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The best OLED TVs are some of the most desirable televisions on the market. They're brighter and more vivid than LED TVs, as each pixel can create its own light and be controlled individually, leading to a more vivid image on screen.
I've been testing the best OLED TVs since they launched in 2012, and were prohibitively expensive. Thankfully, the prices have come down and they're now my go-to choice for home cinema setups as they offer perfect black levels with pixel-perfect light control and better vibrancy than QLED TVs.
As I update this in early April 2026, it's TV release season! Many manufacturers announce new models at CES in January, and launch them out to the world in April and May. So while we wait for this year's sets in our test lab, our general recommendation is to stick with last year's models, for now. They're cheaper and most annual refreshes are incremental, so you can pick up 2025's flagship models right now for a fraction of their launch price (and those of the newer versions).
The best OLED TVs you can buy right now
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Best OLED TV overall
You might be wondering why 2025's LG C5 is still at the top of our best OLED TVs roundup when the 2026 model, the C6 is now out in the wild. The simple answer is that the newer, more expensive TV is not substantially better to justify the price.
The C6 is a fantastic TV and would make a great addition to your home, but I don't recommend buying it while the C5 is still around. The C5 is currently half the price of the almost $3,000 C6, but it'll bewitch you from the moment you turn it on.
The colors pop, creating a vivid picture whether you're watching a movie (even those deep blacks filmmakers currently love come out well) or live sport, which looks immaculate on the 4K OLED television.
We were impressed by the set's brightness, which means it's an ideal choice for brighter or sunny rooms where there's a potential for outside light to overwhelm the display. Of course, if you want to watch in lower light, a bright TV would ruin the experience.
But the C5's Dark Room Mode adjusts for that. Plus, the Game Optimizer mode is genuinely really useful for when you're gaming on the TV, making the C5 a really versatile option suitable for movies, bright rooms, gamers and, well, everyone else too.
When we reviewed the C5 last year, there were only two downsides; the audio quality didn't match the price, and the remote design is quite muddled and has a learning curve. Now, though, the C5 is half it's old price, so the audio doesn't sting as much.
As we noted in our LG C6 review, the newer model's remote is a vast improvement, but, honestly, that's not worth an extra $1,300. In almost all respects, this webOS TV is still the best OLED TVs out there right now, at a much more acceptable price.
- Read our full LG C5 OLED review
Best value OLED TV
In early 2026, LG launched the B6, the follow up to 2025's B5 OLED. We'll be testing it soon, but just as with the C5 and C6, we're expecting incremental updates. So, for now, we still recommend picking up the B5 — it was cheaper at launch and is now discounted with the B6 available — as it's a fantastic budget-friendly option.
If you're in the market for an OLED TV whose price tag won't leave you with sticker shock, the LG B5 ought to be at the top of your list of options. It's an entry-level OLED that doesn't get as bright or colorful as pricier OLED TVs on this list, but it's nevertheless an OLED, so it's packed with performance-related upside.
I wouldn't recommend putting the B5 in a sun-soaked living room, but its relative dimness isn't as limiting as you might expect in a dark or sparsely lit room. And, thanks to the perfect black levels associated with OLED displays, specular highlights appear brighter on the B5 than they would on a typical LCD/LED display.
The B5 also arrives with nearly all of the streaming- and gaming-related features you'll find on higher-end LG OLEDs. It supports 4K gaming at 120Hz across all four of its HDMI inputs and it arrives with a comparable set of gaming enhancements to the LG C5.
The entry-level Samsung S85F OLED offers a similar set of features, but it's usually pricier than the B5 and lacks Dolby Vision support. This puts the B5 slightly ahead of its primary competitor.
- Read our full LG B5 review
Best Samsung OLED TV
There's a new version of this TV too! Samsung announced the Samsung S95H at the start of April 2026, and we've marked it out for testing. In the meantime, we did get to have a short play with the TV, and have a rundown the main differences between the S95F and S95H. The TL;DR is stick with the S95F for now as the performance improvements don't justify the newer model's higher price.
