LCD-based TVs (including LED/LCD, QLED, and MiniLED) are the most common type of TV available to consumers. However, OLED-based TVs (WOLED from LG Display and QD-OLED from Samsung) are also available and favored by many TV buyers because of their ability to display deeper black and greater pixel level details.
Unlike LCD-based TVs, which require a light source in combination with the LCD screen panel to display images, OLED TV technology takes a different approach.
OLED TVs employ organic LED pixels to display images. Organic LEDs are self-emitting which produce both light and color and contain all of the image information down the pixel level. This simplifies TV construction as it reduces the number of elements needed to display images for the viewer.
Almost all OLED TV screen panels are made by LG Display Company (a sister company to LG Electronics). The panels are sold to several TV makers including LG Electronics, Sony, Vizio, Panasonic, and Phillips. Although each company uses LG Display’s OLED panels, they each add their own video processing features, connectivity, and streaming platform to differentiate their TV products. For a full rundown on OLED TV technology up to this point, refer to our reference article: WTF is an OLED TV?
OLED TV Evolution
OLED has gone through several generations, the most recent being Generation 3 (referred to as OLED META) introduced in 2023. OLED META employs MLA technology (Micro Lens Array or Meta-Lit Lens Array). The core element of this technology is a convex lens array (consisting of thousands of micro-sized lenses) that is placed on the OLED display panel which results in an increased brightness.
OLED META has proven to be effective, but apparently not effective enough as after only two years, LG Display has dumped its 3rd Generation OLED META Platform for a 4th Generation OLED META platform. However, instead of using MLA as a core component, LG has implemented what it refers to as Primary RGB Tandem technology.
This panel structure is also referred to as “four-stack” as it consists of two OLED layers of blue elements, while the yellow OLED element is divided into green and red elements.
The result of this new panel is that better color accuracy and increased light output (brightness) can be achieved without using an additional MLA layer, thus reducing complexity. LG Display claims that the Primary RGB Tandem panel can provide as much as 4,000 Nits peak white brightness (2,100 nits color brightness) which rivals the brightest LED/LCD-based TVs and also puts it on par with Samsung’s latest QD-OLED panel implementation.
Brightness has always been a weak point of OLED TVs (along with burn-in susceptibility), but it looks like LG Display has come a long way in solving both issues and LG Electronics and Panasonic are embracing these solutions for their OLED TV products.
LG Display has indicated that the color gamut for DCI-P3 coverage has been boosted from 98.5% with previous MLA OLED panels to 99.5% with the 4-stack panel.
In addition to the increased benefits provided by the new panel, LG Display has also offered Ultral-low Reflection technology (probably similar to Samsung’s Anti-Glare screen to be used on its higher-end QD-OLED TVs in 2025).
4th Generation OLED Implementation
The first OLED TVs to feature LG Display’s 4th Generation panel technology include: LG G5, LG M5, and Panasonic Z95B. Although we saw both TVs at CES separately, only Panasonic demonstrated their older OLED (Z95A) with the new Z95B side by side at their launch event. The looping demo material appeared to show improvements, but they were subtle. Color vibrancy on the Z95B did appear to have more pop, while shades of flowing white silk scarf revealed slightly more detail.
Pro Tip: The Panasonic Z95B also touts the incorporation of a ThermalFlow cooling system, which adds further long-term stability. It is possible that the LG models may include this cooling system also, but LG has been tight-lipped to reveal too much so far.
With no TV news from Sony at CES, we wonder if Primary RGB Tandem panels could be apart of Sony’s 2025 OLED TV line-up?
Bottom Line
From 2013 through 2021, OLED TV technology did not change much but since 2022 there has been a rapid evolution of its capabilities as the gap between LED/LCD TV technology and OLED TV technology has been narrowing. At CES 2025, LG Display took a lot of us by surprise by announcing 4th Generation OLED TV technology just two years after its 3rd Generation.
Since LCD-based have previously earned a brightness advantage in the highest end models, it seems new 4-stack WOLED technology may be narrowing that gap. However, keep in mind these new OLED TVs are still likely to cost more than comparable sized LCD TVs. So ultimately will improvements in OLED be enough to sway more TV buyers to pay a premium for the latest TV technology?
Related Reading
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