Thinking about picking up a new OLED TV, but not sure which to keep an eye on?
You're in the right place – here you will find all the key details about the top-performing OLED TVs our team of reviewers have personally tried and tested in our dedicated, controlled viewing rooms.
You can get a detailed breakdown of how we test OLED TVs at the bottom of the page, but the short version is that we get every OLED into our testing rooms and run a series of comparative checks.
These tests involve running it head-to-head with rival sets we think buyers would also consider. In each we make sure it offers the best picture, audio and feature set possible at its price point before including it on this list – so you can trust our buying advice.
You can also keep track of all the best discounts on our dedicated best OLED TV deals page, based on our experience reviewing them, some sets simply aren’t worth your money, even with radical price drops.
The quick list
You can see a quick breakdown of all the TVs in this list with a short summary of what they’re best at and why we think they’re worth your money in the table below. Or, if you want more detail you can use the skip links to go to our OLED TVs in-depth entry, where we’ll offer more detail about our experience using it.
Best overall
The Sony A80L is a What Hi-Fi? Award winner and the holistic best OLED TV we’d recommend to most people.
Best value OLED TV
The LG B3 is the cheapest OLED we’ve reviewed and a solid option for any home cinema fan on a strict budget.
Best premium
If money is no object and you’re willing to pay for the best performing OLED TV possible, Sony’s flagship QD-OLED is the one to get.
Best new
If you’re a person who always wants the newest product possible, then the LG C4 is the OLED TV we’d recommend. .
Best for gaming
If you own a PS5 or Xbox Series X and want a great OLED that won’t break the bank then the LG C3 is a fantastic choice.
Best Samsung
Samsung’s latest flagship QD-OLED is the tech giant’s best OLED TV to date and worth considering if you have the cash to spare.
Best 8K
8K is still in its very early stages, but if you want it and OLED in one package then the LG Z3 is the TV to get.
The best OLED TVs in 2024
Below you'll find full write-ups for each of the best OLED TVs in our list. We've tested each one extensively, so you can be sure that our recommendations can be trusted.
Best overall
The Sony A80L is the step down option in the Japanese giant’s OLED lineup and the set we recommend to most people.
It may not have the QD-OLED tech seen on its more expensive sibling, the A95L, but the What Hi-Fi? Award winning, 55-inch A80L we had in our viewing room still offers brilliant picture quality and the best holistic home cinema experience we’ve seen at its price.
The Cognitive Processor XR powering the show offers fantastic upscaling, thanks to the addition of Sony’s XR Clear image feature. This effectively sharpened 1080p content, like True Grit and basic Netflix streams incredibly accurately during our checks.
Accuracy is the word we’d continue to use when we switched to our 4K Blu-ray test discs. Whether it was shadow detail in the neon skyline of Blade Runner 2049 or Dolby Vision HDR performance watching Top Gun: Maverick, the A80L offered wonderfully authentic picture quality. Skin tones look accurate, even in demanding settings, like the incredibly bright, intentionally warm Mad Max: Fury Road.
The set’s atypical audio system also delivers impressive results by TV speaker standards. The system creates sound by using actuators to vibrate the whole TV panel. Weird? Yes. But during our listening sessions, the system delivered the best sonic performance we’ve experienced on an OLED this price, offering a better sense of direction and controlled low end than its direct competitors, such as the LG C4.
Our reviewers' conclusion says it all:
“It’s natural that we’re all drawn to the shiny promise of the super-bright new MLA and QD-OLED panel technologies, but the A80L proves that with impeccable processing, truly exceptional picture quality is still more than possible from a ‘standard’ OLED panel. This is a TV that combines the spectacular with cinematic subtlety in very rare fashion.”
Our only minor quibble is that, like most OLEDs, the A80L only has two HDMI 2.1 inputs, one of which doubles as its eARC. So if you have multiple current generation games consoles and a Dolby Atmos soundbar or speaker package, you will have to put up with some cable swapping. If you don’t need an OLED right now it’s also worth remembering the A80L is about to be superseded by Sony’s newer Bravia 8 OLED, which we’re hoping to review soon.
Read the full Sony XR-55A80L review
Best value
The LG B3 is about to be superseded by the LG B4 which, based on our early looks at a press preview session earlier this year, looks very impressive. But, until we get the newer B4 in our test rooms, the LG B3 is the best value OLED we’ve fully reviewed and can recommend. This is especially true in the current market, where the presence of the B4 means many retailers are offering great discounts on the B3 as they rush to clear stock.