Samsung's quantum dot OLEDs have come a long way in the past few years, and 2025's S95F is easily the best model we've tested from the South Korean electronics manufacturer.
This model offers higher peak brightness while keeping 2024's game-changing anti-glare matte screen.
Interestingly Samsung chose not to use its new Wireless OneConnect Box on the Samsung S95F OLED, but that appears to be a good decision. In our testing, we found that the wireless version actually introduces several milliseconds of latency, making it worse for gamers.
The reason it's down at number three are twofold. First, Samsung still refuses to pay the licensing fees for Dolby Vision, which means you won't be able to watch films quite how their creators intended. Secondly, Samsung's newest version of Tizen (it's TV software) leans a bit too heavily on AI upscaling.
Our reviewer, Stephen Lambrechts, said that while he appreciated the extra color saturation and sharpness, the resulting image deviated quite heavily from the original color grading of the films he watched.
Overall this is still one of the best OLED TVs on shelves, but it's currently playing second fiddle to the more affordable (and Dolby Vision-enabled) LG C5 OLED.
- Read our full Samsung S95F OLED review
Best LG OLED TV
At this point, it won't surprise you there's a newer version of this set too. Earlier this year, LG announced the LG G6. We've taken a look at the main upgrades between the two models, but our advice for now (as I'm sure you've gathered) is stick with the 2025 model for now, until the price drops on the G6.
Wait, isn't the LG C5 OLED the best LG OLED TV? Yes and no. If you're limited in what you can spend on a TV (and let's be honest, who isn't?) then the C5 will deliver the best performance at the best price. But if you take budget limitations off the table, the G5 is the best LG OLED at any price point.
In our review, we called the LG G5 OLED "a picture powerhouse, with brightness and color performance that have to be seen to be believed." It aced our lab tests, spitting out almost 2,300 nits in HDR and covering 82.42% of the Rec.2020 color gamut.
Where the LG G5 outpaces the competition is in its design. LG developed the G5 to seamlessly meld into the wall and even includes a bespoke no-gap wall-mount to help the TV look like it's designed for an art gallery.
It's not the only TV designed like this (both Hisense and Samsung have similar models) but it is by far the best-performing of the bunch thanks to its underlying OLED panel.
- Read our full LG G5 OLED review
Best Panasonic OLED TV
Surprise! This time, I don't have a new TV to tell you about (although there are some). In February 2026, Panasonic announced that they will no longer manufacture TVs for the U.S. Instead, Chinese company Skyworth will make Panasonic-branded sets. Release windows are more certain for Europe (May/June) but it's not yet nailed down for the U.S. In the meantime, while we wait for more details, approach the Panasonic Z95B with a little caution, as we don't know what support will look like. But if you're okay with that risk, it's another fantastic TV.
Once upon a time, Panasonic TVs were the cream of the crop. Then, suddenly, the brand disappeared from US shelves entirely. But in 2024, they returned with the Panasonic Z95A, one of the best OLED TVs we've tested in years.
Its successor, the Z95B, doubles down on everything that made the Z95A so successful. Our testing shows that it got a little more colorful, a lot brighter and even more accurate in its color representation.
It's a cinephile's dream screen through and through. Thanks to its support of Dolby Vision and HDR10+, you'll get richer colors and deeper darks. It's a fantastic TV hardware-wise, but the software lets it down.
Panasonic opted for Amazon's Fire TV operating system, which offers the worst user experience of most TV OSes. The platform is littered with ads for Amazon Prime content, and that content now comes pre-loaded with actual ads. When I'm dropping over $2,000 on a new TV, this is a deal-breaker for me.
But folks who don't mind the ads — or are willing to shell out for an Apple TV 4K to skip the built-in operating system altogether — will find a super-sophisticated OLED that restores Panasonic's brand name to its former glory.
- Read our full Panasonic Z95B OLED TV review
Also tested
Here are all the OLED TVs that either are a bit too old to make it to the top of our list, or just missed a spot due to a few issues. Despite their flaws, however, they're still worth researching if you're in the market for a new OLED TV.
