This year, LG introduced its cheapest ever OLED TV, the A1, and has kept the price of its blockbuster LG C1 TVs in an affordable place since its launch, especially for the smaller 48-inch model. That's thanks to LG Display's new production facility in China, which has reduced the cost by 13-14% according to a report from DSCC (via FlatPanelsHD (opens in new tab)) – and the prediction from DSCC is that 65-inch models should see the same kind of cost reduction in the future.
That's great news, because while the prices of 48-inch and 55-inch OLED TVs have become much more tempting this year, at 65-inch sizes they remain a big step up in investment. Lots of the best TVs overall are OLED models, but they're big money compared to some of the excellent LCD TVs you can find in our list of the best 65-inch TVs.
LG Display makes the panels in every OLED TV currently available, so its panel costs matter far outside of its own TVs. As the manufacturing costs there come down, every OLED TV maker can potentially benefit, either by adding more features at the same price, or passing the savings on (assuming that these savings aren't wiped out by other manufacturing problems, which is definitely a problem these days).
The new production systems that enabled the creation of 48-inch and 83-inch panels will soon mean that the first 97-inch OLED panels will become available too – just in case the idea of waiting for a cheaper 65-inch model didn't feel luxury enough for you.
As FlatPanelsHD also notes, the DSCC says that total OLED TV panel production in 2021 is expected to be around 7 million, which is a huge increase over the 4.4 million produced in 2020. This is also likely a factor in the cost coming down, because economies of scale mean that the more you make of something, the cheaper you can produce it.
Together, it all hopefully spells great news for 2022's models – but with LCD prices also in the middle of a price drop that's expected to continue, we could be about to witness a TV price war, and that can only be good news for finding the best TV deals.
