It’s no secret that Samsung and LG have been strong rivals for over 50 years. Their rivalry has often gone public with both companies making accusations of one another throughout the years. However, earlier this month at IFA in Berlin, both companies debuted their new products, including new 8K TVs. However, according to LG, Samsung’s 8K TVs don’t live up to the standards set for this technology, as the Korean Herald reported.
LG’s new 8K resolution-boosting TVs are finally coming out in the U.S., UK, Australia, Germany and France a year after their announcement. The new LG 8K OLED boasts an 88-inch screen diagonal, but there’s also a smaller 75-inch LG 8K Nanocell to make it to consumer’s homes. LG is proud of the new technology that delivers four times the number of resolution of standard 4K TVs, as well as 16 times for the standard Full HD TVs.
LG’s TVs use the cutting-edge a9 Gen 2 8K processor designed by LG, as well as support for HDR, Dolby Vision and HLG Format. Additionally, they come with Apple Airplay 2 and HomeKit support. They deliver a better value that they believe is much more advanced compared to its neighboring rival, Samsung.
During the IFA event in Berlin, Germany, LG made assertions over the quality of Samsung’s 8K TVs, calling the Korea-based tech giant out for the first time officially.
“We believe Samsung’s 8K TV is not really 8K,” Park Hyoung-sei, executive vice president at LG Electronics TV Business Operation Center said as per The Korean Herald earlier this month. “Consumers need to know the truth and know what value they are getting for the price they pay.”
LG claims that Samsung’s 8K only boasts the 4K picture quality, making a poor difference in luminance between white and black colors. The company said that Samsung’s 75-inch QLED 8K TV shows only a 13 percent horizontal CM level while LG’s 75-inch NanoCell 8K TV shows 90 percent, referencing the global institution VDE’s comparison test from June 27.
Another of the accusations includes LG saying that Samsung’s novel application of viewing angles compromised the CM levels, as the models from 2018 reached the 90 percent mark for CM levels.
The Korean publication further reports that LG also challenged Samsung to reveal the number of sheets used on the backlight panel used in 8K TVs, comparing Samsung’s QLED 8K TV to OLED 4K TV. The company also used a comparison of a video of stars, comparing how they’re brighter and more prominent on one TV compared to the other.
Samsung has responded to these claims by hosting a separate press conference, in which it stressed that CM levels are not the only valid measurements of picture quality.
As evidence, the Seoul-based tech giant showed a report by ICDM in 2016 which said: “New display technologies (pixel layouts) make the current measurements and calculation of display resolution incomplete. Care should be taken when interpreting the results. New resolution methods should be added.”
“With the appearance of displays with new technologies — especially 8K — CM no longer represents the overall picture quality,” Yong Seok-woo, vice president of Samsung’s visual display business, said at the press conference, citing the document. “Brightness, color volume and other optical factors and processing technologies should be considered.”
The company also made comparisons between LG’s OLED 8K TV and Samsung’s QLED 8K TV. Samsung’s TV outperformed LG’s, as it showed letters much clearer compared to its rival.
Samsung and LG not only are the leading tech giants in Korea but also in the world. During the second quarter of this year, Samsung managed to maintain 31.5% of market share in the global TV market, holding 53.9% in the market of TVs larger than 75-inches.
