What everybody must learn about Tandem OLED and WOLED TVs

I’ve stated it elsewhere, however I generally pity folks coming into the home theater area in 2026. Whereas the know-how is healthier than ever — a $500 TV would possibly blow away a $1,000 mannequin launched only a few years in the past — there’s such a lot of phrases and standards to know that procuring could be intimidating. HDR alone has 4 main requirements, solely two of that are liable to be necessary going ahead.

Panel know-how often is the most complicated side in the intervening time. For a very long time, all you needed to know was that OLED was la crème de la crème. Now, nonetheless, it is not solely being challenged by requirements like MicroLED, however enhanced variations of itself. On this piece I’ll distinguish between two applied sciences, WOLED and tandem OLED, each of which is likely to be extra acquainted than you’d count on.

What’s WOLED?

An previous acquainted face that also has a spot

WOLED is brief for white OLED (organlc light-emitting diode). Whereas that time period would possibly really feel new, it is possible solely as a result of it wasn’t necessary to tell apart earlier than. The reality is that in the event you’ve owned any type of OLED TV prior to now, it was most likely WOLED-based, since shopper options to WOLED solely emerged in 2022. Extra on that in a second.

The gist of WOLED is that by itself, a real vanilla model of OLED would not be nice to your lounge. This most elementary tech passes white mild by means of crimson, inexperienced, and blue coloration filters, producing the colours you see in every pixel. However the consequence is not very vivid, or not less than not sturdy sufficient for regular viewing circumstances. You’d have to look at in a dim room — daylight viewing could be out of the query.

WOLED’s resolution to it is a fourth, unfiltered white subpixel, which boosts brightness to affordable ranges. Actually, trendy WOLED TVs are highly effective sufficient that in scenes with sturdy highlights, the whites could be blinding. That is enhanced by the first benefit of OLED: superior distinction, created by the flexibility to show particular person pixels on and off. Blacks on an OLED are pure. Most LCDs can solely get near black, since they’re depending on LED backlights which might be hardly ever shut off utterly.

What occurred in 2022 was the emergence of Samsung’s QD-OLED, the QD standing for quantum dot. This differs from WOLED by beginning with blue mild, which is definitely extra intense than white, regardless of the way in which your mind would possibly understand it. This passes by means of the quantum dots, which emit totally different colours based mostly on their measurement. The result’s much more spectacular coloration saturation versus WOLED. Notably, QD tech has since unfold elsewhere, as an example showing on Sony TVs.

Different corporations have caught with variations of WOLED, nonetheless, together with LG, which tried to compete with QD-OLED utilizing one thing known as MLA (micro lens array) OLED. This helped focus mild output. Certainly LG’s third-generation OLED units can obtain 3,000 nits of peak brightness, sufficient to be plainly seen in noon solar. Its first-gen OLED merchandise had been capped at simply 500 nits.

So what’s tandem OLED, and what makes it higher?

Double the enjoyable

Credit score: Apple

For many individuals, myself included, the primary they’d ever heard of tandem OLED was possible Apple’s 2024 iPad Professional. Up till that time, the corporate had solely used LCDs for iPads. You may also discover a tandem show in 2025 Pro fashions.

Apple’s model of the know-how actually stacks two panels collectively. This would possibly sound ridiculous, however the result’s amplified brightness, as much as 1,600 nits peak — about 1,000 greater than the LCD-based iPad Air. That is not as vivid as newer TVs, after all, however a pill is often not more than a few toes away out of your eyes. Most TV viewers are sitting not less than 3 times as distant, and the inverse-square regulation dictates that depth diminishes as a sq. of the gap from a lightweight supply. You really want increased brightness the additional away you’re, in different phrases.

There are different methods of going tandem. For its fourth-gen OLED TVs, LG has developed one thing dubbed Major RGB Tandem OLED. This separates a yellow layer (used within the third gen) into separate crimson and inexperienced layers, elevating peak brightness to 4,000 nits, and general coloration brightness to 2,100. You are not getting a number of sandwiched panels. As a substitute, there are merely 4 layers within the stack, the opposite two being blue.

There’s each good and dangerous information right here. The excellent news is that Major RGB Tandem OLED may also be present in some Panasonic and Philips TVs, and with all three manufacturers, the result’s a noticeably brighter image than earlier efforts — it doesn’t matter what you are watching. LG specifically claims decrease energy consumption, in addition to wider protection of the DCI-P3 and Rec.2020 coloration gamuts, as much as 99.5% and 83% respectively. Your eye most likely will not discover the additional coloration shades, however this does put LG’s tech roughly on par with QD-OLED.

The dangerous information is that there are only a few tandem OLED TVs in the marketplace, and so they’re not low-cost. As of this writing, the LG G5 begins round $1,800 for a 55-inch mannequin, and the Panasonic Z95B is $2,000. On condition that some similarly-sized WOLED units are promoting for $1,200 or much less, it’s important to be deeply obsessive about image high quality to justify the leap. The financial savings may very well be put in the direction of a soundbar, a recreation console, or just paying off your payments.

Relative to QD-OLED, there might also be barely inferior element in near-black shades. For a purist with a fats price range, this is likely to be a difficulty, provided that one of the best QD-OLED TVs are already as vivid as tandem OLED.

The elephant within the room

Some notes on the longer term

Credit score: Samsung

In the end, all types of OLED could also be on their method out. Do not get me incorrect — any mannequin you purchase as we speak goes to look wonderful, and final a really very long time so long as you preserve it correctly. However inside the subsequent few years, OLED may very well be supplanted by MicroLED and micro RGB, which use microscopic crimson, inexperienced, and blue LEDs. These merge the precision of OLED with the brightness and longevity of LCD/LED panels. On high of this, they ship near-perfect coloration accuracy.

The true catch in the intervening time is worth. Each codecs are so new and costly that in the event you may even discover a set, it is liable to value you tens of 1000’s of {dollars} — Samsung’s 115-inch micro RGB set is $30,000. It will take smaller sizes and mass manufacturing to carry costs all the way down to affordable ranges.

If you happen to already personal a WOLED TV and also you prefer it, then, you should not be in a rush to purchase a tandem OLED product. Somewhat persistence may land you one thing higher, assuming these manufacturing hurdles are overcome.