As the South Korea Vs China TV battle moves to a new level, a South Korean Company has taken a pot shot at TCL the world’s largest manufacture of TVs over their advertising of QD TVs.
Korean specialty chemicals and materials maker Hansol Chemical has filed a complaint with the local South Korean antitrust authorities claiming TCL is misleading consumers in their latest advertising.
The issue is whether the TCL TV’s that are stripping share away from South Korean TV manufacturers contain QD diodes in their TV’s.
Quantum dots are ultrafine crystals typically smaller than a few nanometres, made from semiconductor materials, and are used in displays to enhance colour range and vibrancy.
Hansol Chemical management has not said whether they were put up to make the claim, by either LG Electronics or Samsung whose market share in the large QD OLED market is coming under intense pressure from Chinese brands such as TCL and Hisense.
Hansol Chemical claim that TCL is falsely branding its liquid crystal display TVs as “QD TVs” they also claim that the TCL TVs contain no QD or quantum-dot materials that help enhance image quality, TCL has denied the claim and will fight the allegations.
The Korean Herald claims that Higher-priced QD-incorporated LCD TVs, also branded as “QLED TVs,” are considered premium TVs together with OLED or organic light-emitting diode TVs.
Recently TCL claimed the #3 spot in the QD OLED market, and this has the South Korean brands concerned.
Hansol, who is a key supplier to Samsung and LG, lodged their complaint with Korea’s Fair Trade Commission last week.
The Company has assembled evidence which they claim shows that TCL’s three “QD” TV models including the popular TCL 65″ C655 4K UHD QLED Google TV which is selling at JB Hi Fi for $1,095
along with the 75-inch C655 Pro and 65-inch C755 – did not have any indium or cadmium, the core elements needed in producing QD materials.
Currently 80 percent of all TVs sold globally are LCD TVs with South Korean Companies Samsung and LG teaming up to push OLED with Samsung now using LG Display panels in an effort to push OLED as the premium TV technology.
here are a few premium models that come with more expensive QD materials,” a Hansol official said. “Labelling LCD TVs without QD materials as ‘QD TVs’ can significantly damage consumer trust in the overall QLED market.”
TCL reportedly denied the allegation, saying it uses QD films containing cadmium for the TV models.
The biggest penalty that TCL would have to pay is that they will have to correct the advertising and pay a small payment to South Korean authorities.
In 2023, three researchers who discovered and developed the nanoparticles received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