For your money, you get an OLED that unashamedly focuses on getting the basics right in a bid to keep costs down. The big compromise is that, unlike its C-series sibling, the B3 only has two HDMI 2.1 sockets, one of which doubles as its eARC. This means that if you want Dolby Atmos audio and to run two modern game consoles at full power you’ll need to do some cable swapping.
However, if you’re just after a reliable TV to watch films and sports, the B3 is great. Comparing it with its more expensive sibling in a series of side by side picture comparisons in our test rooms we were amazed how well the B3 compared to the C3. Though it didn’t go quite as bright as the C3, the B3 still managed to deliver wonderfully inky blacks and great levels of contrast. This plus its rich and vibrant colours combine to deliver a truly immersive performance.
This is helped by the inclusion of WebOS which features app support for all the streaming services you’d expect and gaming-specific apps, like Steam Link and GeForce Now.
Our only word of caution is to make sure you save enough to invest in a soundbar to go with the B3, such as the Sonos Beam Gen 2. The B3’s inbuilt speakers have a distinctly dull tone, that can drain the fun out of even the most animated of shows, based on our listening checks.
This is why our reviewers concluded:
“The LG B3 does most of what makes the C3 great, and that makes it an excellent TV. It’s not cheaper by a huge degree, but unless you absolutely must have four HDMI 2.1 sockets or you regularly watch TV in a very bright room (and expect a very high level of performance in such conditions), there’s every reason to buy the B3 and pocket the change – or, preferably, put it towards the purchase of a soundbar.”
The best premium
If you’ve got money to spare and want the best performance possible from an OLED TV, regardless of whether it ranks highly in our hallowed performance-per-pound/dollar metric, then the Sony A95L is the one to get.
While it’s very expensive, and we think the A80L is better value in most ways, there’s no denying it offers the best picture you can get on an OLED TV, based on our testing. The big selling point is its use of a QD-OLED panel. This is a custom hardware built by Samsung that combines the company’s Quantum Dot technology with OLED in an attempt to boost max brightness levels and generally improve picture quality. If that sounds familiar, it should –, as QD-OLED is a direct rival to MLA, which is built by LG Display and has the same focus.
Whether it was running head to head with its predecessor, the Sony A95K, the MLA-equipped Panasonic MZ2000 or LG G4, our team of testers were united in their verdict that the A95L offered one of the best pictures we’ve experienced on an OLED.
The additional max brightness was particularly impressive, with bright scenes in the likes of Mad Max: Fury Road and Pan displaying noticeably brighter peak whites, and holding significantly more detail than rivals. On top of this, colour accuracy is noticeably improved, with skin tones having a pleasingly authentic feel, especially when compared to the A95K which we found had a warm, red tinge to it.
If that wasn’t enough to tempt you, its in-screen sound system offered great results by TV standards. The 2.2-channel actuator-based sound system, which creates sound by vibrating the screen, is backed up by two woofers that help it deliver more low-end heft than we expected.
As it stands, this combination of factors make it the best premium OLED TV we’ve tested. As noted by our reviewers:
“Be in no doubt; the Sony A95L is a stunning TV. Not only is it capable of going astonishingly bright and producing incredibly vibrant colours, but it also uses those abilities to recreate movies and TV shows more accurately than the TVs with which it is competing. On top of all of that, it's one of the best-sounding TVs you can buy.”
Read the full Sony A95L review
Best new
The LG C4 at first glance doesn’t look like a huge upgrade on the older, outgoing LG C3. There’s no brightness boosting MLA tech, as there is on the more premium LG G4, and its design is very similar to its predecessor’s. Unlike the more expensive LG G4, which we also gave five-stars after testing, it also uses a tweaked Alpha 9 processor not the all-new Alpha 11 – which has more AI processing smarts.
But the moment our reviewers unboxed it and got it running head-to-head against key rivals including the C3 and Sony A80L, we found it’s actually a very big upgrade on its predecessor.
For starters, the picture quality is night and day better than what we’ve seen on competing OLEDs this price. Whether it was the overcooked deserts of Top Gun: Maverick, the moody, dark Gotham cityscape in The Batman or the university campus seen in modern masterpiece Oppenheimer, the C4 universally delivers a punchy, sharp picture that retains a wonderfully authentic feel.
Interestingly, we also found LG has managed to radically improve its audio quality, despite the design remaining largely unchanged. Playing demanding scenes like the bass-heavy second chapter of BladeRunner 2049, the C4 offered much more low end heft and punch than its predecessor – though it still didn’t manage to come close to competing with the performance you get from any good budget soundbar, such as the Sonos Beam Gen 2.
