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Buying a TV in 2025 isn’t as simple as picking between OLED and LCD. Sure, those are the two core platforms, but each has splintered into subtypes with different strengths, weaknesses, and price tags. The result? A confusing mess for shoppers trying to figure out which tech actually delivers the best bang for their buck. Let’s cut through the noise and break down the newest TV technology being labeled RGB-MiniLED and Micro RGB LED TVs.
In 2025, Hisense and Samsung introduced the latest advancements in LCD TV technology. Hisense is calling it RGB-MiniLED (previously labeled as TriChroma LED) and Samsung is calling it Micro RGB. Sony has also shown journalists a sneak peak of a similar system, but has yet to unveil production displays that use the technology. The implementations are essentially the same, moving from white or blue backlights for the LCD panel to individual lighting elements for the three primary colors: red, green and blue. But Samsung uses sightly smaller individual back lights that measure under 100 micrometers (μm), as opposed to 100 to 200 μm, so they’re referring to their system as “Micro RGB” as opposed to RGB MiniLED. But really this is more marketing speak than a radical difference in technology.
This new type of TV backlighting builds on the existing LCD TV design, often called LED TVs, but changes how the LCD imaging panels are lit up. To understand what the new “RGB” TVs do it’s helpful to understand the basics of LCD TVs.
All LCD TVs use a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) panel to form the image. On its own, the LCD panel only produces a black-and-white image, and it’s not bright enough to view in normal room lighting. To create color and a bright visible image, LCD panels require a backlight system—most commonly white or blue LEDs—combined with either traditional color filters or a Quantum Dot enhancement layer in order to generate all the on-screen colors.
LCD Backlighting 101
There are several variations of LCD TVs, defined by the type of backlighting and color reproduction technology used. Depending on the approach, LCD TV backlighting may use “edge lighting” – lighting strips along one or more edges of the TV, with a light diffuser to spread the backlight across the entire panel – or it may use “direct lighting” – an array of lighting elements spread across the entire screen. Within “direct lit” sets, you can have anywhere from a few dozen, to a few thousand different lighting “zones.” And as TVs get more of these light modules, they’ve shrunk the size of each module to the point that they call them “MiniLEDs.”
The best LED/LCD TVs use thousands of direct MiniLED backlights and a technique called “local dimming” which allows individual control of each backlight module. This allows the TV to be more precise in reproducing both bright and dark parts of an image on screen at the same time, without too much bleed or interference between the bright and dark sections.
Add A Splash of Color
Meanwhile color reproduction on an LED/LCD TV could be handled by a traditional color filter which electronically filters white light in order to generate color for each pixel, or by Quantum Dot technology which uses microscopic light-sensitive dots to add color to the blue LED backlight. Quantum Dots TVs typically go by names such as QLED (Quantum Dot Light Emitting Diode) or QNED (Quantum Nanocell Emitting Diode), depending on the manufacturer.
It’s enough terminology to make your head spin, but the good news is the new RGB LCD tech replaces all that with something new… mostly.
RGB-MiniLED and Micro RGB LED TVs: Next-Gen Display Technology Explained
RGB-MiniLED and Micro RGB LED technology aim to elevate LCD TV performance by replacing traditional white or blue LED backlights with individually controlled Red, Green, and Blue LEDs arranged in mini or micro-scale arrays.
RGB-MiniLED uses LEDs that measure between 100 and 200 micrometers (μm). Each LED is a distinct red, green, or blue light source, which allows for more precise color control and improved brightness compared to conventional backlighting systems.
Micro RGB LED takes this concept further by using even smaller LEDs, typically under 100 μm, enabling an even denser arrangement of individually addressable RGB emitters. This approach can deliver higher color accuracy, deeper contrast, and improved efficiency by reducing the reliance on color filters or Quantum Dot conversion layers.
Both RGB-MiniLED and Micro RGB LED remain LCD-based technologies—they still require a liquid crystal layer to form the image—but their backlight systems bring them closer to the color performance of emissive displays like OLED or MicroLED.
Also, while current RGB-backlit TVs do not use Quantum Dots for color reproduction, they do still require a color filter in order to generate precise colors for each individual pixel. But the color filter and the processor that drives it have had to evolve in order to accommodate the dynamics of having individual red, green and blue lighting elements.
