LG's 55in OLED television has finally arrived in the UK, more than a year after it was first unveiled, and sporting a £10,000 price tag with deliveries due in July.

LG 55in OLED television
The UK will be the first European country to get LG's 55in OLED television, which can be pre-ordered now for £10,000. (Credit: Reuters)

Most recently shown at the CES technology trade show in January, the television is just 4.5mm thick and weighs less than 10kg, thanks to OLED technology not requiring a backlight, as the pixels themselves emit light.

Following the route to market Sony took with its 84in Ultra HD television, the LG unit will be available exclusively from the Harrods department store, where it can be pre-ordered now for a July delivery.

Although OLED technology means thinner TV and and improved colour clarity, manufacturers have been unable to produce them in sufficient yields to make them commercially viable, even at such a high asking price, ten times more than LG's regular 55in TVs.

The television, which goes by the name 55EM970V, offers LG's edge-to-edge Cinema Screen Design - meaning it has a very small bezel around the screen - and passive 3D.

Red, green and blue light is needed to create a television image, and OLED works by sending an electrical current through certain materials that glow these three colours. Instead of pixels being lit by a backlight, as on LCD televisions, the light comes from the display panel itself.

Getting rid of the backlight makes OLED televisions much thinner than regular LCD and plasma TVs. No backlight also means less weight and less electricity usage, while being able to shut off each and every pixel individually creates absolute black - something LCD and plasma screens cannot do, and means OLED is capable of an infinite contrast ratio.

LG has taken the OLED game a step further by blending blue, red and green to create white light which is then passed through red, green and blue subpixels.

LG says its White OLED technology is easier and cheaper to manufacture than regular OLED, and it can be more easily scaled to screens smaller and larger than the soul 55in model now on sale.