The best deal on a premium television is probably hiding in last year’s lineup.
Most TV manufacturers release new models yearly; I see lots of them every January at CES, and they hit shelves the next spring or summer. These new TVs typically improve on previous models with brighter and more vibrant screens or new features, and are the ones most prominently displayed online and in physical stores as soon as they come out.
If you’re looking to save money, I have a big tip to share: Consider buying last year’s TV instead of this year’s model. This is especially true if you’re looking for a fancy, high-end TV; you can save hundreds or even thousands if you go back a generation and find the equivalent model still available.
I recently followed my own advice and bought a 65-inch LG C4 from 2024 for $1,200. It hit that low price during Prime Day, but even now, you can find it for $1,400. The 2025 version of the TV, the LG C5, is available at the time of this writing for $1,700, though its MSRP (and the 65-inch C4’s list price when it launched last year) is $2,700. Clearly, it pays to wait.How Much Can a TV Change in a Year?
I’ve had the C4 for two weeks so far, and its picture is fantastic. This isn’t surprising, considering LG’s C-series of OLED TVs has consistently earned high scores when I’ve reviewed them. I didn’t get a chance to test the C4 last year and haven’t gotten the C5 into the PC Labs just yet, but my colleagues at CNET reviewed both and deemed them to be excellent. In fact, one of the only complaints they made about the C5 was that it’s so similar to the C4. The numbers they measured reflect that, with the C5 only about 200 nits brighter (1,187 nits) than the C4 (968 nits) in the most accurate HDR picture mode. Color is very slightly improved on the C5, but not by a significant degree. In other words, the cheaper, year-old version is still a fantastic TV.
This isn’t an isolated example—it’s just the one sitting in my living room. I have plenty of notes and measurements on the changes and improvements between TV generations.
