Samsung Preps LCDs Made With Ordinary Glass, Could Usher In Huge Price Drops?

One of the most important reasons why LCD monitors are generally quite expensive is that they require a very special type of glass in order to provide very good-quality images, namely one with very low levels of sodium, a substance that normally blocks light and prevents making extra-thin glass. However, it would seem that things are about to change (quite radically, if you ask me), since the people over at Samsung came up with a highly innovative solution, dubbed Soda-Lime, a 19-inch LCD monitor panel that uses ordinary window glass.

Thus, according to a report by Max Wang and Emily Chuang for Digitimes, it would seem that Samsung's move is quite a revolutionary one, as it might allow the company to come up in a very short time with a whole new line of products with sensibly lower production costs, which, in the end, will also be reflected in the devices' actual price tags. This will be possible due to the fact that the glass used to make windows and glass cups is different from that used in TFT LCD glass substrates, which is both sodium and alkali-free and thus considerably more expensive.

According to Samsung, the new range of LCD monitors provides at least the same level of image quality as the one using special glass. Thus, for example, the 19-inch sample monitor showcased at the FPD International Show in Japan provided 1,000:1 contrast ratio, a 300cd/m2 brightness level and 72 percent of the NTSC color range, without requiring any special enhancements in order to achieve these characteristics.

The Soda-Lime panel is produced at the company's fifth-generation (5G) plant, Samsung indicated, but the Korean company has provided no information on when usable LCDs will start mass production, saying only that it will be "soon". Thus, my best bet is that it will arrive at some point in the first half (or mid-) 2008, and will bring about a very serious price drop, concerning both their MSRPs and those of the competition.

We are just a few, but there are many of you, Softpedia users, out there. That's why we thought it would be a good idea to create an email address for you to help us a little in finding gadgets we missed. Interesting links are bound to be posted with recognition going mainly to those who submit. The address is .