This, plus its excellent app selection, which includes all the staples we’d expect plus a surprising number of local catch-up and specialist services – our editor-in-chief is particularly happy there’s a CrunchyRoll app – and inclusion of four HDMI 2.1 ports make it an easy recommendation.
Hence our reviewers concluded:
“The C4 is a surprisingly large upgrade on the uncharacteristically dull C3 of last year. Big improvements to brightness and sharpness make for an image with lots of pop and dynamism, and the rich tone and vibrant colours are a delight – but LG has tempered all of this with realism, consistency and authenticity. Sound quality has been significantly improved, too. This is the first 2024 mid-range OLED TV that we have tested, but it has laid the gauntlet for its rivals in dramatic fashion.”
The only minor caveat we have is that, having tested it, the LG G4 is a very compelling alternative if you’re obsessed with getting a 2024 “new OLED”. If you have the extra cash, the G4 is significantly brighter and has a noticeably more dynamic picture thanks to its use of MLA screen tech.
If you’re only interested in LG sets, and don’t mind picking up an older model, then the outgoing LG G3, while not quite as big of a performance jump from its predecessor as the G4, is also a very compelling option. Though stocks are beginning to dry up, the G3 has all the same gaming features, and comes with a first generation MLA panel, which makes it brighter than the C4. It’s also currently getting its price slashed on a regular basis.
Best gaming
If it was still retailing for its original RRP, then the LG C3 wouldn’t still hold a place in this list. But thanks to the appearance of the LG C4 and a subsequent flurry of price drops, the LG C3 remains a fantastic option and most cost effective OLED available to next-generation gamers.
While the C4 offers undeniable performance improvements, and we’d recommend the Sony A80L to people who need an OLED primarily for movie watching, the C3 has two big things going for it that make it better for gamers.
First, its gaming specs are flawless. For starters, you get four HDMI 2.1 sockets rather than the standard two we find on most OLED TVs. On top of that each supports every major feature you’ll need to make the most out of your PS5 or Xbox Series X/S, including 4K/120Hz, VRR and ALLM. Finally, the set atypically has Dolby Vision Gaming support and a clever HGiG mode. This let it offer brilliant HDR performance when gaming during our tests.
Second is the fact its price is coming down fast. We’ve already seen great deals on the C3, letting you pick up smaller sizes of it for surprisingly little. We expect to see yet more great deals appear during events such as Amazon Prime Day in the near future.
This means that, while its picture and audio don’t match its arch-rival, the A80L, and the newer C4 is better in many ways, from a performance-per-pound/dollar perspective it’s the best option available for gamers right now.
Read the full LG C3 review
Best Samsung
We know a lot of What Hi-Fi? readers and home cinema fans in general have strong brand loyalty. If you feel that way about Samsung and insist on your TV coming from the company, then the S95D is the set to get.
The S95D is Samsung’s third generation QD-OLED and, based on our experience, its finest OLED to date. The moment we set it up in our viewing rooms our testers were blown away by quite how much better it is than the older S95C, which has a tendency to overbake colours.
While we think the Sony A95L offers a more realistic, 'as the director intended', picture in most instances, there’s no denying the S95D is a very compelling OLED, especially for Samsung fans and gamers looking to spend a little more.
Comparing it to its predecessor, the S95D proved to be noticeably brighter, and a lot more controlled with the way it handles its picture.
Even when we ran incredibly demanding titles, which inherently have been mastered in an extreme way, such as Pan, Mad Max: Fury Road, and It Chapter One, the S95D delivered a balanced and authentic picture. We were particularly impressed with its ability to blisteringly high peak whites, which retained a wonderful amount of detail and resulted in industry leading contrast levels during our checks.
For gamers, it’s also close to perfect, featuring as it does four HDMI 2.1 inputs and being atypically capable of 144Hz frame rates, on top of the more standard 120Hz. However the latter will only be relevant to PC gamers with a modern graphics card. The only reason it’s not ranked quite as highly for gamers as the C3 is its price and the lack of a Dolby Vision Game Mode, which will be an annoyance for current generation Xbox owners.
Despite this, the stellar picture led our reviewers to heap praise on the TV, with them concluding:
“Samsung’s latest QD-OLED hero isn’t just better than its already technically impressive predecessor – it’s so much better that it might just be one of those genuine ‘moments’ in TV development that alters traditional thinking about the roles different types of TV technology have in today’s AV world.”
