In a world first LG's latest stunning OLED display is also the speaker system

By Matthew Griffin Industrial Revolution 22nd August 2022

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF

By embedding the speaker system into the display LG’s new display makes it easier to turn every surface into a speaker system.

Love the Exponential Future? Join our XPotential Community, subscribe to the podcast, future proof yourself with courses from XPotential University, read about exponential tech and trends, connect, watch a keynote, or browse my blog.

A while ago LG unveiled a new display that had the speaker system embedded into the display itself, then they showed off a rollable TV that actually was a “speaker” – until it unfurled. And now as part of its sizable presence at the K-Display 2022 expo this week the company revealed a 97-inch OLED TV panel that not only promises a brighter big screen viewing experience, but also uses the surface of the display as a huge sound system.

New glasses will beam augmented and virtual reality directly into your eyes

The extra large panel making its Korean debut is built around OLED EX technology that LG Display announced last year, where the hydrogen elements in the OLEDs have been replaced with Deuterium, a stable isotope of hydrogen, and mixed with the company’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms to boost screen brightness by up to 30 percent. The technology is already finding its way into Philips and LG models, but the television being presented at K-Display 2022 is pitched as the biggest OLED panel ever made.

The giant 97 inch OLED EX TV with literal built in sound. Courtesy: LG

In addition to delivering “realistic colors, fine details and the perfect black,” the expansive TV also boasts a new technology known as “Film CSO,” short for Cinematic Sound OLED, that essentially uses the display panel as a loudspeaker, and it’s a nifty breakthrough that one day could be embedded into all kinds of other flexible or even sci fi like atom thin display systems.

While Sony has been all over this kind of thing for years LG Display says that its iteration embeds a 5.1 channel sound system in the widescreen panel to create “a performance that offers a cinematic level of immersion.”

These bacteria eat plastic waste and turn it into useful products

Precisely how a vibrating flat panel can envelop listeners in the kind of surround sound experienced in movie theaters hasn’t been revealed at this point, but perhaps using some clever spatial audio magic, but being liberated from multiple speakers dotted around the home theater or living room is certainly something to look forward to.

Also on show at the Korea Display Industry Association’s biggest exhibition are the company’s latest transparent OLED panels, including an installation of 16 tiled screens that demonstrates the technologies potential for displaying digital artwork or commercial videos, which will likely translate to advertisements in the real world.

Roborace's fully autonomous race car prepares to pound the track at FoS

Other highlights include a huge glass wall designed to transform boardroom presentations, a 34 inch curved automotive display that’s said to be the largest of its kind, and a 17 inch foldable laptop. Product release schedules have not been revealed at this time.

Source: LG Display

Matthew Griffin / About Author

Described by NASA as a "Walking Encyclopaedia of the Future" and one of the world’s most in demand keynote speakers Matthew Griffin, Founder and Futurist in Chief of the 311 Institute, a global Futures and Deep Futures advisory firm, is a multi-award winning Futurist and strategic foresight expert, author, lecturer, mentor, podcast and YouTube host.

With a distinguished career running global business units at Atos, EMC, and IBM today Matthew helps leaders and titans of industry from all over the world explore the impact of the inter sections of technology, culture, and leadership, then helps them create high performance organisations that can continuously disrupt, outpace, and outthink their competition.

15 times author of the hit series the Codex of the Future series Matthew's ability to identify, track, and explain the impacts of hundreds of emerging technologies and trends on global business, culture, and society has earned him a powerful reputation and a roster of clients that include royal households, world leaders across the G7, G20, and G77, and many of the world's most recognised and exceptional organisations including ABB, Accenture, ABN Amro, Adidas, AON, ARM, BCG, Centrica, Citi Group, Coca Cola, Deloitte, Dentons, Disney, Dow, EY, Google, KPMG, Lego, Microsoft, Legal & General, LinkedIn, Nokia, Paramount, PepsiCo, PWC, Qualcomm, RWE, Samsung, T-Mobile, UBS, Visa, WIRED, WPP and hundreds of others.

Matthew is regularly featured in the global media including the AP, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Discovery, Forbes, Khaleej Times, Telegraph, TIME, ViacomCBS, WIRED, and the WSJ, and his mission is to help organisations create a fair and sustainable future whose benefits are shared by everyone irrespective of their ability, background, or circumstances.