OLED vs QLED: the current state of TV tech The biggest and best TV makers, like LG, Panasonic, Philips, Sony and Vizio all make OLED TVs. This is why OLED is the most widely-supported premium display panel tech you'll find in TVs right now – and it's getting cheaper.
The best not-quite QLED alternative
And while Sony doesn't claim to use quantum dots (they call their tech Triluminos Pro) and doesn't market their TVs as QLEDs, they compete right alongside the TVs on this list that are marketed as QLED.
Sony and LG each make OLED and LED TVs. LG is the dominant OLED brand for OLEDs because they have better gaming performance and generally cost less. However, Sony's LED models are far better than LG's because they get brighter, have better uniformity, and usually have better contrast.
The Sony A95L is the successor to last year's award-winning A90L QD-OLED TV, and it uses Samsung Display's second-generation QD-OLED panel with improved color volume and higher peak brightness. It comes in 55-inch, 65-inch, and 77-inch size options.
So if you buy an OLED TV from Sony, for example, you're still getting an LG OLED panel, but you're paying for Sony's design, picture processing and audio technologies, as well as its smart operating system. The one outlier is Samsung, who started selling its own OLED TVs — called QD-OLED TVs — in 2022.
Sony stands out a little more for better overall color quality and any image-processing around objects where there is less blur on screen. Where LG stands out is with its alpha9 Gen4 AI processors that are in their most recent OLED TVs.
Dual Cell appears to be phased out in TV, we forecast zero volume for this technology starting in 2022, and. Rollable OLED TV, introduced by LG in 2021, has been discontinued in 2022.
Samsung temporarily stopped releasing OLED TVs after 2013 due to high prices and high hopes for its QLED TVs competing with strong image quality and lower prices.
The two brands' high-end TVs pick a different standard for enhanced HDR, where metadata is incorporated to optimize your settings for the content on the screen automatically. At the same time, Samsung opts for HDR10+, while Sony goes with Dolby Vision, which is usually a better choice.
The two most popular types of TVs are OLED and LED. The main differences come down to contrast and motion i.e. picture quality. OLEDs can offer true blacks (more on that later) and therefore exceptional contrast. As a result, it's widely believed OLEDs offer the best quality viewing.
In terms of picture quality, OLED TVs are generally considered to be the better option due to their perfect blacks and infinite contrast. However, QLED TVs can still produce very high levels of brightness and colour accuracy, and they are often more affordable than OLED TVs.
Sony OLED TVs have a dimmer screen brightness than other TVs. This can be an issue when watching movies and shows in dark rooms or if the room has lower lighting levels. The black level of the Sony OLEDs is also not as deep as some leading models from LG, which further affects how dark images appear on screen.
The Samsung Q60/Q60B QLED and the Sony X80K are different types of entry-level TVs, although the Q60B is more versatile. The Samsung is better for bright and dark rooms because it gets brighter and it has a better contrast for deeper blacks.
Samsung also formed the QLED Alliance with Hisense and TCL and you'll find QLED TVs sold from brands other than Samsung.
QLED TVs, from companies including Hisense, LG, Samsung, and TCL, use a blue LED light source plus a film embedded with tiny quantum dots, or nanocrystals.
Sony TV generally ranks higher than LG TVs. This is because lower refresh rate TVs have MotionFlow technology that reduces motion blur, unlike LG TVs. Also Read: Smart TV Buying Guide 2022.
From its brighter, sharper picture to its superior number of upsides, the Samsung OLED TV comes out on top in just about every respect. Sony's OLED TVs are undoubtedly high-quality, but Samsung OLEDs win out.
OLED TVs Are Susceptible to Burn-Ins
This occurs due to uneven degradation of pixels over a long period. The individual pixels that turn on to display static images on your TV degrade faster than the pixels surrounding them. This image retention is permanent, and you'll notice it the most when your screen is white.
Big brands like Sony, LG, and Samsung all have their own take on Mini LED panels for their TVs, and all signs point to it overtaking OLED as the go-to technology. Mini LED has been around since around 2021, but since then, more of the big brands have adopted it.
What is OLED burn-in? Burn-in has been a common concern among prospective OLED TV buyers for years. Image retention (commonly referred to as burn-in) is a display issue that manifests as a ghostly afterimage left on the screen following heavy use.
No wonder why OLED TVs get their nickname “forever TVs”. They should last you for 10 years or more at 8-10 hours of watching per day, which proves these televisions are exceptionally durable devices. They are extremely delicate, so always handle them with care.
The brightest QLED and LCD TVs can get brighter than any OLED model, which is a particular advantage in bright rooms and with HDR content.
If you have the money to spend and your priority is getting the best possible screen quality from your TV, smartphone or gadget, we'd say that OLED is absolutely worth the money. Your experience with the colours and contrast of movies, streaming shows, documentaries and games will never be better.