- Samsung’s RGB-backlit TV is starting a production trial
- It’s a larger size than Samsung originally discussed, at 115 inches
- RGB backlighting means better color and dimming zones
Samsung is starting to test the production line for its the RGB MicroLED TV range it unveiled at CES 2025 – but unfortunately the first TVs coming off the line will be for people with big spaces and bigger bank balances.
As The Elec reports, the first production run for this TV will be a 115-inch model, and at that size all bets are off regarding prices. While this won’t be the price of ‘real’ microLED TVs (which tend to run to six figures), it still won’t be cheap when it’s this size.
What Samsung calls an RGB MicroLED TV is not a microLED TV. It’s a mini-LED TV with a next-gen backlight with smaller LEDs that can product full RGB color, instead of being a single color. As The Elec says, technically it’s an RGB mini-LED LCD TV – of a similar kind to a rival coming from Hisense, with TCL also announcing that it’ll use the tech in a set.
It’s an important distinction, because microLED TV, like the best OLED TVs, have a self-emitting light for every pixel; that is, each pixel produces its own light. Mini-LED TVs do not – they have a color-filtering pixel layer in front of backlight of LEDs. And it’s that backlight that differentiates this Samsung RGB TV from the best mini-LED TVs available now.
Why RGB Mini-LED is going to be worth waiting for
The RGB bit is a big step forwards. It means that instead of a white backlight, the panel has red, green and blue LEDs. That enables it to deliver bright, rich colors without as many color filtering layers as are needed currently, which all absorb light. The end result will be more efficient TVs with more beautiful colors at the same time.
So how much will this TV cost? We don’t know, but Samsung told TechRadar Managing Editor Matt Bolton at CES that it shouldn’t cost much, if any, more than regular mini-LED TVs. In April, Hisense announced that its 116-inch RGB MiniLED TV would have a price of 99,999 yuan, which is about $14,000 – not a surprising price for a high-end mini-LED TV that’s this large at all.
I mean, that’s a lot. But at the same time, it’s not: true microLEDs TV are frighteningly expensive. Samsung’s own true microLED TVs start at $90,000 for 76 inches, while LG’s Magnit microLED TV is $237,000 for 118 inches.
Last summer it was reported that Samsung has told suppliers that until production costs drop by a whopping 90%, microLED won’t be ready for prime time. We’ve been told by manufacturers that even five years is optimistic – and that’s just for commercial viability. There’s a big gulf between commercial viability and mass-market affordability.
For now, this is the next big TV tech on the horizon – and while it’s only arriving at 115 inches, we expect this to take much less time to arrive in sizes that can fit in the average home. It just won’t be this model…
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