In an industry of shifting goal posts, vague marketing speak and over-hyped expectations, there’s one thing most folks can agree on: OLED TVs are incredible.
In the ten years I’ve spent testing, reviewing and watching all types of TVs, no technology has captured my attention more effectively than OLED. There’s only one issue: OLED TVs are priced higher than most. There’s just no way around it.
That said, if you’ve got the financial flexibility to put an OLED TV on your wish list, you’d be hard pressed to find a safer bet when it comes to viewer satisfaction. Here are three reasons why OLED TVs are worth their relatively steep price tag.
1. OLED performance cannot be replicated
Garden-variety LED-based TVs have never been better, but when comparing them to OLED TVs of the same price point, most of them can’t hold a candle to OLED’s performance.
The reason is fairly simple. While LED TVs rely on fast-working, difficult-to-control LEDs to illuminate the picture, OLEDs don’t rely on LEDs at all. Instead, every single pixel in the display is self-illuminating, which has a positive impact on almost every aspect of performance — especially contrast.
OLED TVs are not just capable of creating perfect black levels, they’re not saddled with the bluish, glowing halo of light you might see around bright objects on an LED TV.
This incredible level of contrast means that OLED TVs also don’t need to get as bright as their LED counterparts in order to appear that bright. That perceivable contrast advantage is hard to replicate on even the best Mini-LED TVs.
2. OLED TVs are usually packed with features
OLED TVs tend to arrive with an above-average selection of enhancements and features. If you’re shopping for one of the best OLED TVs on the market, it makes sense that you’d be getting a heaping helping of, say, highly sought-after gaming features. But the most affordable OLED TVs you can buy typically arrive with far more features than the most affordable LED TVs on shelves.
These displays cost more than most to manufacture, so to a certain extent, it makes sense to pair the technology with a set of features that meets the shopper’s expectations.
What does this mean for you? Well, if you’re willing to spend a little more on even the most budget-friendly OLED TV, you’ll probably feel pretty taken care of when it comes to bells and whistles.
Take the LG B5, for instance. This is LG’s entry-level OLED for 2025, and despite its relatively low price within its class, it still comes equipped with HDMI 2.1 inputs, an array of gaming enhancements and Dolby Vision HDR. Heck, it even has a native refresh rate of 120Hz — a spec that was considered top notch just a few years ago.
The entry-level B5 is pricier than most entry-level LED TVs, but in addition to its performance-related benefits, the B5 comes with a longer list of features. You get what you pay for.
3. OLEDs offer distinct design advantages
Since OLED displays lack a traditional backlight, they’re able to take on a much, much slimmer profile. This not only makes for an elegant pose, but can allow for a lighter, easier-to-move screen.
Back when LG was the only mass-market maker of OLED TVs, the brand emphasized the radical design potential of OLED displays by leaning into the thinner-than-a-smartphone aesthetic. This meant that all of the hardware — the “guts” of the TV — had to be housed in a chunky chassis that bulged out around the panel’s midsection.
LG still deploys this design approach today, as seen on the all-new LG C5 OLED (pictured above). However, in recent years, Samsung and Sony have taken a different approach to the design of their OLED TVs by spreading the internal hardware out across the entire panel, allowing for a more uniform shape.
You can see this play at work with Samsung’s newest flagship, the S95F OLED. Not only is its panel the same thickness across the board, but much of its hardware sits in a separate box that connects to the back of the TV.
The result is a stunning-looking design that also delivers a tremendous amount of flexibility when it comes to setting up a home theater. All of the S95F’s inputs can be positioned next to (or beneath) the TV itself, broadening the cable management possibilities.
When will OLED TVs come down in price?
OLED TVs have been slowly coming down in price for as long as I’ve been in the business. Unfortunately, it hasn’t happened as quickly as some of us were hoping it would. Any forecast that projects the next wave of OLED TVs to be significantly cheaper than this year’s batch is rosy at best.
That doesn’t mean the future of TVs isn’t flush with affordable OLEDs — it’s just going to take a while for manufacturing costs to come down, and for TV-makers to incentivize cheaper OLED TVs.
For now, I recommend sticking to major sales events, especially those around the holiday season. Typically, OLED TVs are at their cheapest at the end of the calendar year. At that point, brands are getting ready to release a new slate of models for the coming year and discounts are very much in play.
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