The King of OLED TVs is finally getting on that mini-LED train. Last night LG announced that it plans on introducing its first ‘QNED’ TV at CES 2021.
While LG is branding it QNED, these high-end LCD TVs will feature mini-LED tech. If you’re not familiar with mini-LEDs, they’re basically teeny tiny LEDs that are roughly a fifth of the size of current LEDs. That means you can get more precise backlighting, as well as better contrast and brightness, for less than OLED. According to the Verge, LG’s calling its version of mini-LED ‘QNED’ because the TVs combine both quantum dot color (the Q), its proprietary NanoCell tech (the N), and you know, LEDs (the ED). Just don’t confuse it with QLED and OLED.
LG’s 2021 QNED line will include 10 4K and 8K TVs, with the largest one measuring a whopping 86 inches. If you want to further get into the numbers, the TVs will have 30,000 tiny LEDs for a claimed contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1, and up to 2,5000 dimming zones. Like LG’s other flagship TVs, these babies will also feature a 120Hz refresh rate. TL;DR—these QNED TVs should have excellent contrast, HDR picture quality, and better color accuracy than a typical LED TV.
If you want to compare, TCL also uses mini-LEDs in its 8-Series TVs, which have 25,000 LEDs and 1,000 zones, and its cheaper 6-Series, which has roughly 1,000 LEDs and 240 zones. Samsung is also rumored to be launching its first mini-LED TVs in the first half of 2021. The wave of mini-LED displays isn’t limited to TVs either. MSI launched a mini-LED laptop this year, while rumor has it that Apple may adopt mini-LED as early as 2021 in as many as six gadgets.
As with most CES-related announcements, we don’t know exactly how much these LG QNED TVs will cost. That said, they’ll definitely be cheaper than the company’s OLED TVs. At the very least, we’ll be able to peep the 86-inch 8K LG QNED starting Jan. 11 at LG’s virtual booth at CES 2021. Though, it probably won’t look nearly as nice through our crappy webcams.