Two fundamentally different TV technologies, QLED and OLED, have similar names.
If you’re buying a new TV, you’ll want to know the differences between each one.
In our side-by-side reviews, OLED beats QLED, but you can save some money with QLED.
All eyes were on transparent displays, glare-free screens and wireless televisions, among other innovations, as TV makers premiered their new lineups at CES 2024. (These are our favorite TVs from the show.) The best TVs advertise an alphanumeric soup of extras such as HDR, 120Hz and HDMI 2.1. TVs often include all of those features and more, making it tough to tell the difference.
Unlike the rest of those TV tech terms, QLED and OLED are fundamentally different, even though they’re only one letter apart. And in our side-by-side comparison reviews, one is better than the other.
For the last few years, Samsung has been branding its TVs “QLED.” Its 2024 QLED lineup includes Neo QLED models in 4K and 8K resolution, The Frame art TV, the Serif and the Sero rotating TV. But Samsung isn’t the only one: TCL also makes QLED TVs, including the excellent QM8, and Amazon has a Fire TV Omni QLED television of its own.
On the other side of the fence are OLED TVs. In the last few years, LG has dominated the OLED market, and its 2024 OLED TV lineup is more extensive than ever. Sony and Sharp also sell OLED TVs in the US. Adding to the confusion, Samsung has an OLED TV of its own, meaning it sells both OLED and QLED TVs.
So what’s the difference between OLED and QLED? We’ll start with picture quality. In our side-by-side comparison reviews, OLED beats QLED every time. None of the QLED TVs we’ve tested, including the Samsung QN90B, the TCL QM8 or the Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED, look as good as any of the OLED TVs we’ve tested, such as the LG C3, G3 or Samsung S95C. In every comparison we’ve done, the OLED TV won.
QLED vs. OLED: Quick summary of the TV technologies
Let’s start with a quick breakdown.
- OLED stands for “organic…
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