LG OLED TV breakthrough just fixed one of the biggest problems

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OLED TVs could get a brightness boost thanks to LG Display

LG C1 OLED TV
(Image credit: LG)

OLED TVs are about to get a significant upgrade thanks to new display tech that will improve brightness by more than 20%.

Despite the many benefits of OLED TVs, they tend to look darker than traditional LCD sets or competing QLED displays — especially in brighter environments. But that could be about to change, thanks to the major breakthrough by LG Display, which it's showcasing on a new 83-inch panel.

The changes are detailed in the YouTube video below (in Korean but with captions in English). In the video, LG Display's Senior Research Engineer Ji-hyang Jang explains how the improvements were made by optimizing the emitting layer by applying a "high-efficient light emitting material." 

This increased brightness by 20% on the new 83-inch next-generation OLED TV panel, as well as improving the color gamut and contrast to create a more vivid and natural picture.

The new tech will be especially useful for watching HDR content, which itself relies on a mix of brightness, contrast, and color control. 

The only downside here is this new bright panel is not going to solve the issue of OLED burn-in, which is one of OLED technology’s major weaknesses. However we will be able to see it in action later this year when the LG G1 Gallery Series launches. Unfortunately we don't know how much one of those new TVs is going to cost.

OLED displays are already expensive as it is, and the ongoing global chip shortage isn’t going to make it easy to implement any new tech right now, so it might be some time before you get to experience this in action for yourself. 

LG Display is taking its brighter 83-inch OLED panel to the Society for Information Display (SID) 2021 exhibition, alongside a bunch of new tech. That includes a 48-inch ‘Bendable Cinematic Sound OLED,’ which is a curved screen that produces sound without needing a separate speaker system.

It's also showing off a 0.42-inch ‘OLEDoS for AR’ display, a 12.8-inch rollable display, and a 4-in-1 ultra-large P-OLED automotive display that combines four different displays into a single T-shaped screen. 

Tom Pritchard
Tom Pritchard
UK Phones Editor

Tom is the Tom's Guide's UK Phones Editor, tackling the latest smartphone news and vocally expressing his opinions about upcoming features or changes. It's long way from his days as editor of Gizmodo UK, when pretty much everything was on the table. He’s usually found trying to squeeze another giant Lego set onto the shelf, draining very large cups of coffee, or complaining about how terrible his Smart TV is.