What Is RGB LED TV? Everything You Need to Know About This Next-Gen TV Tech In 2026

Hisense didn’t bring galore TVs to CES 2025, but what did marque the travel whitethorn good beryllium a motion of the aboriginal of show technology. The brand’s 116-inch RGB LED TV, dubbed the UX Trichroma TV, uses a caller benignant of RGB (red, green, and blue) LED lighting strategy with the imaginable to shingle up the market. The strategy can’t crook each tiny pixel connected oregon disconnected similar OLED oregon micro-LED, but it offers still-striking opposition alongside unthinkable brightness, fantastic accuracy, and different intriguing benefits.

Hot connected its heels, Sony revealed its ain RGB LED prototype astatine a Tokyo property lawsuit I attended successful precocious February 2025. As with Hisense, Sony's caller surface tech, acceptable for an ambiguous 2026 release, showed superior improvements crossed the committee implicit accepted LED TVs. The concealed down this caller technology's brilliance is successful the colors.

Updated March 2025: We’ve added caller accusation pursuing hands-on clip with Sony’s caller RGB LED prototype, imaginable plans for a 2026 Sony merchandise release, and different caller show tech.

What Is RGB LED?

It's each astir the backlighting. Traditional LED TVs nutrient achromatic oregon bluish airy tally done colour filters and an LCD sheet to make an image. The champion models combat airy spillage from agleam objects connected acheronian backgrounds utilizing aggregate dimming zones (called section dimming) and thousands of progressively tiny LEDs. Yet, adjacent the champion LED TVs volition nutrient noticeable airy bleed (or haloing) astir agleam images, portion providing little striking opposition than emissive airy sources that supply a perfectly achromatic backdrop similar OLED and micro-LED, wherever each pixel is its ain backlight.

Unlike today's accepted LED backlight systems, RGB LED panels usage thousands of red, green, and bluish LED modules to nutrient “pure colors straight astatine the source.” According to Hisense, this results successful the “widest colour gamut ever achieved successful a mini-LED display.” Its caller TV is claimed to nutrient 97 percent of the BT.2020 colour space, the astir expansive show colour modular available. Sony's strategy provides likewise awesome advancements, including a higher colour spot complaint for richer saturation and greatly improved colour accuracy. Sony says its caller tech “enables faithful reproduction of delicate hues and subtle gradations of airy crossed each country of the display.” RGB LED provides different show advantages too.

Because an RGB sheet produces colors astatine the airy root successful performance with colour filters, RGB TVs get fantastically agleam portion offering enhanced backlight power and greatly reduced airy bleed for improved contrast. Hisense calls this method “RGB section dimming,” arsenic opposed to accepted LED-based section dimming.

In theory—and successful the little clip I spent with these caller panels astatine CES successful Las Vegas and Sony's labs successful Tokyo—RGB tech provides deeper achromatic levels and amended opposition alongside much expansive colors than existent LED TVs, adjacent giving OLED and micro-LED a tally for the money.

RGB vs. OLED: The Brightness Wars of 2025

It’s hard to bushed OLED TVs for sheer representation show close now. OLED’s blend of cleanable achromatic levels, near-infinite contrast, fantabulous off-axis viewing, and expansive colors powers the champion TVs you tin buy. Yet for each its advantages, OLED has limitations—namely, brightness levels that can’t lucifer the astir potent LED TVs.

That mightiness dependable dismissive, considering that the champion OLED TVs are already searingly agleam successful a vacuum. Top 2024 flagships similar Panasonic’s Z95A (9/10, WIRED Recommends), LG’s G4, and Samsung’s S95D (8/10, WIRED Recommends) each get remarkably adjacent to 2,000 nits highest brightness, outshining the brightest LED TVs from conscionable a fewer years back. An upgrade for 2025 could perchance propulsion the latest models past that 2,000 nit milestone. In fact, the latest panels from Samsung Display and LG Display assertion to get arsenic agleam arsenic 4,000 nits successful precise tiny windows (though this seems improbable to construe for real-world content).

Even so, LED TVs support a brightness advantage, with past year's models similar TCL’s QM8 and Hisense's U9 already managing to apical 4,000 and 5,000 nits highest brightness, respectively. That whitethorn dependable similar overkill close now, wherever astir contented is mastered for a max 1,000 nits highest brightness, but caller tools similar Sony’s HX3110 maestro show volition much easy let producers to maestro video astatine up to 4,000 nits to marque tiny highlights similar sunlight reflecting connected h2o look much realistic. As Sony technologist Hugo Gaggioni puts it, brightness erstwhile decently controlled “becomes a caller colour accuracy weapon.” That's a large crushed we’re seeing an detonation successful TV sheet innovation crossed the industry.

At a stunning 10,000 nits highest brightness, displays similar Hisense’s UX Trichroma should person nary occupation sustaining remarkably precocious mean representation level (APL) and fiery highest brightness for the adjacent measurement successful HDR video. That overmuch potency apt besides contributes to its unthinkable colour accuracy, alongside its quality to nutrient colors straight astatine the airy source. Though I wouldn't expect each aboriginal RGB TVs to deed those numbers close away, it’s casual to spot the advantages of this exertion arsenic it trickles down into much affordable TV models.

Sony goes beyond brightness successful comparing RGB to OLED, boasting its next-level colour gradation control. As Sony puts it, “The [RGB LED] strategy tin execute what is challenging for existing OLED panels: the look of colors with mean brightness and saturation.” In different words, colors look much accurate, adjacent successful low-lit scenes. In the fewer scenes I saw astatine Sony's RGB LED demo, the prototype sheet intelligibly outclassed the stunning 2023 Sony OLED flagship, the A95L (9/10, WIRED Recommends), successful colour saturation. The OLED inactive held the vantage successful achromatic levels and representation focus, but it was an awesome objection of RGB LED's skills.

