Micro RGB TVs, a relatively new display technology that's making waves at CES 2026, promise to revolutionize the way we experience color on our screens. But what exactly is Micro RGB and how does it differ from other display technologies like OLED and Mini LED?
To understand this new tech, let's take a look at how flat panel displays have evolved over the past two decades. The first LCD TVs used liquid crystals that became transparent to light when voltage was applied, letting a rear backlight shine through as a pixel. Those pixels combined to create moving or still images with color created via an RGB filter layer placed in front. However, this resulted in dark grays instead of pure blacks and uneven light distribution due to the use of fluorescent lights for backlighting.
The next step up was using LED backlights, which offered higher brightness, lower power consumption, improved color balance, and even light distribution. This technology also allowed individual dimming zones that improved contrast by allowing near-pure blacks in shadow areas of an image.
Quantum dot (QD) technology came on the scene around 2013 with Sony’s Triluminos televisions, employing a semiconductor nanocrystal layer to produce pure monochromatic red, green, and blue light when struck with a blue backlight. This resulted in higher brightness and color accuracy compared to previous LCDs.
The latest evolution of QD LED technology is Mini LED, which combines the accuracy of quantum dot tech with hundreds or even thousands of LED dimming zones. These models offer high brightness and color accuracy along with good contrast, but still don't deliver perfect blacks due to "blooming" caused by leakage into neighboring pixels.
Both of these problems were solved with OLED technology, which first came on the market in 2007 with Sony’s XEL-1 model. The panels are made using sheets coated with organic LEDs, each paired with a transistor that can switch the LED on or off. However, regular OLED TVs have OLED pixels that are white and a filter layer generates colors.
QD-OLEDs take it a step further by making OLED pixels blue and color is created via a quantum dot layer, similar to LED QD displays. The latest version of QD-OLED featured at several new monitors at CES 2026 uses an RGB stripe pattern to reduce "fringing" on text.
OLED TVs suffer from a lack of brightness and the potential for "burn-in" that can kill pixels. There's another type of self-illuminating tech called Micro LED, which uses microscopic inorganic LEDs to form individual pixel elements. These also offer pure blacks and high contrast but are still prohibitively expensive to manufacture.
Now let’s focus on Micro RGB TVs, the latest evolution in display technology. They first arrived last year with little fanfare and a confusing name, so it's likely that you may have mistaken them for other panel tech or not even noticed. But this year, they're everywhere at CES 2026, and that’s because they’re the hot new “luxury” display technology.
The reason Micro RGB is considered "luxury" is its price tag. Samsung's 115-inch 4K MR95F model costs a staggering $29,999 for a single TV. However, it offers an industry-first 100 percent coverage of the challenging BT.2020 HDR standard and can produce billions of colors natively.
This technology uses individually-controlled, precise red, green, and blue LED backlights that shine through a liquid crystal layer. It also offers more local dimming zones than other Mini LED models. This results in higher color accuracy and better contrast, but with potentially greater brightness than OLED. However, since each pixel can't be turned on and off like OLED or Micro LED, contrast falls short of those technologies.
Luckily, the number of Micro RGB TVs is about to dramatically increase. Samsung announced a full lineup using this technology at CES 2026 with sizes ranging from 55- to 115 inches. LG also announced its first Micro RGB "evo" TV lineup in 75-, 86- and 100-inch models.
Hisense unveiled a similar "evo" lineup called RGB Mini LED, offering wider color gamut than Samsung and LG with up to 110 percent BT.2020 coverage and "color control achieving 134 bits." The company also launched an enormous 163-inch Micro LED TV to compete with Samsung's The Wall. This new model introduces a fourth yellow color into the RGB mix to expand the color spectrum where human vision perceives the most nuance.
As CES 2026 continues, it'll be interesting to see which companies will reveal more about their Micro RGB TVs and whether they can deliver on these lofty promises of color accuracy and brightness.
To understand this new tech, let's take a look at how flat panel displays have evolved over the past two decades. The first LCD TVs used liquid crystals that became transparent to light when voltage was applied, letting a rear backlight shine through as a pixel. Those pixels combined to create moving or still images with color created via an RGB filter layer placed in front. However, this resulted in dark grays instead of pure blacks and uneven light distribution due to the use of fluorescent lights for backlighting.
The next step up was using LED backlights, which offered higher brightness, lower power consumption, improved color balance, and even light distribution. This technology also allowed individual dimming zones that improved contrast by allowing near-pure blacks in shadow areas of an image.
Quantum dot (QD) technology came on the scene around 2013 with Sony’s Triluminos televisions, employing a semiconductor nanocrystal layer to produce pure monochromatic red, green, and blue light when struck with a blue backlight. This resulted in higher brightness and color accuracy compared to previous LCDs.
The latest evolution of QD LED technology is Mini LED, which combines the accuracy of quantum dot tech with hundreds or even thousands of LED dimming zones. These models offer high brightness and color accuracy along with good contrast, but still don't deliver perfect blacks due to "blooming" caused by leakage into neighboring pixels.