How we test the best OLED TVs
Every OLED TV we review goes through a thorough testing and evaluation process, starting with rigorous lab testing and finishing with eyes-on evaluation by our reviewers. There's a lot more to it than just putting on a couple of 4K Blu-ray movies or hooking up a game console.
In our TV test space, we submit every TV to a number of lab tests, using industry-standard equipment, such as a calibrated spectrophotometer, calibration software and a dedicated test pattern generator. We measure for several indicators of picture quality, but these are the main metrics used in all of our reviews:
Color gamut, which measures how much color a given TV can produce. Expressed as a percentage rating, most OLED TVs meet or exceed 100% of the Rec709 color space.
Color accuracy, which measures the average deviation from perfect accuracy, expressed as a number (Delta-E), with higher numbers indicating less accurate color.
Contrast, measuring the difference between the darkest darks and brightest brights that a TV can produce, which is expressed as a ratio.
Brightness, measuring the peak luminance of a panel or display. This measure is reported in nits, an industry term for candela per square meter (cd/m2).
Lag time is the interval between a signal, such as button press on a game console, and the subsequent change registering on-screen. Measured with a Leo Bodnar Video Signal Input Lag Tester, this is measured in milliseconds, and provides a good indicator of how well-suited a TV is to modern gaming.
We pair this lab testing with hands-on time, viewing video samples and movies to see how these numbers translate into real-world performance. With that information, we can tell you which TVs look best, sound best and offer the best viewing experience.
Finally, we also evaluate the smart TV software and menus, getting a feel for the navigation and functions of each TV. We look at everything from the remote control design to the voice interaction to let us meaningfully talk about the smart features and overall ease-of-use for a smart TV.
OLED TV FAQs
How much do OLED TVs cost?
The majority of OLED TVs in the 55- and 65-inch range sell for between $1,500 and $2,000, but premium models will often cost more, and larger screen sizes can routinely sell for $3,000 or more.
What is OLED?
OLED stands for Organic Light Emitting Diode, a display technology that uses organic compounds to create clusters of red, green, blue, and white points of light to make up the individual pixels of the TV. On a 4K TV with 3840 x 2160 resolution, that means a single OLED panel will have 8.29 million pixels. And unlike standard LCD TVs, each one of those pixels produces its own light, and can be individually turned on or off, brightened or dimmed.
That pixel-level control of brightness lets OLED offer the best contrast of any display technology, with neighboring pixels delivering everything from intense brightness to true black, and every color imaginable.
As a result, OLED TVs consistently outperform the majority of LED-lit LCD TVs, whether they use standard LCD panels or boost the picture quality with enhancements like quantum dots (also known as QLED) or discrete dimming zones.
You can find similar-performing technology out there (microLED is another display type that uses microscopic light-emitting diodes for perfect contrast) but OLED is still the most mainstream option out there.
Are OLED TVs worth buying?
If you want a truly excellent TV, OLED is absolutely worth considering. It offers better picture quality than standard LCD TVs can match, and with prices coming down every year, they're no longer prohibitively expensive either. In testing and reviews, OLED TVs have consistently offered some of the best picture quality available.
There are areas of performance where LCDs offer better performance. Brightness on OLED TVs is no match for the greater intensity you can produce with an LED backlight, and LCD sets don't have the same risk of burn-in or color drift that OLEDs have to contend with long-term. But in virtually every other area, from viewing angles to color accuracy, OLED sets match or beat LCD-based competitors hands down.
But there is some question of whether that improved quality is worth the added expense. When there are 4K models selling for under $500, why spend $1,000 or more on an OLED set? There is definitely a case to be made for spending less for quality that is comparable, if not exactly the same.
But if you want the best color, contrast and overall quality you can get from a TV today, OLED is the way to go.
Which brands offer OLED TVs?
Currently, of the major brands you're most likely familiar with, only LG, Panasonic, Samsung and Sony offer OLED TVs. The panels themselves are manufactured by LG Display and Samsung.
Due to the unique manufacturing process and the costs associated with production, OLED TVs are currently only available in the following sizes: 42, 48, 55, 65, 77, 83 and 97 inches.
