The 2 Best OLED TVs of 2023

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We’re currently testing new OLED TVs and have updated this guide with our first impressions of the Samsung S95C. We’ve also added info about Sony's new A80L to What to look forward to.

If you want the best-looking TV image that money can buy, choose an OLED TV. Thanks to a panel design that's fundamentally different from LCD TVs, OLED TVs naturally produce perfectly inky black levels, highly saturated colors, smooth motion, and superior viewing angles. In short, OLED TVs provide the best picture quality around—but they’re priced accordingly. We recommend the Samsung S95B because it delivers stellar picture quality at a price that's very reasonable for a premium TV.

Buy an OLED TV if you’re willing to spend more to ensure that movies, sports, TV shows, and video games look their absolute best.

There are fewer OLED TVs on the market than LCD TVs. We looked for the best combination of performance, features, and value.

We use measurement equipment and Portrait Displays's Calman software to evaluate crucial TV metrics like contrast and color accuracy.

OLED TVs are getting brighter, but they still fall short of the best LCD TVs. Consider LCD if you have a very bright or sunny room.

The Samsung S95B combines OLED technology with quantum dot color to produce the brightest, most color-rich, and most room-flexible OLED TV we’ve ever tested.

*At the time of publishing, the price was $1,798.

The Samsung S95B uses a new type of OLED panel, called QD-OLED, that combines the perfect black levels, high contrast, and huge viewing angles of OLED technology with the vivid color saturation and high brightness of quantum dots (see our TV buying guide for definitions of these tech terms). The result is the biggest leap forward in OLED TV performance we’ve seen in several years. The S95B has the best bright-room performance we’ve found from an OLED, which makes this TV viable to use in almost any viewing environment, not just a darkened room. The quantum dot color can make games and sports look deliciously vivid, while the Filmmaker Mode delivers a satisfyingly accurate, filmlike picture for movies. Both SDR video and HDR video look superb, and this 4K 120 Hz TV has full support for HDMI 2.1 features to deliver better performance with video games. We’re also big fans of the included Eco Remote Control, which eschews batteries for solar/light charging. But the S95B also has some downsides. It does not support Dolby Vision HDR, and the redesigned Tizen smart TV platform is sluggish at times, though we liked the new full-screen interface that shows more video streaming and gaming services at once. Arguably the biggest drawback is that the S95B is only available in 55- and 65-inch screen sizes, so it's not ideal for those who want a smaller or larger screen. But if you want the best 55- or 65-inch OLED TV you can get, the S95B delivers heretofore unachievable brightness and color saturation and an overall gorgeous image—for a price that's only modestly higher than LG's most competitive OLED (see below) and more than $1,000 less than Sony's rival QD-OLED model.

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LG's C2 Series boasts stellar performance for the price and is available in a lot of screen sizes, but it lacks the high brightness and color saturation of our top pick.

*At the time of publishing, the price was $1,600.

For the first time in years, LG's C Series is not our top pick for best OLED TV, but the new C2 still delivers top-tier OLED picture quality at more reasonable prices and across a wider range of sizes than essentially any other 2022 OLED line. The C2 is available in screen sizes from 42 to 83 inches, and most of those sizes offer improved brightness over previous-generation LG OLEDs—though buyers interested in the 42- and 48-inch options will have to settle for a slightly dimmer picture. From lower-resolution SDR content through essentially all forms of HDR (including Dolby Vision), the C2 looks excellent. It also natively supports Dolby Atmos audio and, like last year's C1, has a full suite of HDMI 2.1 inputs and advanced gaming functions. The C2's main limitation is that it doesn't match the high brightness and color volume of Samsung's QD-OLED TV, and thus won't flourish to the same degree in brighter rooms, especially with HDR video. The C2 only marginally improves upon last year's C1: Its brightness is a little better, and LG has made small improvements in the user experience—but there aren't pressing reasons for C1 owners to upgrade. Still, LG's C2 Series is unquestionably one of the year's very best TVs for the money, especially if you’re shopping below 55 or above 65 inches in screen size.

The Samsung S95B combines OLED technology with quantum dot color to produce the brightest, most color-rich, and most room-flexible OLED TV we’ve ever tested.

*At the time of publishing, the price was $1,798.

LG's C2 Series boasts stellar performance for the price and is available in a lot of screen sizes, but it lacks the high brightness and color saturation of our top pick.

*At the time of publishing, the price was $1,600.

I’ve been reviewing TVs, computer monitors, and other displays and home theater products for over a decade. I have ISF Level III training, and over the past decade I’ve tested and calibrated hundreds of TVs—from premium $8,000 flat panels to $100 doorbusters—using hardware such as light and color meters, pattern generators, and input lag testers. I’m equally comfortable testing displays in pitch-black labs and in real-world home environments. All that to say, I’m confident in my ability to recommend the right TV for every kind of buyer, and I have the necessary equipment to back up those recommendations with test results.

