It has been revealed that the free warranty periods for organic light-emitting diode (OLED) TVs made by domestic companies such as Samsung and LG are all different.
Home appliance companies have free warranty policies that replace the OLED panel with a new one within a certain period if problems occur, to compensate for the drawback of OLED TVs, which experience burn-in (a phenomenon where after leaving the TV on for a long time, ghost images remain on the screen). LG Electronics, a leading company in OLED TVs, has set the free warranty period for these products at 2 years in Korea and up to 5 years in the United States and Europe. In Korea, customers who purchase many home appliances at once are registered as VIPs and the free warranty period is extended by one year from 2 years to 3 years.
In the US and Europe, free warranty can be extended up to 5 years for premium lines such as the Signature series among OLED TVs. Although the free warranty period was 1 year in the past, the 5-year free warranty policy was introduced in 2021 to attract customers in the US and Europe, where the OLED TV market is growing rapidly. LG Electronics explained that the difference in warranty periods between Korea and the US/Europe is due to different market environments in each country and varying service costs such as installation fees included when purchasing the product, making it inevitable to have different free warranty policies.
Samsung Electronics has set the free warranty period at 2 years in Korea and 1 year in the US. In Korea, panel replacement is free up to the second year, but from the third year, customers bear 5% of the panel cost, 10% in the fourth year, and more than 70% after the sixth year. Industry insiders believe that it was difficult for Samsung Electronics to take a different direction from LG Electronics’ free warranty policy, as LG leads the OLED TV market in Korea. Samsung Electronics focused on QLED TVs with LCD panels as its main product but diversified its lineup by producing TVs equipped with panels made by LG Display to expand its customer base.
On the other hand, the free warranty period for Samsung Electronics’ OLED TVs in the US market is short at 1 year. Compared to LG Electronics, which replaces panels free of charge for up to 5 years, the difference is significant. Samsung Electronics explained that since it basically applies a 1-year free warranty to home appliances sold in the US, it did not make a big distinction for OLED TVs. However, for its main product, the QLED TV, Samsung Electronics offers a 10-year free warranty for burn-in issues. This means that burn-in rarely occurs on QLED TVs.
The free warranty period for OLED TVs is important because of the burn-in phenomenon. Burn-in refers to the phenomenon where ghost images remain on the screen after leaving the TV on for a long time. Consumers file service requests when they notice shadows or stains on the screen. It is generally known that burn-in appears after about 3 to 5 years of TV ownership and after 5,000 hours of viewing time. With the emergence of gaming monitors equipped with OLED panels, there have been reports that gamers who use monitors for long hours hesitate to purchase due to burn-in concerns. Of course, manufacturers are working to solve the problem by incorporating ghost image prevention features based on various know-how such as material efficiency improvements and low-power technologies.
As the OLED TV market, led by Korean companies, grows, consumer interest in the free warranty period is bound to increase. Market research firm Omdia reported that global OLED TV shipments reached 2,390,200 units in the first half of this year. Despite the stagnant TV demand environment, Omdia forecasts that the OLED TV market share (by value) in the premium market will rise from 36.7% last year to 46.1% this year.
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