LG Drops OLED TV Price to Sub $10K

LG’s out-of-this-world OLED TV, the 55EA9800, is now for sale in more stores for less.

The Korean company that’s overtaken Samsung and Sony for its range of cutting-edge eye candy has improved distribution to stores nationally, expanding from the Noel Leeming chain to Harvey Norman and others.

At the same time, it’s dropped the price of the curved 55-inch display from $17,000, which it was released for in November, to $9999.

That’s fantastic news if you’re looking to buy a TV and are prepared to pay a not-quite-so ridiculous price for premium quality.

I had a few quibbles about some aspects of the first large OLED TV to market in the country but none that stop it from being a superior viewing experience to LED or plasma.

Hopefully the dramatic price drop bodes well for the affordability of LG’s 2014 OLED range, which will include its first 4K models.

LG attributes the repricing to improved manufacturing processes and cranking up its OLED production.

Even so, pundits predict it will be years before OLED goes mainstream because of the tech’s high sticker price.

The 55EA9800’s price cut is dramatic but still it costs $4K more than Panasonic’s top-of-the-range 65-inch plasma and is the same as Sony’s flagship 65-inch 4K TV, both of which offer more screen real estate and a picture quality only purists would quibble over.