If you’re the kind of person who is picky or passionate about picture quality—if you find yourself wishing shadows or letterbox bars were truly black (rather than a kind of charcoal gray) when watching movies or playing games in the dark, or if you feel frustrated by your TV's lack of vivid yet realistic colors—you might consider building your living room or home theater around an OLED TV.

The organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) that make up this type of display panel tout a panoply of major advantages over the much more common liquid crystal display (LCD) TV. OLED TVs are inherently capable of creating an image that's vastly superior to all but the very best LCD options. The only time this doesn't apply is in very bright viewing environments, where many OLED TVs may not be bright enough to properly combat ambient lighting, and you’ll be better off getting a premium LCD TV. Then again, our current top pick is changing that narrative. You can read more about the difference between OLED and LCD in this article.

OLED TVs have long been considered the highest-quality displays by hardcore videophiles. New developments may make one a good choice for your home.

The major downside of OLED TVs is that they don't come cheap: Even the smallest, most humbly appointed models will still run you at least $1,000 (if not more) at the time of this writing. Typically, you’ll pay around 10% to 20% more than you would for an LCD TV with otherwise similar specifications. At screen sizes bigger than 65 inches, the price disparity is even larger.

Finally, OLED TVs are not immune to some of the common pain points that plague all TVs. Just because you’re paying more for better picture quality doesn't mean you’re necessarily getting a smooth, user-friendly smart-TV experience or high-quality onboard speakers. Even pricey OLED TVs can benefit from being paired with a good streaming device, high-quality soundbar, or surround-sound system.

The year 2022 has proved to be an exciting time in the OLED TV space. This is the first year OLED manufacturers have offered sizes as small as 42 inches, and it also marks Samsung's return to the OLED market after a 10-year absence. Perhaps most important is the arrival of "QD-OLED" TVs, which combine OLED panels with quantum dot color technology and promise considerable picture-quality upgrades.

On the other hand, we haven't seen any movement or progress with budget-conscious OLED TVs this year. Models from Vizio and Skyworth have yet to be refreshed for the US market, which puts the ball squarely in the court of LG, Sony, and Samsung for now. With only a few manufacturers offering a limited number of new OLED TVs, our process for picking which TVs to test involved deciding which model from each company's line offered the most compelling combination of performance specs and features for the price.

LG's OLED lineup for 2022 follows the same general patterns as in previous years, with new A2, B2, C2, G2, and Z2 offerings. As with last year's C1 (our former top pick), the C2 shaves off the potentially extraneous features of LG's pricier OLEDs (like the on-wall Gallery design of the G2 or the 8K resolution of the Z2) while still delivering picture quality and features on a par with those more expensive models. The C2 is equipped with LG's brighter "OLED evo" panel that was first introduced in 2021 (but only on the G1 Series) and is available in more sizes than any of LG's other OLED lines. The more affordable A2 and B2 Series aren't on the C2's performance level. The A2 has a 60 Hz refresh rate and lacks HDMI 2.1 features, limiting its appeal for videophiles and gamers. And according to Rtings, the B2 offers worse processing and limited brightness (since it lacks the OLED evo panel) compared with the C2. So while we may test the A2 or B2 as a possible budget pick, our initial focus was on the C2.

The biggest potential wrench in LG's continued dominance of the OLED space is the onset of QD-OLED TVs—specifically, the Samsung S95B and Sony A95K. QD-OLED is a new combination of OLED panel and quantum dot nanocrystals, a technology that vastly improves color saturation for red and green. The S95B is Samsung's only OLED TV line for 2022, and Sony's A95K is priced quite a bit higher: Right now, the 65-inch Sony A95K retails for $4,000, making it significantly more expensive than the 65-inch Samsung S95B. We still hope to test the A95K as a possible upgrade pick, but we’re curious how Sony will justify the price difference.

As for other, non-QD-OLED models from Sony, the company added a more affordable A80K Series this year that looks promising on paper: It's right in line with LG's C2 in price, though it's available in fewer screen sizes. According to reviews, however, the A80K boasts similar brightness to 2021's LG C1, giving it slightly worse price-to-performance prospects than the C2. Videophiles should also be aware that the A80K lacks the Filmmaker Mode for movie accuracy, though those who prefer the Google TV smart platform over LG's WebOS may happily make the trade anyway. That said, we may still test the A80K at a later date.

To evaluate each OLED TV, I used Portrait Displays's Calman Ultimate software; a C6 HDR meter; and a VideoForge Pro signal generator. I ran a litany of SDR- and HDR-related tests, including measuring peak/sustained brightness, ANSI contrast, color temperature and color gamut accuracy, gamma/EOTF tracking, and L*a*b* color volume analysis. Additionally, I watched real-world content, including streamed SDTV and HDTV shows, movies on 4K Blu-ray in HDR, and a wide array of video games via the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5. When possible I conducted side-by-side comparisons of different TVs using benchmark content like the Spears & