What is RGB LED TV? Everything You Need to Know About Next-Gen TV Tech in 2026
Micro RGB TVs should still offer better contrast than their mini-LED rivals, as their smaller size could theoretically provide darker areas for better overall black levels. They can also easily provide natural and granular color changes, although we won’t know how much better or how different they are until we’ve spent more time with the variety. Samsung’s 2025 prototype was impressive in the short time I spent with it, with great colors, clarity, and brightness. You can currently buy Samsung’s first Micro RGB TV in 115-inch size for a cool $30,000, but 2026 will see more affordable sizes and (presumably) prices.
What is an RGBY LED?
Just as we’re all getting our heads around this new era of RGB LED lighting, Hisense has once again moved the needle. After pushing RGB LED lighting into the spotlight at CES 2025, the company used CES 2026 to reveal its new 116UXS RGB mini-LED TV that adds a new color element to the red, green, and blue RGB modules with the introduction of cyan. (This is not to be confused with Hisense’s emissive Micro LED TV, which again uses cyan in its color composition.)
“Cyan sits in the part of the spectrum where human vision is most sensitive to subtle changes and its addition allows the 116UXS to provide gradients, tones and changes with a level of nuance that feels natural and lifelike,” Hisense said in its press release. The TV is said to go above and beyond current RGB LED technology with an impressive 110 percent coverage of the BT.2020 color spec, as well as audio features such as the Devialet Opéra de Paris 6.2.2 channel sound system. We don’t know much about it or its backlight technology right now, but we expect it to come with a higher price tag when it becomes available.
What About SQD LED?
TCL was one of the few major panel makers that did not show an RGB LED TV at CES 2026. Instead, the company revealed another new display technology that improves many of today’s quantum-dot-enabled (or QLED) displays, called Super Quantum Dot mini-LED. Starting with TCL’s new 85-inch X11L SQD mini-LED TV, the new technology combines traditional blue mini-LED light with “newly developed” Super Quantum dots, as well as a new UltraColor filter.
The TV offers the same impressive specs as high-end RGB LED TVs, including a maximum brightness of up to 10,000 nits and 100 percent of the BT.2020 color spectrum—though the brand also notes that the latter is based on “typical performance of tested units” and that “actual results may vary.” TCL goes on to say that its new display technology reduces color artifacts compared to RGB LED TVs, and that the X11L’s WHVA 2.0 panel is designed to offer a “wider color viewing angle” and improved contrast of deep black levels to better compete with OLED displays.
Although I haven’t seen the X11L in person yet, it made a big impression at the show, promising to be an exciting new competitor to RGB LED in this rapidly evolving market. The X11L SQD TV is available now in 75-, 85-, and 98-inch sizes starting at $7,000.
RGB TVs to Buy in 2026
Hosted by Hisense
One of the most exciting things about RGB LED is that it is already here. In fact, Hisense started selling its first model, the UX Series RGB mini-LED TV, in 2025, albeit in larger sizes with correspondingly larger price tags. That’s changing this year, with more RGB LED TV models set to be available in modest sizes, hopefully with affordable price tags. That’s why we declared 2026 the year of RGB LED TV. Here are the RGB LED TV models we know of so far:
RGB LED TVs Available Now
Samsung’s first Micro RGB backlit TV claims to offer the “smallest backlight system available on any RGB LED TV” and 100 percent of the BT.2020 color spectrum, Samsung’s glare-free coating, and is powered by Samsung’s Micro RGB AI engine. The short time I spent with a sample of this TV provided a stunning display, with incredibly vivid colors. At CES 2026, Samsung also released a 130-inch RGB LED TV with a different design that the brand calls “the highest level of image quality innovation,” but it’s not clear when or if this TV will be available.
Hisense’s mini-LED RGB TV was equally impressive at CES 2025. It achieves 95 percent of the BT.2020 color gamut from more than 20,000 color control units, and claims up to 8,000 brightness.
RGB LED TVs are coming soon
Samsung’s latest Micro RGB TV lineup will include 55-, 65-, 75-, 85-, 100-, and 115-inch models, which should mean more affordable prices. Along with more accessible screen sizes, highlights include Samsung’s next-generation Micro RGB AI Engine Pro chipset and an improved Micro RGB light source with “enhanced color” RGB dimming for improved accuracy. All TVs will feature Samsung’s glare-free matte screen technology.
Dubbed the “most advanced LCD TV,” LG’s Micro RGB evo will include an advanced processor and is said to achieve 100 percent BT.2020 coverage, the widely used DCI-P3, and Adobe RGB color gamuts.
With the goal of making RGB LED lighting technology available to “more homes, more screen sizes, and more price points,” the UR9 and UR8 models are probably the most affordable RGB LED TVs we’ve seen to date. Calling the new models proof of “what’s so much,” we hope these TVs may end up somewhere in the top tier of current OLED and QLED technologies, although pricing is still up in the air. Although specs are limited so far, Hisense says these models will offer “a dramatically expanded color range with richer saturation and more accurate tonal reproduction than the best TVs on the market.” I can’t wait to see what they deliver.
It’s still early days for RGB displays, and it’s too soon to count another new display technology or OLED, which continues to evolve beyond our expectations. We’ll find out more this year, but what’s clear is that the future of TV is brighter, cheaper, and better looking than ever.
