The market for affordable TV sets with organic light-emitting diode (OLED) screens has been pretty one-sided in recent years. If you don't want an LG TV, there aren't too many options on store shelves. LG is essentially the only company that offers fairly inexpensive TVs with the perfect blacks, vivid colors, and low power consumption of OLED screens.
That's about to change, though. Samsung (SSNL.F +115.99%) is shaking things up by launching a new, lower-cost line of OLED TVs known as the S90C family. Well, technically, Samsung launched two new lines of OLED TV sets, but the S95C series is another top-of-the-line offering at an ultrapremium price.
But that's just Samsung's old hunting ground and not the most interesting idea on the table. Let me show you why I care much more about the lower-priced option.
Two Samsung TV sets with an S95C on the left and S90C on the right. That's obvious, right? Image source: Samsung.
What's new?
In screen sizes ranging from 55 inches to a wall-covering 77 inches, the midrange S90C lineup shares many features and specifications with its pricier cousin, the S95C sets. Both series come with a 4K image resolution and a gamer-friendly refresh rate of 144 Hz. Their image controllers are the same, a so-called Neural Quantum processor that applies machine-learning analysis to the video stream in order to optimize the color depth and sharpness on the screen.
In other words, the viewing experience is managed by artificial intelligence (AI) tools. You'll also find support for Dolby Atmos surround sound across both of these product lines.
So far, so good -- the S90C is matching the S95C option, blow for blow. Any of Samsung's new OLED sets certainly blows my old living room workhorse out of the water, offering a premium viewing experience for all but the most discerning media connoisseurs.
But there are also some serious differences, aimed at the most demanding viewers.
The color gamut on the flagship series is certified by Pantone, and the screen takes advantage of Advanced Micro Devices' FreeSync frame rate controls when the incoming signal comes from a compatible AMD graphics card. It also comes with a more advanced connector box and a full-featured object-tracking sound (OTS) system. These features are not included in the S90C TVs.
So you'll miss a few high-end features in exchange for a significant discount. The price difference between the 55-inch versions of the Samsung S90C and S95C TVs is $600 and the 77-inch models stand $900 apart. The lower-end devices match the prices of LG's similar-sized bestseller, the C3 series, at $1,900 for the 55-inch screen and $3,600 for a 77-incher.
Most consumers will probably shrug at the Pantone certification and FreeSync support, happily saving a few hundred dollars with the lower-end option.
When the titans at the top are wrestling, the whole TV market will shake. Samsung's move into a lower-priced segment of the OLED-TV market could motivate widespread price drops at OLED-TV leader LG and smaller brands. Cost-sensitive consumers should have a wide range of more affordable OLED television sets to choose from in this year's holiday-shopping season.
OTC: SSNL.F
Key Data Points
The big winner of a possible OLED-TV price war
This is where the investor in me steps back to tell you about Universal Display (OLED +1.44%).
This is the company that develops, fine tunes, and supports the OLED technology used in these TVs. LG and Samsung are Universal Display's largest and oldest panel-building partners, so anything that makes these screens more affordable and appealing to the mainstream market is going to be good news for Universal Display.
The more OLED TVs that are sold, the more Universal Display stands to benefit. The company charges patent royalties based on the total area of OLED screens leaving Samsung's and LG Display's (LPL 2.34%) factories on the way to store shelves. OLED screens are already commonplace in smartphones, but one 55-inch TV panel adds as much to Universal Display's revenue stream as roughly 64 of Apple's biggest, baddest iPhone 14 Pro MAX phones.
In other words, the mass-market big-screen OLED TVs that Samsung and LG are offering should drive significant top- and bottom-line growth for this company.
NASDAQ: OLED
Key Data Points
How to invest in Samsung's mainstream market move
I know what you're thinking. These new TVs may be great for consumers and for Universal Display's bottom line, but what about investors?
Well, it's true that the stock isn't cheap, trading at 32 times earnings and 11 times sales. However, Universal Display is something as rare as an ultraprofitable company with double-digit percentage growth of revenues and earnings, even in the middle of an inflation-based economic crisis.
I have recommended this stock many times before and am doing it again today. If big-screen OLED television sets are about to go mainstream in a big way, you probably want to own Universal Display stock when that sea change happens.
Samsung's new TVs will push OLED sets deeper into mass-market territory, and nobody will benefit more from that move than Universal Display. Somebody at the company's New Jersey headquarters should send a couple of fruit baskets to Seoul, South Korea, to thank the two Korean tech titans for supporting Universal Display's growth plans.
