Sony promises 27in OLED screen

27in display within 12 months

By James Sherwood • Get more from this author

29th May 2008 12:01 GMT

Sony has revealed plans to launch a 27in OLED screen within 12 months, but the bad news is that it’ll be expensive.

Speaking at a US conference, Howard Stringer, the electronics giant’s CEO, said that by May 2009 Sony “will come out with a 27in version”. Stringer didn’t reveal where the set would appear first or how much it would cost, but, unsurprisingly, he admitted that such a large size OLED would be “expensive”.

By contrast, Sony’s 11in XEL-1 OLED currently costs around $2500 (£1250/€1600). That’s despite a leading analyst firm’s recent tests on the screen confirming that its lifespan is only around half that of what Sony claims it to be.

Sony demonstrated a prototype 27in OLED back in January, which boasted a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio and 1080p resolution.

The larger screen size production is undoubtedly the beginning of Sony's ¥22bn (£105m/€140m/$205m) ongoing investment into OLED, which it announced earlier this year.