Want to know what a QNED TV actually is, and what marks it out from other LG or Samsung TVs? This is the guide for you.<\/b>
\nLG’s Mini LED TV range of ‘QNED’ screens is starting to roll out worldwide, bringing the company’s exciting new combination of NanoCell LCD and Mini LED backlighting to the world for the first time. But what even is QNED, and should you pay it any attention? The main confusion here is that QNED sounds a lot like\u2026 every other TV acronym. The name is very similar to Samsung\u2019s QLED (quantum light-emitting diode) panels, found in the latest new Samsung TVs, and \u2013 like Samsung\u2019s QLED \u2013 also refers to LCD technology rather than, say, OLED or MicroLED. It\u2019s especially confusing given LG and Samsung are such close competitors. Whereas Samsung is the world\u2019s biggest TV maker, LG is somewhat close behind, and the two TV brands are often cited in the same sentence, especially in questions of the best TV to buy. QNED and QLED are so similar that the occasional mixup or mistake feels inevitable, and we can\u2019t help but feel that LG could have done more to differentiate itself \u2013 unless, of course, it planned to trade on consumers\u2019 existing familiarity with Samsung\u2019s TV tech. If you want to know what a QNED TV actually is, and what marks it out from other LG TVs \u2013 or Samsung TVs \u2013 this is the guide for you. The term QNED is an amalgamation of the word ‘Quantum’, LG’s ‘NanoCell’ LCD branding, and the ‘Emitting Diodes’ used in its backlight. That’s a Q, an N, an E, and a D. Spefically, QNED makes use of 30,000 miniscule LEDs used in its backlight, far more than the number found in its existing LCD TVs. That\u2019s because QNED uses what\u2019s called Mini LED technology \u2013 a kind of backlight that uses a large number of very small LED lights to control brightness and create effective contrast between different areas of the screen. LG\u2019s QNED TVs also boast 2,500 dimming zones to limit blooming and ensure light is directed where it should across your screen. This Mini LED tech is also seen in the TCL’s 6-Series and 8-Series QLED TVs, and Samsung is expected to announce its own product line imminently. LG says its new backlight \u201ccomprises 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.\u201d The contrast and brightness control is meant to be similar to that of OLED, given the number of LEDs in play. OLED panels can turn off individual pixels entirely, leading to its so-called \u2018infinite\u2019 contrast ratio between bright highlights and deep blacks. It\u2019s not an OLED beater, but should still elevate the performance of LG\u2019s current NanoCell LCD TV range. The backlight won\u2019t be the only factor determining whether your TV is any good, though \u2013 and it\u2019s notable that half of LG\u2019s new QNED TVs use its highest-spec TV processor, the a9 Gen 4 AI, while the other half use a lower-spec a7 model. So a TV having \u2018QNED\u2019 or \u2018Mini LED\u2019 plastered on it won\u2019t automatically mean it\u2019s getting the best specs across the board. LG has unveiled four QNED TVs so far in its LG TV 2021 range, under its NanoCell branding: the QNED99, QNED95, QNED90, and QNED85. The first two are 8K TVs, and the latter two are 4K TVs \u2013 but all are available in 65-inch and 75-inch sizes, with an additional 86-inch size for the QNED99 and QNED90. They vary slightly in the motion rate of its panel (60-120Hz), while the 4K models make do with a mid-spec a7 Gen 4 AI processor rather than the premium a9 Gen 4 AI chip used in the 8K models and most of LG\u2019s new OLED sets for this year. Exact pricing is TBA in most regions, but we know that the screens will start at AU$4,799 (likely around $2,400 \/ \u00a32,400) in Australia, and go up to AU$10,799 (likely around $5,000 \/ \u00a35,000) for the largest, most premium 8K model. The introduction of QNED is especially interesting given LG\u2019s penchant for OLED TVs. The TV maker releases some of the best OLED TVs out there, such as the hugely popular LG CX OLED we saw in 2020 (and which has got a C1 successor for 2021). LG stresses that QNED will sit below its OLED range, rather than replacing or superseding it, but it\u2019s clear that the company wishes to strengthen its LCD offering so as not to lose out to Samsung and others \u2013 given not everyone is sold on OLED TV tech. LG seems to have put a pin in its B Series OLED, replacing the range with a new A Series budget OLED \u2013 so we expect the combination of low-spec OLEDs and high-spec LCDs will start to close the gap between LG\u2019s different product categories, even if the LG C1 and LG Gallery Series OLED should still comfortably outpace their QNED competition.<\/p>\n