Sony showed off some dramatic new technology this week at the IFA technology fair in Berlin.

First on the show floor was the ZX1, the world’s thinnest LCD television that comes in at around 9.9mm — making it the new standard in ultra-thin displays.

OLEDs

More interesting was their announcement that OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) based televisions will be hitting the European Market in the near future. The most significant benefit that OLEDs have over their LCD counterparts is that they don’t require a backlight to function. That means these displays will consume less power (40% less), operate longer and, yes, will be even thinner than a comparable LCD screen.

Sony’s XEL1 is the world’s first OLED television to reach European markets and it blows even the ZX1 out of the water in terms of size. The XEL1 is 3mm deep and boasts a million to one contrast ratio. Contrast ratio, the ratio of luminance between bright and dark for a display, is a notoriously inconsistent measure of display quality but even if the screen achieves a fraction of its potential it would be a sight to behold.

The XEL1 might have some competition from Samsung’s OLED offering (which they unveiled at this year’s CES), at 31″ it is almost three times larger than the XEL1. Samsung says that they have the manufacturing techniques to create OLED television of up to 40″, the question will of course be, “at what price?”

Speaking of price, the XEL1 is currently available in stores, but before you reach for your wallet, the 11″ version will run you just under $2500 — at least the shipping is free.

(Images) (Forum)