Read our Samsung S95D review
Best 8K
The LG Z3 is the latest 8K OLED to pass through our viewing rooms. Our advice to most people is to wait a little longer before investing in 8K as there’s next to no native content at that resolution available. But if you really want to get in on 8K early and insist on your TV being an OLED, this is the best available.
The set shares a lot of the same features as LG’s non-8K sets, including the use of brightness boosting MLA tech. During our checks this let it offer a wonderfully punchy, bright picture. It also showed off native 8K’s potential with the test footage we used during testing looking wonderfully detailed and showing how much more immersion the extra pixels can add.
Minus native 8K, its upscaling proved to be a solid step up on what we experienced with the older LG Z2. 4K material we ran with our reference set-up connected looked wonderfully sharp and had none of the artificial look we experienced reviewing earlier 8K sets. The only downside is that the Z3 proved to be slightly less bright than the LG G3, which has the same MLA tech, during our checks.
This plus its higher price is why we only recommend it to very early adopters. But if that doesn’t put you off, it is an excellent 8K TV, hence our reviewers’ conclusion:
“Viewed in isolation, the LG OLED77Z3 is in many ways a thing of beauty. Its 8K resolution both brings out the best of OLED’s self-emissive technology and enhances the appearance of any decent HD and 4K content you throw at it – as well as looking next-level sensational with native 8K sources if you can find any.”
Also consider
- LG G4: The LG G4 is an amazing, next generation OLED TV which delivered best in class picture performance during our checks. The only reason it’s not included as a main entry on this list is that, because it has just come out, its price is a little too high for us to recommend it over the Sony A95L. When prices begin to fall that will likely change, however.
- Philips OLED808: If the LG B3, or C3, don’t appeal to you then the Philips 808 is a fantastic value OLED that comes with the company’s Ambilight bias lighting.
- Samsung S95C: The Samsung S95C’s price is rapidly coming down now that the S95D is out. If you want a punchy, home cinema experience it remains a fantastic choice, though users who prefer a more balanced picture may find its colours a little too overcooked, hence its omission from the main list.
- Panasonic MZ2000: Panasonic’s first ever MLA-equipped OLED is an interesting beast that comes with a Technics-tuned speaker bar attached to its bottom. During testing we found lots to like about it, with the set offering the same 'as the director intended' experience Panasonic is famous for. Were it not for the presence of the A95L which offers marginally better audio and an equally great, albeit slightly cooler, picture it would likely be in this guide’s main list.
- LG G3: The LG G3 was the first MLA TV we tested, and while the LG G4 is fast approaching, it’s still an excellent option for gamers thanks to its inclusion of four HDMI 2.1 ports, and wonderfully punchy picture. Just be warned, you will need to invest in a soundbar or speaker package as its speakers are weak performers, even by TV standards.
What we look for in an OLED TV
Value for money: Even though OLED TVs are by nature a luxury item, whenever we review any product we put performance-per-pound (or Dollar if you’re in the US) first. This is a key metric we use to determine if something is good value for money – which is why if an OLED costs thousands more than a direct rival we expect it to perform significantly better.
That said, we still base our recommendations on performance and expect every set to achieve a baseline. To decide what this is we always see how they perform directly against rivals and step up or down models in our dedicated viewing rooms.
Picture quality: This is a primary point we look at when reviewing any OLED set. Key factors include: are the colours accurate? How good is the motion handling (which is a fancy way of saying do movements look natural and free of the dreaded Soap Opera Effect)? Is the picture vibrant and enticing? Is the HDR performance up to scratch in all the common standards, such as HDR10+, Dolby Vision and HLG? Are blacks deep enough and is there plenty of shadow detail?
Audio: On top of that, we gauge any OLED’s audio performance. There are plenty of OLED TVs doing the rounds with attached speaker bars purporting to “remove the need for a soundbar or speaker package”. We’re yet to find one that delivers on this promise so we still check key things such as how they handle bass-heavy scenes, dialogue, and (where applicable) surround sound formats and/or Dolby Atmos.
Gaming: Given that many people now regularly play games on their TV, when reviewing an OLED we always make sure it features the connectivity required to run a current generation console or PC at full speed. Key things include the ability to run games in 4K at 120Hz, whether or not it suffers from input lag and support for gaming-specific HDR standards, such as Dolby Vision Gaming. Of course, we also go beyond the specs and test whether games look and feel good when played through the TV on test.
How we tested OLED TVs
How we test OLED TVs
What Hi-Fi? tests OLEDs using the same approach it does with any category of products.
