A couple of months ago, we speculated said that a fusion of 4K technology and OLED technology would be “the television equivalent of crossing the streams.” As beautiful as both technologies look, we can only imagine an intersection between them as Nirvana for the eyes, a state of sight left wanting nothing.
Today, Panasonic brought us one step closer to that transcendent state of viewing, with its announcement that it had developed a 4K OLED panel that also happens to be the largest ever made. The 56-incher in question outpaces the 55-inch models from Samsung and LG by a mere inch, but matches a similar 56-inch 4K OLED prototype Sony showed off on Monday.
Panasonic developed the panel using an RGB printing process that allows for the separate application of the red, green and blue OLED materials. This method is said to be simpler than traditional methods, and will likely allow for a wide variety of OLED screen sizes. In the past, OLED has translated easily to small-screen devices, like mobile phones and tablets, but manufacturers had faltered when trying to augment larger panels.
Buddha only knows what a television featuring this panel would cost, but similarly sized OLEDs have been priced at $12,000, while larger 4K sets have retailed for a whopping $25,000. Still, it’s probably only a matter of time before this tech makes its way down to a palatable price point and hence, into your living room. We can’t wait.
