South Korea's LG offering $13,500 curved-screen television

SEOUL, April 29 (UPI) -- South Korea's LG Electronics says it is taking orders for the world's first curved-screen television to be available to the public.

The 55-inch device, which uses organic light-emitting diodes to create a thin, flexible screen, will cost $13,500 and will be available only in South Korea for now, the BBC reported Monday.

LG Electronics and rival Samsung Electronics showed off curved OLED TV prototypes at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January.

OLEDs can be applied to a flexible plastic backing rather than a rigid glass layer, allowing for televisions with a curved screen.

LG said the curved screen would offer television viewers an "Imax-cinema-like" experience.

"With more than five years research behind developing the optimum curvature, the entire screen surface is equidistant from the viewer's eyes, eliminating the problem of screen-edge visual distortion and loss of detail," the company said in a release.

One analyst said he expects OLED TVs would remain costly and rare for the foreseeable future, with manufacturers using them more as a promotional tool to highlight their technological prowess.

"There's certain content which is great to see in different ways," Ed Border of IHS Screen Digest said, "but for a lot of what's on TV seeing it curved is not necessarily going to improve the experience that much."

"But I think being curved is a good way of pushing the OLED technology to consumers and acting as a marketing tool."