Micro-LED TVs were supposed to be the OLED killer, but here is proof that they are not

Micro-LED TVs were supposed to be the OLED killer, but here is proof that they are not

From Samsung's new 98-inch 8K QLED TV to the newly announced 100-inch version of Hisense's U8K ULED, it seems that every TV manufacturer is introducing a brand new giant Mini-LED TV.

Instead, LG has announced a 118-inch MicroLED TV that combines stunning black levels with a native 120 Hz refresh rate. It's called the LG Magnit 4K Micro-LED Residential Display and was just announced at a custom-installer-focused trade show called CEDIA. [In addition to the MicroLED panel, the Magnit display comes with a 50-watt built-in speaker and a stand or wall mount, giving the user the flexibility to choose whether the TV is placed flat on the floor or on the wall.

The Magnit display uses the same Alpha a9 Gen 6 processor found in the LG G3 OLED and LG M3 OLED, plus LG's WebOS Smart TV. These features, in addition to the panel itself, will make this display a threat to QLED and OLED TVs.... .if it doesn't cost $237,000. [LG is not the first TV maker to launch a MicroLED TV, and probably won't be the last. Samsung pioneered the trend with a 292-inch configurable display called "The Wall," which promised to deliver the brightness of mini-LEDs and the black levels of OLEDs in TVs of all sizes.

Since then, however, MicroLED has taken a back seat to OLED innovations (QD-OLED and PHOLED).

Last year, for example, LG introduced a 136-inch MicroLED TV (also called Magnit). Comparatively, the $237,000 118-inch model is a bit of a bargain, but still about nine times the price of LG's 97-inch wireless OLED TV, the M3 OLED.

However, until MicroLED can prove that it can deliver the same cutting-edge performance at a lower cost, it is unlikely that MicroLED will replace OLED in the near future.

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