(Credit: Kerry Wan)
OLED and mini-LED have long dominated the high-end TV market, while MicroLED has remained more of a niche contender. But now, a new display technology is emerging that could shape the future of premium TVs. I first noticed it at CES earlier this year, where a few early demos caught my eye. Now, after getting hands-on time with the final retail models, I’m convinced this could be the next big leap in television technology.
What Is RGB LED?
Hisense calls it RGB-MiniLED, and Samsung calls it Micro RGB, but even those names have been tweaked from when they were first shown off at CES (TriChroma for Hisense and RGB MicroLED for Samsung), so for simplicity’s sake, let’s simply call the technology RGB LED.
The vast majority of LED TVs use only white or blue LEDs (blue for QLED), so they only control how bright or dim the picture gets. Higher-end TVs can individually control these LEDs or small groups of them to improve contrast, but they don’t have any say in what colors are shown; the LCD panel is the sole factor in determining that.
RGB LED TVs replace those single-hue lights with clusters of red, green, and blue LEDs, the brightness of which can be individually adjusted. This lets the backlight enhance the colors formed by the LCD. For instance, the RGB LED clusters behind a sky or an ocean can brighten the blue light and reduce the red and green tones to enhance the LCD’s pixels. The LCD is still necessary to actually define each individual pixel, but the RGB LEDs expand the range of colors it can show.
The Hisense 116UX uses this technology and earned excellent marks in my review. While I haven’t yet formally tested it, I did get a close look at Samsung’s Micro RGB TV (more on this below). What I’ve seen has convinced me that RGB LED might drive high-end TVs in the future.
What Makes RGB So Good?
(Credit: PCMag)Simply put, the Hisense 116UX produces some of the most impressive numbers I’ve ever measured on a screen. It has by far the widest color range, far exceeding the DCI-P3 digital cinema color space and almost covering the BT.2020 color space. BT.2020 defines the full range of color for 4K and 8K video signals, much wider than what DCI-P3 defines, and it has been the holy grail of TV color reproduction. To date, I have never seen a screen hit the full BT.2020 range, but as you can see from the charts above, the 116UX comes very close. It’s also by far the brightest TV I’ve tested.
Samsung’s Micro RGB TV could be even more impressive than that. According to Samsung, it can completely cover BT.2020, which would be an unquestionable first for TVs. I saw an early version of it at CES, and got a look at the final version at Samsung’s headquarters in New Jersey. It’s an eye-catching TV that can clearly show extremely vivid colors. I can’t say whether it fulfills Samsung’s claims until I can fully test it myself, but after seeing what the 116UX can do with the same technology, I believe it’s at least possible. Before this year, I wouldn’t have thought any TV would be hitting the full BT.2020 color range any time soon.
The difference between Hisense and Samsung's approaches is purely in LED size. According to Samsung, the Micro RGB TV uses microLEDs, which are much smaller than the mini-LED clusters the Hisense 116UX uses. Smaller RGB LEDs mean more of them, allowing for finer color and contrast control. Otherwise, they're basically the same technology.
When and Where Can You Get an RGB LED TV?
If you can afford it, you can pick up a 116-inch Hisense 116UX or 115-inch Samsung Micro RGB TV this year for $30,000 each. If you want something a bit smaller and cheaper, Hisense offers the 100-inch 100UX for $20,000.
These are the first RGB LED TVs available, so it’s not too surprising that they’re really expensive. The first OLED TVs were similarly exorbitantly priced. And they have massive screens, which helps justify costing about as much as a Honda Accord; the 115-inch version of the Samsung QN90F isn’t much cheaper than the Micro RGB at $27,000.
I expect we’ll see several more RGB LED TVs at CES next year, including the first models with prices that dip below five digits. They’ll still be priced at a premium for a while, though. There’s also the question of how much manufacturers can shrink their RGB clusters to enable smaller and more affordable screens. A 100-inch TV looks amazing in the right place, but even if it were in my price range, it won’t fit in my apartment.
What About OLED TVs?
OLED TVs are still relevant, and they’re still excellent. I’m loving the LG C4 OLED TV I picked up during Prime Day, even if it’s last year’s model. OLED, or organic light-emitting diode, is a technology where the panel individually controls the color and light put out by every pixel. It can produce a fantastic picture with wide color and perfect blacks, and unlike LED-backlit TVs, it can do so without any light bloom whatsoever.
Every LED TV, RGB or not, has far fewer LEDs than there are pixels, so each one covers an entire group of pixels on the screen. This means they can show a bit of a light haze along high-contrasting edges, bleeding a bit of light from what’s very bright (and should be bright) to what’s very dark (and shouldn’t be bright). OLEDs don’t have that at all.
OLED panels can also be much, much thinner than LED TVs, since they don’t need a separate LED backlight layer. That enables TVs like the LG G5 to sit almost flush against the wall.
They have one major trade-off, though. OLED TVs are almost universally dimmer than high-end LED TVs. They’ve gotten much brighter in the past few years, but while the LG G5 (the brightest OLED TV I’ve tested) can put out 1,608 nits, the Hisense 116UX can blast out 4,012 nits, and even the much cheaper non-RGB LED Hisense U8QG can output 3,200 nits. But, yes, they show light bloom. Still, for premium TVs, OLEDs look great, and come in much smaller sizes and for much less than either of the RGB LED TVs currently available.
What About MicroLED TVs?
MicroLED is another completely different panel technology from LED-lit LCD and OLED. It uses RGB LED clusters like RGB LED TVs, but instead of lighting up a separate LCD panel, they control each individual pixel. That means millions of groups of LEDs that should, in theory, have all the benefits of an OLED panel while being able to get much brighter. I’ve been keeping an eye on MicroLED TVs for years, and until now, I’ve thought they could eventually replace OLEDs as the big high-end TV technology.
The problem with MicroLED is that it’s still far too big, far too complicated, and far too expensive, and it hasn’t improved much since I first saw Samsung’s The Wall six years ago. They’re giant, clunky displays with unique requirements for installation and setup, and even now, they’re more expensive than either of the RGB LED TVs available by a lot. The current version of Samsung’s The Wall comes in 110 inches for $70,000, and it isn’t even 4K; it’s 1080p. If you want a 4K The Wall, the 146-inch 4K version is $220,000.
So, no, this type of TV tech probably isn’t destined for living rooms.
What TV Should I Buy Now?
If you can’t spend $20,000 to $30,000 on an RGB TV, there are plenty of great options with smaller prices and screens using well-established tech. For massive screens, check out the best 75-inch-and-bigger TVs we've tested. If you want to save money, head over to the best budget TVs.