All of LG’s 2026 OLED TVs have finally launched, and I’ve had the chance to test all three of its major models. The flagship LG G6 earned five stars, as did the mid-range LG C6. I’ve also tested the LG B6 and it’s a very good TV, although not without its setbacks as I noted in my LG B6 and LG B5 comparison.
LG’s three major 2026 OLEDs are likely to feature as three of the best TVs for this year, but they’ve all had interesting changes to their picture profile. I had the G6 and B6 in at the same time, and notably the G6 had become less green-tinted than its predecessor, while the B6 has before more green-tinted — so I thought I should see how they compare to each other.
Bright scenes and bright room viewing
The G6’s measured peak HDR brightness clocked in at 2,475 nits: the brightest OLED I’ve measured to date. The B6’s measured peak HDR brightness was 835 nits. Both these results were taken in each TV’s out-of-the-box Filmmaker Mode. This means the G6 is nearly three times brighter than B6 for peak brightness.
It’s a similar story for fullscreen brightness. The G6’s measured fullscreen HDR brightness was 456 nits, while the B6 registered 150 nits. Again, this was in the default Filmmaker Mode. That again means the G6 is three times brighter.
Numbers are all well and good, but how did this translate for real-world viewing? In shots from the Spears & Munsil HDR footage, the G6’s whites looked a lot more vibrant compared to the B6.
A shot of a group of wind turbines during the day really popped on the G6, with the blue of the sky and the white of each turbine benefitting from the G6’s bolder brightness. The B6 still looked good despite its much lower brightness, but lacked the full punch in comparison.
This trend continued with movie scenes as well. At the end of the ‘Wizard & I’ scene from Wicked, as Elphaba runs through a wheat field to the edge of a white-stone cliff, the G6 showed much punchier brightness, particularly in highlight areas such as the cliff. The yellow wheat looked more accurate too, as it shone in the bright sun.
In some bright scenes however, the B6 did show that it could hang with the G6. In one shot of a city skyline at dusk, which had a large blue sky with pink and orange highlights, the B6 had perceived brightness that was much closer to the G6, especially with said highlights.
The B6 also showed good brightness when watching a desert scene from Lawrence of Arabia. The white sands actually appeared brighter than the G6 in some places, but it did show signs of clipping, where it struggled to handle the detail in the brightness, whereas the G6’s image was more natural.
There was one area however where the G6’s superiority was absolute: reflections. OLED TVs are typically very reflective due to their glossy screens and only Samsung’s top OLEDs, such as the Samsung S95F, were adept at handling reflections… until the LG G6 came along.
The G6 uses an anti-reflective layer that’s so effective that when I compared the G6 to the S95F, I ended up preferring the G6 for bright room viewing. (We’ll test the new Samsung flagship soon to see if it gets back on top.)
The B6 is a reflective screen even by OLED standards, and it’s one of my main gripes with it. Putting these two side-by-side, the G6 has a major advantage to match its higher price.
The G6 even does an excellent job with pictures with large, dark areas, showing only minimal reflections. The B6 can’t really handle these scenes well in brighter viewing conditions.
Darker scenes and contrast
I next switched to darker scenes and darker viewing conditions. Both TVs demonstrated strong contrast, but again the G6’s higher peak brightness helped create a more powerful perceived contrast.
Watching The Batman, in Dolby Vision Filmmaker Mode, as Bruce works in the Batcave and talks with Alfred, the overhead lights and electronic devices on Bruce’s desk were punchier on the G6 compared to the B6.
While at times the B6 could look brighter, it did sometimes show the same signs of clipping as it did in Lawrence of Arabia. The G6 also demonstrated deeper, richer dark tones in the Batcave’s shadowed areas. This meant the G6 had a stronger perceived contrast, and more nuance across all the tones in the scene, making for a more satisfying watch.
Both TVs had good shadow detail, with most objects within dark areas still legible. There were hints of black crush on the G6 compared to the B6 at times, but the B6’s dark tones also appeared raised on occasion. Overall, the G6 felt more film-accurate.
Unfortunately, as I’d found in my LG B6 vs B5 comparison, various scenes in The Batman really showed off the B6’s green tint next to the G6. In the post-fight subway scene at the start of the movie, the dark walls behind Batman took on a green color, whereas the G6’s took on a cooler blue-grey.
The G6 was more in-line with what I’d seen on other TVs and looked more accurate to the movie.
Switching to Alien: Romulus, a ‘brighter’ (but still high-contrast) movie compared to The Batman, both TVs showed refined contrast delivering a good balance between the dark tones of space and the vibrant white stars. Again, the G6 had the edge thanks to that higher peak brightness, but the B6 still looked good as well.
Colors
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Color reproduction once again varied from movie to movie. At times, the G6 delivered much bolder, richer colors than the B6 — and at other times, it was a much closer call.
In Ben-Hur, the roman soldiers’ extremely vibrant red capes dazzled on both TVs and while the G6 had slightly more color depth, the B6 did an excellent job in its own right. The same was true of the soldiers’ gold chestplates, which again had a nice punch on both TVs.
Switching to The Mask, both TVs did a great job accurately reproducing the gaudy yellow of The Mask’s suit. While it was slightly punchier on the G6, the B6 still looked plenty vibrant. There were some other details throughout the movie, such as the red pillows in Stanley’s room, which did pop more on the G6, but it wasn’t completely obvious.
There were some scenes where the G6’s colors really stood out, however. In the ‘Wizard & I’ scene from Wicked, the yellow stone of the walls of the school had more vibrancy on the G6, while still looking accurate. On the B6, they took on a dimmer, softer hue.
The pink flowers above Elphaba’s head as stands under a tree were much more vivid on the G6 as well and while the B6 could be argued as having a more natural tone, the G6’s reproduction suited the movie more.
Finally, I conducted a quick color banding test, using a scene from The Green Knight where a large patch of red appears on screen as Gawain swims through a dark lake.
In Dolby Vision, I’d found the G6’s banding was worse than the LG G5 and here, the G6 again seemed to have more banding than the B6, shown by the rings within the red areas on screen. The red itself, however, was much richer on the G6.
The best value
Putting the G6 and the B6 side-by-side, the G6 clearly delivers better picture quality. It has stronger contrast, punchier brightness, bolder, more refined colors and is way better in bright rooms. That’s not to say the B6 is bad, as it too delivers great overall picture quality. But, when considering which model is the best value, it becomes a lot tougher.
For a 65-inch G6, it costs $3,299 / £3,099 / AU$4,995 , whereas a 65-inch B6 will cost you $1,999 / £2,399 / AU$2,495. That’s a huge price difference that becomes even bigger if the B6E (a cheaper model that LG told me only lacks a couple of niche processing features) is available in your region, with a 65-inch model costing £1,699 in the UK!
While the G6 has the superior picture quality and faster processor, both TVs boast a suite of features you’d find on the best gaming TVs, both use the excellent webOS 26 smart TV platform and honestly, both could benefit from one of the best soundbars for an audio boost.
Between these two TVs, the G6 is my pick, but this comparison just drilled home for me that the title for best-value LG OLED goes to the LG C6.
Sitting in between these two TVs, a 65-inch costs $2,699 / £2,699 / AU$3,995, hitting a nice middle ground in price, while also delivering in performance.
It’s got higher brightness than its predecessor, looks more accurate and now has the same processor as the G6, so enjoys the same level of upscaling and motion handling. If you’re toying with which LG OLED to get, the C6 is my pick — the visuals are close enough the G6 that it’s worth saving the money, unless you really need the anti-reflection coating. But honestly, none of these TVs will let you down.
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james.davidson@futurenet.com (James Davidson)
