Michael Gariffo/ZDNET
The last five years or so have seen the television market diversify to the point where it’s hard to keep up. Simple LCD and plasma TVs have been replaced by a veritable alphabet soup of acronyms like QLED, Neo QLED, OLED, Mini LED, Micro LED, and probably a few other variations I’m forgetting. It’s a lot for a tech writer to keep track of, let alone the average consumer.
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In this article, I’ll clarify the differences between two of the most popular technologies: Neo QLED and OLED. I’ll demystify each technology, the pros and cons of both, and define which might best serve you in your next TV.
What is Neo QLED?
A trio of Samsung’s Neo QLED TVs in 4K and 8K resolutions.
Samsung
Let’s start with the basics. Neo QLED (Neo Quantum Light Emitting Diode) is a name exclusive to Samsung for its 4K and 8K televisions. The panels employ what Samsung calls Quantum Matrix technology, which provides backlighting via thousands of tiny LEDs. Each LED is a small fraction of the size of those in older TV backlighting setups. This makes Neo QLED’s closest non-proprietary analog Mini LED (explained below in the FAQ section).
Also: The best QLED TVs you can buy (from 50 to 98 inches)
The benefit of this panel is that you have thousands of lighting zones. In older TVs, sections of the screen that should be pitch black appear gray or milky due to the limited number of lighting zones. Some older TVs have as few as four for the whole screen. With Neo QLED, precise portions of the screen are lit. The result is an image with better, sharper contrast between lights and darks and more accurate colors. Color accuracy is also helped by Samsung’s use of its Quantum Dot technology, which provides additional light filtration on a pixel-by-pixel basis to make the colors more accurate and richly saturated.
What is OLED?
A 97-inch LG OLED TV at CES 2023.
June Wan/ZDNET
OLED is an older, non-proprietary technology that differentiates itself using a single layer that provides light and color. Where Neo QLED and most other panel types rely on one layer to provide the colors for the individual pixels and another layer to light up those colored pixels, OLED panel pixels provide their own light.
An OLED TV is essentially an array of millions of microscopic, color-changing LEDs. Each pixel emits colored light, meaning there are as many lighting zones as there are pixels. Each one can also switch off entirely, providing perfect black levels.
Also: Must-have OLED TVs: The crown jewel of home theaters
OLED televisions have been around for years, with almost every major TV manufacturer producing a version.
Which is better, Neo QLED or OLED?
This model of Sony OLED is thinner than the Pixel 6 Pro used in the pic.
Rebecca Isaacs/ZDNET
As with most technology comparisons, there’s no universal answer here. The right answer depends on what content you watch, your budget, your viewing environment, and your personal preferences.
Some models of Samsung’s Neo QLED television feature the option to display multiple sources and apps at once.
SamsungNeo QLED pros and cons Pros:Brightness – Due to its use of discrete, miniaturized LEDs for backlighting, Samsung’s Neo QLED tech creates images four to five times brighter than OLED panels on average. This makes Neo QLED panels great for brightly lit rooms.
Refresh rate – While OLED TVs and monitors are finally catching up to their competition’s refresh rates, there is a wider selection of Neo QLED displays with higher refresh rates. This refresh rate is important for gaming and watching fast-paced live sports. Cost – There are certainly more budget-friendly OLED options than ever. However, many models sacrifice port selection, smart TV features, and other useful display tech to reach a budget price while still including OLED panels. Neo QLED, on a feature-by-feature comparison, typically comes at a price of at least a few hundred dollars below an equivalent OLED model.Cons: Imperfect black levels – While Neo QLED is one of OLED’s closest competitors for ideal black levels, it still can’t match the contrast of OLEDs. This deficiency is because Neo QLED lights millions of pixels with only thousands of LEDs. The result is minimal, but still visible, light bleed. Selection – Unlike OLED TVs, Neo QLED displays are exclusive to Samsung. This exclusivity means that if you’re not a fan of Samsung’s Smart TV interface, design philosophy, or the company as a whole, you’re out of luck. OLED panels are, conversely, made by a slew of manufacturers you can choose from. Thickness – It might seem comical to call a Neo QLED TV thick (most are around one inch in depth), but they’re still much thicker than OLED panels. There’s a reason OLED technology remains so popular in smartphones. The tech provides one of the slimmest display panels you can buy. OLED TVs practically disappear when viewed edge-on.
OLED TVs won’t give you a million-dollar infinity pool to look at behind them, but this Sony model would still look futuristic in any living room.
