Myself and the wider team at What Hi-Fi? have long championed the need for more small yet top performing home cinema and audio products.
This is particularly true in the top-end OLED TV market, where most flagship sets, including last year’s five-star LG G4, Samsung S95D and Panasonic Z95A sizes started at 55 inches.
The lack of small options at the top of companies' ranges has meant even the most cash-rich of buyers has only been able to get step-down models, such as the LG C4, Samsung S90D and Philips OLED809, in smaller sizes, which is a shame in my mind.
Before the US and Australian What Hi-Fi? readers once again pick up their torches and tell me to “just build a bigger house” to accommodate a larger set, let me be clear why I want smaller flagship OLEDs: where I live and work (London) most of my TV viewing is done in spaces too small to accommodate 55-inch model with a sensible viewing distance.
There are also a number of people who would appreciate a smaller size to fit into their hobby space or even bedroom – just because you’re watching in bed, doesn’t mean you need to sacrifice picture quality.
These are the reasons why I was delighted when LG confirmed it will be offering a 48-inch version of its new flagship OLED, the LG G5, at its press conference at CES 2025 in Las Vegas.
But, while I am happy to see a smaller entry into the brand’s flagship OLED family, I do have one big concern about the small TV. Specifically, LG has been quite hazy about whether it will feature its new Brightness Booster Ultimate tech. This is a new technology we’re yet to try in the flesh, that looks set to replace LG Display’s Micro Lens Array (MLA).
Like MLA, which appeared on the LG G3 and LG G4, Brightness Booster Ultimate aims to let OLEDs offer much higher max brightness levels. The difference is that, according to LG, Brightness Booster Ultimate can offer 40 per cent higher whole screen brightness levels than MLA. It also, apparently, improves colour vibrancy. Considering how bright I and the wider team found the LG G4 could go last year, this is a very bold claim.
Though I’ve always argued brightness isn’t the main ingredient for truly great picture quality when watching movies – motion handling, colour accuracy, light control and more also play a huge part – the fact that Brightness Booster Ultimate isn’t on the 48-inch LG G5 is a fly in the ointment. This is mainly because, outside of the processor, the smaller G5 is very similar to its step-down sibling, the LG C5.
Does that mean it’ll be terrible? It’s way too early to call that as both OLED TVs have only just been unveiled. To answer that question we’ll need to run the 48-inch LG G5 and C5 head-to-head in our dedicated viewing rooms. LG's also yet to release full specifications sheets for the new TVs, so there may be some other differences between the two we're not aware of.
Even if there aren't, we’ve also seen plenty of instances where seemingly minor generational spec changes can still lead to huge performance improvements in the real world. That was certainly the case when we compared the LG C4 to its predecessor the LG C3 last year. Despite looking very similar outside of their CPUs, the C4 offered much more realistic colours and holistically better picture quality during our checks.
But it does make the G5 a little less alluring at launch, hence why I felt the need to pen this opinion piece.
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