LG’s 2021 OLED TVs are modest upgrades, but computer monitors are coming

Today is the first day of the annual Consumer Electronics Show, and while 2021 is obviously an uneven year, this has not prevented the routine release of updates for new products from Big Tech companies. This includes LG, which at the moment may be best known for OLED TVs and OLED panels that it provides to other companies for their own devices.

LG’s updates to its OLED line will be modest for most buyers this year. The company is promoting brighter HDR on its next-generation TVs, but most people are not going to be alarmed by these devices, so we’re looking primarily at slightly expanded gameplay features and improvements in response time, as well as new or ostensibly new AI. improved targeted image optimizations. Generally, no one who bought an LG OLED last year will feel as if they have rushed too far here.

The big story, then, could be OLED making way for smaller and smaller screens. Last year, LG launched its first 48-inch OLED TVs, a considerable drop from the previous 55-inch floor. But the company appears to be getting even smaller by the end of 2021, and we might even see LG’s panels finally venturing into the desktop monitor territory in the near future.

But before we get into that, let’s see what to expect from LG’s largest OLED TVs in 2021.

LG 2021 OLED line

To avoid confusion, let’s first clarify the naming convention here. LG TVs of 2019 took the number nine – then C9, B9, etc. – and LG took out an iPhone in 2020 by going to BX or CX. Now, the company managed an overflow and returned to 1.

As in 2020, the C series (LG C1) is essentially the flagship; there are cheaper and more expensive sets, but the C1 is probably the one that attracts the most interest in terms of price-features.

In contrast to the C1, the top-of-the-line G1 has what LG says is the big story of its OLED TVs this year: higher HDR brightness. It has the new brand “OLED evo” that LG created, and the company says it offers greater luminosity. Maximum brightness is the only major assessment of image quality that competing non-OLED TVs have outperformed LG, but we don’t know exactly how high the new brightness ceiling is or whether it matches the maximum brightness of Samsung LED screens. And we probably won’t know until the critics get their hands on the new sets – probably sometime in the summer, if the last few years are any indication.

The 4K G1 will come in sizes of 55, 65 and 77 inches, while the C1 (which is also 4K) will have options of 48 and 83 inches. In addition, LG is offering 8K variants with basically the C1 feature set at 77 and 88 inches. 8K TVs are called Z1.

Finally, some of LG’s marketing materials reference a B1 model. In recent years, the B series has offered the same panel as the C series and most of the same features, but with a weaker processor. This affects the AI-based image quality features and the speed of the user interface, among other things. In addition, LG mentioned an A1 model. We’re not sure what it is, but it could be an even cheaper entry-level alternative.

With the new PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X consoles on the market (although still very difficult to find in stock), the game is a clear emphasis on this iteration of LG TVs. LG has already added support for HDMI 2.1, 4K @ 120Hz and VRR (variable refresh rate) on previous models, although VRR is still partially broken on LG TVs in 2020. So the most important boxes have already been checked. This time, LG has introduced a “Game Optimization” menu for all its TVs, allowing you to more easily access features like VRR in one place. TVs also have multiple game mode profiles tailored to specific genres, such as first-person shooter or RPG, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.

In addition, LG says the new OLEDs will be the first TVs to come with Google’s integrated Stadia game streaming service. Users will only need a Stadia controller and a subscription to play without a connected console. The competing service from Nvidia’s GeForce Now will also arrive in late 2021.

LG has not yet announced prices or release dates for any of these TVs, but that is sure to come in the coming months.

The beginning of the invasion of the computer’s OLED monitor

Increasingly large TVs are often headlines, but for OLED, shrinking the size proved to be the slowest gear. LG’s OLED panel manufacturing capability has so far focused on smartphone sizes or large living room TV sizes. In the middle, you have smaller TVs, better suited for rooms or offices (or just for people with smaller living rooms or who don’t want a TV to dominate their space) and desktop computer monitors.

Even the best PC monitors are notoriously … well, just plain horrible, frankly, compared to the best TVs or smartphone screens in terms of image quality by many metrics like contrast. Instead, monitors often emphasize response time over image quality, which certainly makes sense for many use cases. In addition, it is difficult or impossible to stack thousands of local dimming zones on a 27-inch LCD screen. All of this leaves LG with the opportunity to conquer this space with OLED, assuming that consumers are not too concerned with image retention.

At CES this year, LG signaled that it is ready to make that change. The company says it will launch its first 42-inch OLED screens later this year, but also says it is about to start offering panels between 20 and 30 inches, both for itself and for other companies that use their panels on their own devices.

We don’t have 30 inches yet, but LG announced its first 31.5-inch OLED monitor – the 4K 32EP950, or “UltraFine OLED Pro”, which offers 99% coverage of both the DCI-P3 and Adobe RGB. The ports will include one HDMI, two DisplayPort and three USB with at least one of these USB ports being USB-C. There is no price or release date information yet (expensive, to be sure), but things are increasing: Samsung is the other major producer of OLED panels in the world and is also planning to start rolling out OLED monitors in similar sizes.

LG also manufactures LED TVs, we assume

Although LG makes non-OLED TVs, the company’s OLED line gets most of the attention every year – and for good reason, because LG LED TVs generally don’t have much to write about. It is not that they are bad; they just don’t do much to differentiate themselves from similar TVs produced by other companies.

The biggest news about LG’s non-OLED front this year is the introduction of the new line of TVs “QNED”. They are not fundamentally different from other LCD TVs, but have Mini LED backlighting, like Samsung’s next-generation LCD / LED TVs and others this year. The “QNED” brand is just a marketing expression, as it indicates that these TVs combine Mini LED technology with the existing “Quantum NanoCell” label and are essentially insignificant compared to competitors.

Mini LED monitors have backlighting made up of multiple points of light to better assist in isolating dark areas from the bright image – something LCD monitors are notoriously bad at compared to increasingly popular OLED alternatives. All accounts indicate that the improvement may be noticeable, but it is not yet contested by OLED, which can isolate black or bright whites per pixel.

LG will also ship modestly updated versions of its low-end NanoCell LED TVs this year, but again there is not much to distinguish these models from a myriad of similar TVs from other companies. Like the models mentioned above, NanoCell TVs will feature the new Game Optimizer feature.

List image by LG