While it’s typically LG’s QNED TV that grabs the headlines, the South Korean brand’s first official 2021 TV range announcement concerns a new premium tier of LCD models.
Called the QNED Mini LED range, the new models use a new panel structure that combines as their name sort of suggests – the color performance of quantum (dot) nanocell technology with the contrast potential of Mini LED light source technology.
The former is claimed to deliver an even wider and more subtly delineated color range than LG’s impressive current Nanocell technology, while the latter deploys (in a new 86-inch 8K model) up to almost 30,000 tiny LEDs across almost 2,500 separately controlled zones driven by advanced local dimming technology.
This should, of course, greatly enhance contrast and shadow detail. In fact, LG claims its new QNED Mini LED TVs can deliver contrast ratios of one million to one.
This is a huge figure by any LCD standards, but it’s especially remarkable for LG’s LCD models given that they typically use IPS LCD panels that sacrifice a little contrast for wider viewing angles.
LG isn’t talking about model numbers or prices for its new category of LCD TV yet, but it has confirmed that the QNED Mini LED models will form a new premium LCD tier, sitting above LG’s previous Nanocell flagships, and will be available in 4K and 8K configurations, with support for 120Hz refresh rates.
There will be new Nanocell models for 2021 too, but these will now take on mid-range LCD status. While clearly excited by its introduction of Mini LED backlighting, LG is keen to stress that even the new QNED Mini LED TVs should not be considered rivals in contrast terms for the self-emissive talents of LG’s OLED TVs, in which every pixel produces its own light.
Mini LED still depends on exterior backlighting; it’s just that now that backlight can deliver much more localized control than we’ve seen on any previous LG LCD TVs.
It’s tempting to speculate from these statements that the new QNED Mini LED TVs might slot in price-wise somewhere between the 2021 Nanocell range and LG’s next C series of OLEDs maybe even its next entry-level B series.
That said, if the new premium LCD sets can deliver significantly more brightness than the 2021 OLEDs (LG’s press information does mention ‘incredible peak brightness’), then maybe their pricing could justifiably end up at similar levels to the OLED models.
I’ll bring you confirmed launch pricing information and more precise range details when they emerge – likely in the next two weeks, as part of LG’s upcoming virtual CES announcements.
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