LG Electronics today announced plans to release the company’s first-ever QNED Mini LED TV in a top-of-the-line 86-inch model. According to LG, QNED is an advancement in LCD technology that combines advantages of quantum dot (QLED) and NanoCell technology in one product. Although not easy for consumers to understand, it seems QNED should be better than both QLED and LG’s own NanoCell, but not better than OLED. Perhaps QNED TVs will inch closer in performance to OLED at a better price point, because LG is claiming QNED Mini LED will be the new LCD TV technology to beat.
LG further states QNED TVs produce incredibly accurate colors while the advanced mini LED backlight offers better contrast and deeper blacks for images of exceptional vibrancy and realism. LG’s 86-inch 8K QNED TV will include a backlight of almost 30,000 tiny LEDs that produce incredible peak brightness and a contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1 when paired with up to 2,500 dimming zones and advanced local dimming technology. This should result in excellent HDR image quality with outstanding contrast and blacks, a wide color gamut and incredible color accuracy for stunningly life-like images.
“Our new QNED Mini LED series is a premium home entertainment option that expands and improves the LCD TV space and gives consumers another terrific viewing choice. These TVs deliver an experience that set them apart from other LCD TVs and speak to our commitment to innovation and pushing the standard forward.”
Nam Ho-jun, senior vice president of R&D at LG’s Home Entertainment Company
No word on pricing or availability, which makes us think it’s probably late 2021 or early 2022 until we see the first QNED TVs come to market. Samsung is also expected to offer QNED TVs too. We’ll have to see who gets them out first and what the differences are.
Meanwhile advancements in OLED technology are expected to arrive in 2021. In addition, high-bandwidth and gaming-friendly HDMI 2.1 inputs should become more commonplace. On the budget side of things, we still expect trickle down technology to further drop pricing per screen size. As more 8K TVs hit the market, 4K TVs in mid to high-end tiers should become better deals. Although, with no 8K content options available, it remains questionable why anyone should by an 8K TV just yet.
