“Hey Geoff, are this year’s LG OLED TVs worth buying/upgrading to?”

LG Marketing Gobbledygook Disambiguation 2026 Edition

Every year around **CES*, I get asked (a lot*) if the new LG OLED TVs are a significant upgrade so I thought I’d put down my thoughts about this year’s models here.

This year, the new features are collected under the headline “**Hyper Radiant Color Technology**,” which is a mouthful so let’s break it down.

First/importantly, most of this is only available on W6 & G6 sets, but not every size, and for the C6 models, the most significant parts are only available on the 77" & 83" sizes, not on the 65" or below.

‘HRCT’ claims to improve blacks, color, and brightness while lowering reflection. By my read, there are only three sub-features here that actually do anything (like, at all):

“Brightness Booster Ultra”: this is the combination of MLA (microlens array) with a stacked or *tandem* OLED panel, in a “quad” configuration, and will produce a bonafide, substantial, and noticeable increase in brightness.

LG is claiming “up to 3.9x” for the W/G-series and “up to 3x” for the C-series. It’s interesting to note, amidst LG’s re-styling of their OLED trade branding as ‘LG-WOLED’, that all models using stacked OLEDs are ‘primary’, i.e. RGB-only without a white component (a plus in my book).

“Reflection Free Premium”: this is potentially some kind of new-ish first-surface polarizer which claims to reduce reflections over prior LG models, and is the first to receive this new “certification” issued by **Intertek** based on their “IDMS 11.2.2” (sampling-sphere implementation) approach to reflection measurement.

In practice, “certifications” like this are typically bought and paid for by manufacturers and can often play into regulatory capture. As well, it’s important to note that this aspect of ‘HRCT’ does not apply to any C6 models, only the premium W6 and G6 models (and even there, not to the 97" versions of these trim levels nor the 48" versions).

“⍺11 AI Processor 4K with Dual AI Engine”: the preposterous (borderline-offensive) name aside, I think this is almost a bigger deal than the brightness increase in part because it affects a much broader range of models. This year there’s only one SoC part being used, the ⍺11 Gen3, so all W-, G-, and C-series models will get it.

Anyway, the ⍺11 Gen3 implements an end-to-end 12-bit image-processing pipeline, or IPP, which is absolutely something to be happy about especially since it applies to all C-series models. The ‘why’ of this is beyond the scope of this article (*IFYKYK*).

It’s not yet clear whether the budget/“big box store” A- and B-series models will now use last year’s chip or continue using chips from 2+ model years prior as they typically have.

Overall, it’s a pretty mixed bag this year except for the 12-bit processing. If a TV > 65" fits into your life, the C6 77/83" sets will have a meaningfully brighter picture. If not, and you want that increased brightness along with better reflection handling, you’ll need to shell out for a W or G-series (just not the 48"). Size aside, improving reflection handling is generally a good idea when you introduce a substantially brighter panel because in un-treated environments they work together to increase contrast ratio.

I’m not sure I’d want 3K+ nits in a living room, especially one decorated in lighter colors, but it would likely be fine used as a client-viewing monitor in an editing, grading, or finishing suite (but then you’d have to ask yourself if you really need all that extra brightness).

If you don’t want to spend more for a W6/G6, and want a 48/55/65" TV (like most of us), then the bottom line is that the C6 panel itself is most likely more or less unchanged from last year (which is fine; it’s a superb panel). However, it does now benefit from 12-bit processing which, again, is a Good Thing.

Other than that, there’s genuinely not much to see here. Feel free to do your own research though and please let me know if you think I’m missing something.

Best, — Geoff

Sources:

LG: LG Electronics Unveils the Wallpaper TV: The World’s Thinnest, True Wireless OLED TV

Vincent Teoh/HDTVTest: LG C6 Gets Its Biggest Upgrade in Years, But There’s a Catch…

The Verge: LG’s Wallpaper OLED TV returns to CES, and it’s wafer thin

Declaration of Originality: I affirm that this article was written without the use or assistance of AI other than as a matter of ordinary web searches and spell-checking.