It might be too early to call, but it seems to me that the OLED TV market has finally emerged in the past few weeks. Production capacity is still extremely low, prices are very high and current curved screens are questionable, but both LG and Samsung have started shipping TVs in several markets and have even slashed prices as both see OLED as the future TV technology. It seems to me that there's no way back now and August 2013 marks the beginning of the OLED TV domination.

So first of all, let's view what's available today. Samsung are offering a single model, the KN55S9C 55" curved FHD direct-emission OLED TV. They are offering it in Korea (for $8,900), the US (for $8,999 - you can buy it online at Amazon.com), in several European countries (including Germany, France, Switzerland and Italy, for €7,999 - around $10,500), the UK (starting next week) and in Australia. In the beginning of August the S9C price in Korea was $13,000 - but Samsung quickly slashed the price by 34% to about $8,900.

LG are offering two models - the flat 55EM9700 and the curved 55EA9800. Both models feature the same WRGB Full-HD 55" panel (but of course the 55EA9800 is curved). LG is focused on the curved TV, offering it in Korea, the US (for $14,999) and in Germany (for €8,999). The flat EM9700 is currently on offer only in Korea and the UK . A few days ago it was reported that LG slashed the price of its OLED TVs in Korea - the curved one costs $9,800 while the flat one is $8,900. Price cuts are expected in the US soon.

Now that the OLED TVs are shipping, we are starting to see reviews on line. And reviewers simply love the new OLED TVs. First up were CNet with their review of Samsung's curved KN55S9C. The review was very positive - CNet says that the S9C offers the best picture quality ever, surpassing the best plasma and LED LCDs with no major downside (besides the curved panel). HDGuru posted a review comparing Samsung's and LG's curved OLEDs. They say that both TVs offers an image that is superior to any LCD or Plasma TV they ever tested. Forced to choose, they'd pick the Samsung TV which is brighter and suffers less from motion blur and dimming on test signals.

So OLED TVs are shipping, but prices are high and production capacity is low. It is estimated that currently the two Korean companies can only produce a few hundred TVs a month. LG already started to install equipment in their new $650 million M2 Gen-8 OLED TV fab that is expected to begin producing TVs in middle 2014. The monthly capacity will be around 50,000-100,000 55" panels a month. Samsung has yet to commit to a mass production fab, but I think that it won't be long before we hear of their plans. It is expected that LG's new fab will enable them to slash prices by around 50% and I'm sure Samsung will not sit idle while LG takes over the OLED TV market...

Want to learn more about the emerging OLED TV market? Read our OLED TV primer online, and check out our OLED Handbook (2013 edition) - the leading guide to OLED technology, industry and market.

In the past month several new OLED market reports were released. First of all comes DisplaySearch, with their forecast that in 2013 OLED will be the largest mobile phone display technology by revenue - taking 37% of the market. LTPS LCDs will account for 36% while a-Si LCDs will have 26%. DisplaySearch says that mobile phone display revenue will grow 55% in 2013 to $33.3 billion. This means that the AMOLED mobile display market alone will reach $12.3 billion in 2013.

Looking further into the future, DisplaySearch says that starting in 2014, most of the growth in the OLED material market will come from OLED TVs. They see only 10 million OLED TVs shipping in 2017(a low penetration rate) - but this will be enough to account for around 70% of the OLED material market (which will reach $3.4 billion in 2017). Read more about this interesting forecast here.

Another market that is starting to grab analyst attention is the flexible OLED market. This market is still nonexistent today, but according to iSuppli both Samsung and LG will start producing panels in 2013, generating around $20 million in revenue. The market will grow at a very fast rate - reaching $100 million in 2014, almost $4 billion in 2018 and almost $12 billion in 2020. Read more about iSuppli's flexible OLED market forecasts here.

Samsung acquired Novaled for €260 million (almost $350 million). This is a rather complicated deal as three Samsung companies will have a stake in Novaled: Samsung Electronics, Samsung's Cheil Industries and Samsung Ventures.

Read more about this deal and Novaled's newly published 2012 financial results here.

According to a new report from Korea, both LG Display and Samsung aim to start producing flexible OLED displays in November 2013. Production capacity will be low at first, but it is reported that both companies have high hopes for flexible displays, and if market reaction is good they will invest heavily in more production capacity.

Read more here about the current production capacity and what the two Korean companies plans are.

According to the Korea Times, a Samsung executive (mobile VP Lee Young-hee) confirmed that the company will launch two new products on September 4 - the Galaxy Note 3 and the smartwatch Samsung has been working on for some time (which some say will be called the Galaxy Gear).

Is expected that both new devices will sport OLED displays. The Galaxy Gear will probably sport a small PMOLED (a flexible OLED is not likely so soon) while the GN3 will probably have a 6-inch or so Super-AMOLED panel.

Read more about Samsung's upcoming new devices and their expected displays here.

The OLED-Info Facebook page has now over 2,500 fans (when I wrote this there were 2,595 likes). Thanks everyone for your support. If you're not a fan already, you can hop over to our Facebook page and become one now. You'll get OLED updates to your feed and can join he discussions. And show your support for OLED-Info, too ;-)

According to Visionox, the company started the construction of a new 5.5-Gen AMOLED mass production line - which is expected to start production in the 2nd half of 2014.

Read more about Visionox's upcoming AMOLED fab and the newly developed 3.5" flexible AMOLED.