LG's first QNED Mini LED TV will feature up to 30,000 tiny LEDs

LG QNED Micro LED TV
(Image credit: LG)

LG has had a successful year regarding OLED TVs, becoming one of the best-known names on the market thanks to the launch of products like the Editors Choice winning LG CX OLED TV. On December 28 it was announced that LG will be giving its LCD-based products some love by joining the likes of TCL and Samsung, utilizing Mini LED technology for premium LCD TVs in the coming year.

The companies first QNED Mini LED TV is set to be revealed at the virtual CES 2021 from January 11, with a further batch of 4K and 8K models up to 86-inches being added to the LG product lineup over the course of next year.

Quantum TV?

QNED (quantum nano-emitting diode) display technology certainly sounds like something out of a sci-fi show, or at least a misprint of the QLED (quantum dot LED TV), which may cause some confusion for shoppers looking to purchase on of these units for themselves. Unsurprisingly, LG was explicitly careful not to claim that this new QNED technology will outshine its leading OLED models.

The upcoming line of QNED televisions will use Mini LED backlight technology, which provides improved brightness and contrast when compared to traditional LED TVs. This Mini LED tech is also seen in the TCL's 6-Series and 8-Series QLED TVs, and Samsung is imminently expected to announce its own product line.

Whilst it might not be a contender to dethrone OLED, Mini LED is still a considerable improvement on standard LCD televisions by using much smaller LEDs in a higher concentration. LG says its new backlight “comprises up to almost 30,000 tiny LEDs that produce incredible peak brightness and a contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1 when paired with up to 2,500 dimming zones and advanced local dimming zones.”

Despite production difficulties earlier in 2020, LG managed to ride out a tumultuous year with heavy demand for OLED televisions, making for its first profitable quarter in years. With this latest announcement and a lot of new product lineups to launch in 2021, LG televisions may find their way into more homes over the coming year.

Jess Weatherbed

Jess is a former TechRadar Computing writer, where she covered all aspects of Mac and PC hardware, including PC gaming and peripherals. She has been interviewed as an industry expert for the BBC, and while her educational background was in prosthetics and model-making, her true love is in tech and she has built numerous desktop computers over the last 10 years for gaming and content creation. Jess is now a journalist at The Verge.