Both of these problems were solved with OLED technology, which first came on the market in 2007 with Sony’s XEL-1 model. The panels are made using sheets coated with organic LEDs, each paired with a transistor that can switch the LED on or off. However, regular OLED TVs have OLED pixels that are white and a filter layer generates colors.
QD-OLEDs take it a step further by making OLED pixels blue and color is created via a quantum dot layer, similar to LED QD displays. The latest version of QD-OLED featured at several new monitors at CES 2026 uses an RGB stripe pattern to reduce "fringing" on text.
OLED TVs suffer from a lack of brightness and the potential for "burn-in" that can kill pixels. There's another type of self-illuminating tech called Micro LED, which uses microscopic inorganic LEDs to form individual pixel elements. These also offer pure blacks and high contrast but are still prohibitively expensive to manufacture.
Now let’s focus on Micro RGB TVs, the latest evolution in display technology. They first arrived last year with little fanfare and a confusing name, so it's likely that you may have mistaken them for other panel tech or not even noticed. But this year, they're everywhere at CES 2026, and that’s because they’re the hot new “luxury” display technology.
The reason Micro RGB is considered "luxury" is its price tag. Samsung's 115-inch 4K MR95F model costs a staggering $29,999 for a single TV. However, it offers an industry-first 100 percent coverage of the challenging BT.2020 HDR standard and can produce billions of colors natively.
This technology uses individually-controlled, precise red, green, and blue LED backlights that shine through a liquid crystal layer. It also offers more local dimming zones than other Mini LED models. This results in higher color accuracy and better contrast, but with potentially greater brightness than OLED. However, since each pixel can't be turned on and off like OLED or Micro LED, contrast falls short of those technologies.
Luckily, the number of Micro RGB TVs is about to dramatically increase. Samsung announced a full lineup using this technology at CES 2026 with sizes ranging from 55- to 115 inches. LG also announced its first Micro RGB "evo" TV lineup in 75-, 86- and 100-inch models.
Hisense unveiled a similar "evo" lineup called RGB Mini LED, offering wider color gamut than Samsung and LG with up to 110 percent BT.2020 coverage and "color control achieving 134 bits." The company also launched an enormous 163-inch Micro LED TV to compete with Samsung's The Wall. This new model introduces a fourth yellow color into the RGB mix to expand the color spectrum where human vision perceives the most nuance.
As CES 2026 continues, it'll be interesting to see which companies will reveal more about their Micro RGB TVs and whether they can deliver on these lofty promises of color accuracy and brightness.
seriously though, micro rgb sounds like the real deal but we need to see how it stacks up against other display techs... like mini led and qled. is it worth the extra cost? or are samsung just trying to rip us off with this "luxury" label 
! The prices are insane tho 
. I feel like we're still getting used to OLEDs and Mini LED, so it's gonna be hard for these new TVs to compete in terms of price. But at the same time, if Samsung can deliver on that 100% BT.2020 HDR coverage and native 10 billion colors, that's some next-level tech 
. And I love how Hisense is trying to one-up everyone with their RGB Mini LED "evo" lineup 
. It'll be interesting to see which brands can bring down the prices without sacrificing quality 
. Can't wait for more info at CES! 
. $29,999 for a 115-inch TV is just insane! 
Also, I'm not sure if the increased local dimming zones are really worth it - doesn't that just mean more complexity and potential issues with "blooming"? 
. The fact that they're offering wider color gamut than Samsung and LG is a big deal 
. But let's not get ahead of ourselves - we need to see how these TVs perform in real life before we can make any serious judgments about their worth 
. But at $30k for a single tv, i'm not sure if it's worth it for most people 
. still excited to see how other companies like lg and hisense will compete with this tech and what kind of sizes we'll be seeing in the future 
The fact that Samsung is charging $29,999 for a 115-inch 4K model is insane, but I guess you get what you pay for 
The only thing I'm a little worried about is the price point being out of reach for most people... but hey, maybe it's time to start splurging on ourselves? 
. $30k for a TV is just crazy talk! And what's the point of having 100% coverage of BT.2020 HDR if it's still gonna cost an arm and a leg? Plus, I'm not convinced that individually-controlled red, green, and blue LED backlights are actually gonna make a huge difference in terms of color accuracy and brightness...we've seen similar promises with Mini LED and Quantum Dot tech already 
. I'm all for innovation, but let's see some real-world results before we start throwing cash at these fancy new TVs 
29k for a single tv? that's just crazy. i'm not saying it can't be good tech, but come on Samsung, chill out with the price tag 
and btw, what makes this tech "luxury" again? is it the way it looks or something more than that? 
I'm not convinced by the promises of "billions of colors" natively... sounds like marketing fluff to me 
.
I just don't get why micro rgb is so pricey 
. Having 100% BT.2020 coverage and producing billions of colors natively is no joke 
. Can't wait to see which other brands jump on the Micro RGB bandwagon and how they'll compete with each other 