics has started to collaborate with LG Display towards LTPS microLED displays. It's great to see that the two companies are now commercializing these displays.
LG Electronics has been producing tiled microLED displays (branded as MAGNIT displays) for many years, utilizing its own technology based on PCB backplanes.
LG Display has been developing its own tiled microLED technologies, and it is now reported that the two companies are collaborating to bring LTPS-based microLED tiles to LG Electronics' signage. This is not a surprise, as in general we see a shift from PCB backplanes to LTPS backplanes for large-area signage microLED displays, as these offer higher performance, and a simplified circuit design.
LG Display is developing 22.3-inch microLED modules, based on 50 micron LED chips. LG Electronics will connect 32 such units to create 130-inch signage displays. There is no timeline for this project, as the overall signage market for premium microLED displays is still small and LG Electronics is in no rush to introduce new displays.
Last year LG Electronics announced a strategic plan to focus on its Business Solutions division, and for its commercial and signage displays, it will focus on premium fine-pitch LED displays, which include its microLED MAGNIT models. Indeed LG says that "MAGNIT Micro LED display will be at the forefront of this expansion". The company reveals that its annual MAGNIT sales grew almost 2X since introducing them in 2020 (though sales are still likely very low). It is likely that indeed LG Electronics sees microLED displays as the future of signage - but it is still not a near-future project.
LG is currently shipping a variety of PCB microLED tiled display solutions, , supporting several possible pixel pitches, including 0.68, 0.78, 0.94 and 1.25 mm - and also 1.5 mm pixel pitch, for larger displays. Its latest display was released in September 2023: a 118-inch 4K 120Hz LG MAGNIT (0.6 mm pixel pitch), targeting residential applications. The price tag is $237,000. It will be interesting to see whether LGE will continue to utilize both PCB and LTPS backplanes, or whether it will focus solely on LTPS from now on (which is more likely).