As a starting point, we always test OLEDs in controlled conditions, which is usually our viewing room, and directly against the other TVs that we think buyers looking at this specific set should also consider or be upgrading from. This is to ensure our experiences are uniform among all the TVs we test. We never review a product in isolation or gauge performance based on memory. Every review will feature conclusions we’ve made directly comparing the TVs we mention.
As part of this, we use a reference system for the TVs. This includes a Panasonic DP-UB820EB Blu-ray player, which we use to run our test discs and a Sony TA-AN1000, which we use to split the same source material simultaneously across the OLED TVs we’re comparing. For gaming features, we connect current generation Xbox Series X and PS5 game consoles. If there are any changes to the reference setup we will flag them in the review.
For picture quality, we always use an ever-changing portfolio of test discs to gauge specific aspects of the TV’s performance. For example, we may use a 4K Blu-ray of an incredibly brightly mastered movie, such as Pan, to gauge peak brightness. Meanwhile, we will watch scenes from an incredibly darkly mastered movie, such as The Batman or Oppenheimer to check shadow detail.
We do not professionally calibrate TVs during testing as this is beyond what most normal buyers would do and requires specialist equipment and knowledge, even on expensive OLEDs. However, we do not just use the out-of-the-box settings. As a rule, when testing an OLED TV we will experiment with all the settings, using a mixture of test patterns and ‘real’ content, until we feel we have got the absolute best picture possible out of it.
Recent Updates
- Updated: 05/07/24: Updated to reference Prime Day deals, and include new advice based on our experience reviewing the LG G4.
- Updated 09/05/24: All entries replaced with new buying advice and recommendations for cheap, Samsung, gaming and 8K OLED sets.
- Updated: 06/03/24 to add new tips, author bios, also considered entries, intro, FAQ answers, how we test and how we choose sections.
OLED TV FAQ
How is OLED different?
OLED TVs work differently from LCD TVs. You can get a full breakdown of the differences in our OLED vs LCD guide page, but the biggest difference is that they charge individual pixels rather than an entire backlight. This lets them generate perfect blacks and better contrast. This is particularly noticeable when you watch an OLED side by side with an LCD in a dark room, as we have done many times. Here, in most instances, the LCD will have a greyer tone than its OLED rival. The trade-off is that top LCDs can have higher maximum brightness levels.
Is OLED better?
OLED has become synonymous with being the “best” panel tech for picture quality and if you check our best TV guide, you’ll see plenty of OLED sets are featured. However, having run more TVs side by side than we care to count we can confirm the answer to this question is “it depends on the TV”. Despite their price, OLEDs aren’t all perfect and there are massive differences in performance between the various sets. These can range from how they handle motion, to their ability to accurately display colours as the director intended. We’ve seen some top-end Mini LED TVs beat OLEDs in certain areas, such as audio quality, maximum brightness and gaming performance, especially in recent years. It’s just black level we’re yet to see OLED be beaten in all instances.
Is QD-OLED and MLA the same as OLED?
QD-OLED and MLA are competing OLED TV technologies designed to overcome OLED’s biggest perceived weakness – the fact it can’t go as bright as backlit TV technologies. QD-OLED does this by adding Samsung’s Quantum Dot TV tech to OLED. MLA, which is built by LG Display, adds a layer of microscopic lenses behind the OLED panels to boost brightness. We’ve tested sets from both technologies and can confirm they do raise OLED’s max brightness, but given the limited number of sets running either, with MLA only having launched last year, we’re not yet ready to offer our definitive verdict which is better.
Are there any cheap OLEDs?
OLED technology still carries a premium price tag, and we’re seemingly still a long way off from seeing an OLED TV hit the £500 / $500 mark. OLED has recently come down in price somewhat, though. The LG C2, which launched in 2022, was the first OLED we considered to really nail our hallowed performance-per-dollar/pound metric. We’re hoping to see OLED TVs drop further in cost this year.
Should I worry about OLED burn-in?
OLED burn-in (also sometimes referred to as ‘image retention’) refers to when a shadow image is essentially burned into the TV’s panel. While it is absolutely possible for an OLED TV to suffer burn-in, thanks to its use of organic materials, it is far from a common issue. None of the OLED TVs we have tested has ever suffered from burn-in, and the same is true of the many OLEDs that staff members own and have owned. Anti-burn-in technologies have become better each year, too, so the latest OLED TVs are even less susceptible to burn-in than their predecessors. As long as you make use of these anti-burn-in features (which are usually switched on by default), turn the TV off using the remote rather than the wall socket (this allows it to run a quick panel refresh) and avoid leaving a static image on the screen for days at a time, it’s highly unlikely that you should be concerned.
