Sharp, which recently returned to the U.S. TV market after an eight-year absence, has rolled out the first smart TVs to use high-end OLED display technology.
The 55- and 65-inch 4K/HDR10 models, which are available on store shelves now for $1,500 and $2,000 respectively, carry Sharp's "Aquious" sub-branding and feature Dolby Vision IQ and Dolby Atmos tech. (You can read Sharp's product announcement here.)
They're the first sets based on organic light-emitting diode display technology, and not LCD, to be powered by the Roku OS in the nearly decade-old Roku TV program. (Roku OEM partners including TCL and Hisense, as well as Roku itself, have made Roku sets using "quantum dot LED" tech, or "QLED" as it's known, but that is actually classified as a form of LCD.)
OLED technology is featured in the high-end models of Korean manufacturers including Samsung and LG, as well as Japan's Sony Corp. In fact, The Verge speculates that the Sharp Aquious panels are probably made by LG.
As for Sharp, the venerable Japanese electronics brand is now majority-owned by Taiwan's Foxconn. The company made a return of sorts to the North American TV market last year, after selling its factory in Mexico -- and its North American branding rights -- to Hisense back in 2015.
Sharp subsequently sued Hisense to get its brand back, with Foxconn setting up its own Sharp manufacturing facility in Mexico.