In both RGB-MiniLED and Micro RGB LED systems, the LEDs are positioned behind the LCD panel and grouped into zones. Unlike conventional LCD backlighting, these systems allow independent control of each red, green, and blue LED, enabling far more precise light and color management. The result is an LCD image that is color-optimized at a much higher level than traditional backlight methods can achieve.
Who Makes RGB-MiniLED and Micro RGB LED TVs?
So far, three brands have adopted this technology: Hisense and Samsung have already shown production models while Sony has only shown prototypes.
Hisense has implemented the RGB-MiniLED approach, using backlights made up of individually controlled red, green, and blue mini-LEDs (100–200 μm in size) arranged in zones behind the LCD panel. They claim to be able to reproduce up to 95% of the BT.2020 color spectrum, which is impressive for a display device.
Samsung, on the other hand, has taken the Micro RGB LED path, where the backlight is made of even smaller ~100 μm RGB LEDs, providing finer control and potentially higher precision in color and brightness management. Samsung claims an even more impressive 100% of BT.2020 color reproduction in full screen color measurement tests.
Micro RGB vs. MicroLED: Understanding the Key Differences
Samsung’s “Micro RGB” terminology can easily be confused with “MicroLED,” so it’s important to clarify the distinction.
A MicroLED TV uses microscopic LEDs to form the image directly, without any LCD panel or backlighting system required. Each pixel consists of three subpixels that independently emit red, green, and blue light. These subpixels carry the image information themselves, allowing each MicroLED pixel to be individually brightened, dimmed, or turned off entirely.
The MicroLEDs are mounted on a backing surface that acts as both the structural platform and the display panel. Unlike LCD TVs, no separate backlight or color-filtering layer is needed, because the MicroLEDs themselves generate both the light and the color for the image.
Conceptually, MicroLED technology is similar to OLED TVs, as both use self-emissive pixels to create the image. However, MicroLED pixels are inorganic, avoiding issues such as color degradation over time, screen “burn-in” from prolonged static images, or temperature-related brightness limitations (although OLED has largely addressed high-brightness performance).
Micro RGB is quite different from MicroLED because, despite the use of microscopic LEDs, these LEDs function only as a color backlight for a LCD panel. They do not generate the image themselves, meaning the LEDs handle illumination while the LCD panel and color filter manages the light, color, and display functions.
RGB-MiniLED vs. Micro RGB: Pros & Cons Explained
Mini LED and Micro RGB technologies, when paired with an LCD display panel, enable substantial improvements in picture quality and color performance for LCD-based TVs. These backlighting systems can expand the color gamut to approach or even meet the elusive BT.2020 standard and deliver higher peak brightness, enhancing HDR content reproduction.
However, because an LCD panel is still required to form the final image, some inherent limitations remain. These include haloing around bright objects, uneven lighting (commonly referred to as the “Dirty Screen Effect”), the inability to achieve true black levels, and narrower viewing angles compared with OLED displays. With the backlighting systems becoming more precise, these issues are becoming less objectionable for most viewers.
The Bottom Line
RGB-MiniLED and Micro RGB backlighting are just beginning to enter the market, with Hisense and Samsung leading the charge, while Sony is expected to launch models in 2026. The initial offerings are massive and expensive: Hisense’s 116-inch model starts at $29,999 $24,999 at Amazon, the 100-inch at $19,999, and Samsung’s 115-inch model is priced at $29,999. Sony’s pricing and sizes remain to be seen.
While these technologies promise expanded color gamut, higher brightness, and improved HDR performance for LCD TVs, they still can exhibit the inherent limitations of LCD technology—haloing, uneven picture uniformity, inability to display true black, and narrower viewing angles compared with OLED.
For RGB-MiniLED and Micro RGB to achieve broader adoption, the industry will need to introduce smaller, more practical screen sizes and more affordable pricing. Despite early hype, these technologies are not poised to “kill off” OLED, which continues to innovate and maintain advantages in image quality and versatility.
Check out our video of the Hisense 116UX RGB-MiniLED 4K TV.
Related Reading
- Buying a New TV: Everything You Need To Know
- Hisense 100UX Vs. 116UX RGB Mini-LED TVs: What’s Different?
- Samsung’s 115-Inch “Micro RGB” TV Gets Official Launch: Here’s The Scoop
- WTF Is HDR (High Dynamic Range) For Video, TVs, And Projectors?
- HDMI 2.2 is Coming – Do You Need to Upgrade? CES 2025 News