SonyOLED pros and cons
Pros: Contrast and black levels – OLED’s contrast and black levels are unmatched. If you watch a lot of content with dark scenes (like horror movies or video games), you’ll have a better experience with an OLED. Thinness – Although most OLED TVs will have a section toward the bottom end about two inches thick, most of the display is thinner than your smartphone, often dropping to 1/4-inch thick in some models. This thinness provides visual appeal and premium quality, especially when mounted on a wall.Model diversity – OLED TVs were once almost wholly the domain of LG. That situation has changed dramatically. Nearly every major manufacturer, Samsung included, has joined the party. OLED models are now available in a wider variety of sizes, resolutions, and price points than ever before. Cons: Price – OLED prices have fallen somewhat, but a fully featured OLED TV will almost always be more expensive than alternative technologies. Fragility – All that thinness means the panels can be delicate. Any television will shatter from a hard blow, but OLEDs even require caution when mounting them thanks to their ultra-slim display panels. The TVs can’t support their weight, making lifting them into place by their beefier bottom sections particularly tricky. Burn-in risk – Burn-in happens when a display retains residual images that won’t disappear, no matter how many times its pixels are refreshed. If you’ve ever had a monitor with a permanent, ghostly version of a Windows taskbar, you’ve experienced this issue. OLED panels can be more prone to burn-in than competing LED technology. While manufacturers have used numerous methods to combat this issue, and panels are more resilient than they were, it’s still worth considering, especially if you expect to display static imagery for extended periods.
Hopefully reading this piece will prevent you from being as confused as this guy looks.
Getty
Should I buy a Neo QLED or OLED TV?
There are some categories of consumers to whom I would recommend one type over the other:
Gamers or sports fans – Neo QLED: The additional available brightness, more common availability of 120Hz refresh rates, and lack of worry about in-game graphics or sports score overlays causing burn-in all point toward Neo QLED being the better choice.Movie buffs and binge-watchers – OLED: If you’re building a home cinema around your new TV and want the best contrast ratio and richest colors, OLED is the way. Most OLED models shine even more when sticking to the careful color grading of big-budget films and modern prestige TV series. Viewers with super-bright living rooms – Neo QLED: OLED’s rich colors and dark blacks won’t matter if the image is too dark to see thanks to ambient light from windows or lamps. While you can try to reduce room light using window treatments or dimmers, it’s not always practical. For this reason, the vastly superior maximum brightness of Neo QLED wins here.Picky interior decorators and others who prioritize aesthetics – OLED: The ultraslim profile of an OLED TV gives it two advantages. First, it makes the TV almost vanish when viewed from the side. Second, it makes the television much easier to hide in a cabinet.
The fact is both Neo QLED and OLED TVs are great and you’re not going to be disappointed with either. There are models of either TV type that will blow away anything that came before and will likely make you forget any doubts you had the second you flip it on for the first time in your living room.
FAQs
Whichever side of this article you settle on, it’s a good idea to future-proof your purchase by selecting a model that supports the latest HDMI technology. HDMI 2.1, the current standard, supports features like resolutions of up to 10K at 120Hz, Dynamic HDR for the best color performance, and reduced latency for gaming. Don’t break your budget for an HDMI 2.1 model, but consider if it might be worth spending a bit more on a TV that supports it now so you can hang onto that display further into the future.
We’ll focus on the most important and practical ones:
Mini LED – Essentially a non-proprietary version of the same tech used in Neo QLED, but without Samsung’s Quantum Dot layer overlaying it. Mini LED offers much of the same contrast performance levels, but not necessarily the same color performance.Micro LED – A technology that promises to finally match OLED by using LEDs that are so small they can light individual pixels. The tech has yet to reach mass production in full-sized TV displays. QLED – Essentially Neo QLED’s older sibling which relies on quantum dot technology to help color and lighting. Neo QLED outperforms QLED in most categories.LED – The tech that started it all. This older panel type typically relies on fewer LEDs in zones behind the display or around its edges. LED has largely been replaced by technologies that can produce more accurate lighting zones. Here’s an explanation of the difference between LED and OLED.
Also: Is OLED better than QLED?
This is a common point of contention between shoppers in the same household. Some say “the biggest one you can afford” is the answer, but others note that even 4K resolutions look less appealing when stretched beyond 65 inches and viewed up close.
Samsung advises using “Viewing distance (in inches)/2 = recommended TV size” as your rule of thumb. This means you should get a 60-inch TV if you plan to sit 10 feet (120 inches) from the display, a 30-inch model if you’re only 5 feet away, or a massive 80-inch screen if you’re over 13 feet away.
I’d suggest getting some cardboard or thick paper and mocking up the different potential sizes. Seeing the real-world scale of the rectangle you’ll be staring at often clarifies things better than any equation can.