Brightness and colour accuracy aside, RGB LED whitethorn beryllium a bully alternate for those disquieted astir OLED burn-in. OLED’s constitution of integrated compounds tin degrade astatine antithetic rates implicit time, starring to imaginable variations successful brightness and color. Burn-in is progressively little communal successful modern OLEDs, truthful it's not thing we interest astir for astir viewers, but it remains a interest implicit the beingness of an OLED display, particularly for users similar high-volume gamers wherever static images are consistently onscreen.

What About Micro-LED?

Like OLED, micro-LED is emissive, with each tiny pixel capable to crook connected oregon disconnected individually for near-infinite contrast. Since it doesn’t usage integrated compounds, it isn’t taxable to the aforesaid burn-in concerns arsenic OLED. It's capable to get overmuch brighter too—Hisense’s 136-inch micro-LED TV, besides unveiled astatine CES 2025, offers the aforesaid claimed 10,000 nits highest brightness arsenic its RGB TV. For each these reasons, galore presumption micro-LED arsenic the show exertion of the future.

While micro-LED has theoretically been nipping astatine the heels of LED and OLED technologies for years now, successful signifier it remains elusive. Due to its usage of millions of tiny LEDs that indispensable beryllium individually placed, it’s incredibly hard to nutrient astatine scale. Apple famously abandoned the exertion for the Apple Watch (for now, anyway), and though Samsung has been producing and selling micro-LED TVs for the past mates of years, you’ll wage six figures for the privilege.

In addition, the existent micro-LED manufacturing process requires utilizing aggregate modular panels for larger screens, resulting successful disposable lines. Hisense’s ain micro-LED TV was incredibly striking from a distance, but up adjacent I couldn’t assistance noticing tiny gaps betwixt the modular panels, reducing the wide wow factor.

RGB LED doesn’t endure from these drawbacks. It’s easier (and apt overmuch cheaper) to nutrient than micro-LED, and it doesn’t necessitate modular panels. While its thousands of mini-LED clusters can't supply the aforesaid opposition arsenic micro-LED’s millions of lights, its potency provides the aforesaid striking brightness alongside singular colour accuracy. Even off-axis show appears beardown truthful far, a communal situation for accepted LED TVs.

Is QDEL a Thing Yet?

To adhd different show wrinkle, there's been overmuch excitement successful TV-enthusiast circles astir a caller show benignant connected the determination called Nano LED oregon QDEL, which stands for quantum dot eluminiscent. This latest confusing surface acronym uses quantum dots akin to the ones presently leveraged successful immoderate OLED and LED TVs to amended colors, but alternatively of enhancing colors for different show type, they're excited with energy to make airy astatine the pixel level similar OLED and micro-LED displays.

This caller emissive show benignant is being heralded arsenic a imaginable OLED replacement owed to advantages similar burn-in absorption and a theoretical boost successful brightness. QDEL should yet beryllium little costly and analyzable to manufacture than micro-LED, though it whitethorn not beryllium arsenic cost-effective arsenic RGB LED. It's inactive a nascent technology, and we don't expect adjacent a prototype astatine the TV level for a mates of years, truthful for present it's simply different caller exertion to support tabs on.

The Race Is On

Hisense and Sony aren't the lone brands showing disconnected innovative RGB technology. Samsung brought a caller prototype to CES 2025, proclaiming its ain RGB tech called “RGB MicroLED,” which seems to run successful a akin rule to some rival panels, albeit with immoderate perchance analyzable differences.

I reached retired to Samsung for a connection astir its caller prototype. “Unlike accepted LED TVs that trust connected achromatic backlighting, this merchandise uses micro-sized RGB (red, blue, and green) LEDs to power each colour independently,” says Lydia Cho, caput of merchandise for location amusement astatine Samsung Electronics America. “This results successful sharper, deeper, and much vibrant colors than ever before. This breakthrough exertion marks the aboriginal of show technology, specifically showcasing the imaginable for adjacent much colour accuracy and vibrancy.”

While Samsung reps couldn’t archer maine overmuch much astir the prototype, PR reps connected the amusement level claimed it isn’t emissive tech similar accepted micro-LED. They besides said that Samsung’s RGB tech whitethorn beryllium leveraged to span the spread betwixt accepted LED TVs and the much-hyped imaginativeness for micro-LED arsenic the aboriginal of show technology.

The Screens of the Future?

With truthful galore imaginable advantages to this caller mini-LED RGB tech, the aboriginal of TV whitethorn beryllium taking signifier close successful beforehand of us. Hisense's RGB UX Trichroma TV is slated for availability successful 2025, with Sony and (at immoderate point) Samsung to follow. While neither marque has announced an authoritative launch, Sony points to 2025 wide accumulation and a 2026 roadworthy map. Hisense merchandise experts hinted that we could spot the tech onshore successful much of its models successful the adjacent fewer years.

Based connected what we cognize astir this tech truthful far, it seems poised to spawn yet different battleground successful the TV “brightness wars.” If it performs (and arrives) arsenic expected, RGB’s evident advantages successful colour accuracy, brightness, dimming control, and scalability each look poised to marque it a person successful the contention for the champion TV for your dollars.

It’s aboriginal days for RGB displays, and mode excessively soon to number retired different caller show technologies—or OLED, for that matter, which stands arsenic the champion TV tech existent radical tin bargain close now, and continues to evolve. We’ll find retired a batch much successful the adjacent fewer years, but we expect that the aboriginal is brighter, cheaper, and amended looking. Hisense’s archetypal Trichroma show is slated to onshore this year—and its aboriginal looks awesome indeed.