2024 is coming to a close and if you were to ask many of the home cinema team what's top of their Christmas wishlist to Santa… it wouldn’t be the subject of this opinion piece.
For me personally, that remains finding and making friends with Gizmo from Gremlins – don’t worry, I wouldn’t feed him after midnight.
But with the brightness boosting Micro Lens Array (MLA) and Quantum Dot OLED (QD-OLED) we’ve seen and been impressed by on numerous flagship TVs this year appearing on step-down models in 2025, such as the fabled LG C5, would be at the very least in our top 20.
There’s a good reason for that. Both technologies are fantastic and help key sets we’ve reviewed including the LG G4, Panasonic Z95A and Samsung S95D deliver wonderfully bright, five-star performances this year.
Not convinced by our five-star ratings alone? Here’s what we said about MLA’s impact on the LG G4:
“LG’s second generation MLA OLED tech improves on all the areas that made the first generation great. Highlights include stellar HDR performance, wonderfully immersive and accurate colours that are consistent from the brightest to darkest parts of the picture, and stellar motion handling.”
And the Panasonic Z95A:
“Playing our tried and tested Top Gun: Maverick 4K Blu-ray disc, the Z95A delivers a wonderfully punchy but truly authentic picture. The added punch of MLA makes the rippling reflections of the sun on the ocean sparkle in a way you simply don’t get on standard OLEDs, adding a wonderful three-dimensionality to the picture.”
The same was true with QD-OLED on the Samsung S95D, where our testers reported:
“Samsung’s latest QD-OLED hero isn’t just better than its already technically impressive predecessor – it’s so much better that it might just be one of those genuine ‘moments’ in TV development that alters traditional thinking about the roles different types of TV technology have in today’s AV world.”
So in summary, they are both very good upgrades that can radically improve an OLED TV’s picture quality. The only downside is that both technologies are still incredibly expensive.
As it stands, any TV with the tech is going to cost you well north of £1500 / $1500, even if you opt for a smaller size. The 55-inch LG G4 is currently selling for £1899 / £2199 on the company’s official store, for example.
Which is why, we’d hoped, after multiple years on the market, 2025 would be the year we’d finally see the two trickle down a price point and appear on the step-down models.
Sadly all evidence suggests this isn’t happening. Jump over to our LG C5 rumour round up and you’ll see the latest sea of “leaks” suggest the C-series is only getting a very modest update to its AI processing. No MLA.
The Samsung S90E’s future is less clear as we haven’t seen any real credible rumours about it, but even the most optimistic reports suggest QD-OLED would at best appear on only a select number of the step down sets. On top of that, those with it wouldn’t be flagged or specially marked by Samsung – meaning if you buy one, it will be a lottery whether it has QD-OLED.
So all in all, it’s not looking good for MLA and QD-OLED coming down in price next year, which is a crying shame. Here’s hoping for 2026…
MORE:
These are the best OLED TVs we’ve reviewed
We rate the best Dolby Atmos soundbars
Our picks of the best TVs
