Industry Analyst Proposes QLED as Umbrella Term for All Quantum Dot Displays

QLED should be used generically as a term for the entire display industry, suggested Touch Display Research analyst Jennifer Colegrove in a Monday release. Samsung applied for the trademark "Samsung QLED TV" with the Patent and Trademark Office in 2016, but it indicated it wanted QLED to be seen as a generic term like OLED or LED when used with any TVs using quantum dots, Colegrove said. Quantum dot (including quantum rod and tetrapod-shaped quantum dot) is capable of improving liquid crystal display (LCD) dramatically in color gamut, color accuracy and power consumption, Colegrove said, calling quantum dot “one of the biggest breakthrough technologies for LCD” in recent years and one that could challenge AMOLED. In a timeline of quantum dot advances, Colegrove noted QD Vision and Sony brought quantum dot TVs to the market in 2013; Nanosys, 3M and Amazon brought the technology to tablets in 2013; and Samsung announced SUHD TV with quantum dot at CES 2015, commercializing it since. LG announced quantum dot TVs at CES 2015, but later scaled back those efforts as it ramped up OLED. In general, quantum dot has been a “hot topic” at CES from 2015-2017; at SID DisplayWeek from 2013-2017; and at IFA from 2014-2017, she said. In the early years, "QLED," "QDEL" and "QD-LED" were used in academic papers referencing electro-luminescent (EL) types of quantum dot, wherein an electric current applied to quantum dot material generates light. That approach is in the R&D phase, Colegrove said. Touch Display Research believes QLED should be an umbrella term for any quantum dot display. When the EL type quantum dot technology enters the market, which Touch Display Research forecasts for beyond 2019, the analyst suggests calling it "QLED EL type."