At previous CES events, Samsung touted “The Wall,” a massive Micro-LED TV made up of individual modules that requires a professional installer to assemble it and is aimed mostly at the commercial market. This year, it has taken “The Wall” concept to its line of Micro-LED TVs designed specifically for consumers, with new 88-, 99-, and 110-inch sizes. These models can be assembled and mounted without the help of professional installers.
Digital Trends’ Senior Editor Caleb Denison spoke with Mike Kadish, director of product marketing for Samsung, and Dan Schinasi, director of product planning for Samsung, about meeting consumer demands for both Micro-LED technology and size options.
“Previous versions of our Micro-LED ‘The Wall’ were directed primarily at the B2B customer,” says Kadish. “These [new] Micro-LED products are designed directly for the consumer in their home” and ready right out of the box.
Denison notes that he can picture the 110-inch display replacing devices like projectors, and that people are currently looking for bigger and bigger screens.
“Consumers continue to tell us and show us that bigger screens are what they want, Kadish said.
Due to the ongoing pandemic and quarantine, more consumers than ever are wanting a more theater-like experience with their TV setups, especially since many new movies are being released straight to streaming.
“A lot of the experiences people usually have outside of their home, they haven’t been able to,” Kadish said, adding that TVs above 75 inches are the fastest-growing segment of TVs.
While these new Samsung TVs do not have a built-in tuner, they have “more HDMI ports than any other TV that we sell,” says Schinasi. He added that they contain all the connectivity consumers want via the One Connect box, where they can make all their connections. The TVs can also display up to four devices at a time — so you can be gaming in one corner, watch football in another, and keep up with the news all at the same time.
Samsung is also unveiling the QLED NEO, a marked upgrade to traditional 4K and 8K TVs. While the older and newer sets both use self-emissive mini-LED technology, the NEO series boasts much smaller and more densely packed mini-LEDs, creating deep blacks and extreme brightness. Most importantly, the “halo effect” found on conventional QLED TVs is now negligible, and the TVs boost shadow detail like never before.
There are four series of QLED NEO TVs from Samsung, two of which will comprise its 4K flagship series and two in its flagship 8K series.
Instagram is making its way to yet another screen, and this time, Apple TV is getting a taste of the Reels rabbit hole. The company has launched a dedicated Instagram app for Apple TV, bringing Reels, longer videos, and live shows to the big screen. So, if watching one quick clip on a phone somehow turns into an hour of scrolling, there's now a much larger screen for that.
Instagram brings Reels and more to Apple TV
Audio-Technica, a brand well known for making some of the best studio and professional headphones on the market, has just come out with the ATH-AWX7000, which the company itself claims to be its "finest headphones ever." The new flagship closed-back headphone has debuted at an eye-watering price of $3,799. It combines hand-finished Japanese woodwork with a newly developed 58mm driver.
The earcups are made from Kiso cypress, a prized wood historically used for Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. Each housing is finished by hand with traditional Echizen lacquer, which brings out the grain and is expected to darken over time. The frame and sliders are finished in a deep navy kachi-iro shade traditionally associated with samurai.
This post is brought to you in paid partnership with Best Buy.
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