At CES 2024, LG and Samsung both debuted big screen transparent TVs. These TVs are like something out of science fiction, and when they are off, they look like they’re not even there.
While transparent TVs look futuristic, they are actually an evolution in TV tech, not something entirely revolutionary. The core technologies of all the transparent TVs shown at CES are versions of that company’s TV tech. For example, LG’s transparent TV is OLED, and Samsung’s is micro-LED.
So will your next TV be transparent? Almost certainly not. While neither company is talking about prices, these will be costly. No surprises there, since these are first generation technologies. We can look to Xiaomi’s $7,200 55-inch transparent TV for some hints. Is $10,000 for LG’s 77-inch possible? For sure, but probably even more.
It’s unlikely transparent TVs will ever look as good as a non-transparent TV. Maybe that’s fine if that’s what you want in a TV, but given the assumed price premium, most people will probably feel it’s not worth it. For most situations, the transparent aspect will be a neat trick for the occasional party, but it will stay in nontransparent mode most of the time. If that’s the case, is the extra cost worth it? New OLEDs like the LG G4 and C4 will likely look a whole lot better and for a whole lot less.
Transparent TVs are likely to find more practical uses
While undeniably cool as a futuristic statement piece in your house, transparent TVs are likely to find more practical uses elsewhere. For example, store windows that let you see inside and show you prices and ads.
Windows that can let you see outside while showing a stock ticker, weather highlights, emails and ads, or the glass in a stadium’s box seats, but also see scores and highlights on a transparent screen.
On the consumer side, LG even has a prototype tube/speaker combo mounted inside a transparent TV.
What transparent TVs actually do is expand the number of places you can display information, and yes that includes more places to display ads. So it goes.
That ability to make money is what’s going to accelerate their acceptance, which will drive down the cost of the technology. That will make them even more accessible, and potentially end up in your home… just perhaps not as your main TV.