Samsung’s new 105-inch curved Ultra HD LED TV is coming to Australia. That’s the big news from today’s IFA 2014 press conference, where company big-wigs talked about Samsung’s mission to make curved TVs the next big thing in households around the world. LG is on board as well, with its own line-up of curved TVs on show here in Berlin.
Samsung also showed off a flexible Ultra HD LED TV, using the same ultra-wide 5160×2160 pixel resolution as the 105-incher. The flexible set, though, can change from curved to flat in the space of a few seconds. Not one to be outdone by its larger Korean counterpart, LG’s flexible 4K OLED is the most technically accomplished panel on display at IFA 2014, which opens to the public tomorrow morning. In any case, both companies are pushing curved as an important evolution in the quality of TVs, despite a scarcity of evidence that it makes a noticeable difference unlike the technical advancement from LCD to OLED, for example.
Keeping that curved ecosystem growing, Samsung showed off a complementary curved soundbar, which will also be available alongside the 105-inch TV sometime later this year. Prices, of course, aren’t confirmed, but expect them to be extremely high, as they were with the launch of flat Ultra HD TVs two years ago. At its press conference, Samsung execs waxed lyrical about the supposed advantages of curved displays versus boring ol’ flat-screen TVs, talking up the immersiveness and its much-touted 4.2-metre radius curvature, supposedly the “perfect” shape for a TV mimicking the human eyeball.
To be honest, I quite enjoy watching my good ol’-fashioned flatscreen. A sceptical mind would suggest that both companies are looking for a reason to push existing recent buyers of LCD and plasma and LED TVs to upgrade again, with televisions which are clearly physically different rather than differentiating themselves only with newer software features and more advanced LCD and backlighting technology. Either way, if you believe Samsung and LG, curved TVs are here to stay.