BERLIN ― Samsung Electronics, Korea’s largest consumer electronics company, plans to begin mass producing next-generation organic light-emitting diode televisions in the fourth quarter of this year.

This is part of its plan to maintain the top position in the global TV industry, Yoon Boo-keun, president of the company’s consumer electronics division, said during a dinner with the Korean press Thursday.

The Korean tech giant has been the top TV producer over the past seven years. OLEDs are expected to further help the company make a second leap, while aiming to become the No. 1 in all consumer household appliances.

Earlier on Thursday, the CE chief said at a global press conference that Samsung was seeking to become the top globally in all consumer electronic products in three years.

The company will achieve this through “speed and change,” while focusing on the premium TV market, Yoon said.

He added that transparent displays will likely be the next emerging technology after OLEDs.

Samsung, meanwhile, downplayed the significance of LG Electronics’ 84-inch ultra-definition TV and strategic alliance with partners such as Qualcomm and Toshiba for smart TVs.

Yoon said the market was not yet ready as there is no content that can be “up-scaled” to fit on such big UD TVs.

Having “killer applications and quality content” are key to developing smart TVs, the CE head stressed.

By Park Hyong-ki, Korea Herald correspondent
(hkp@heraldcorp.com)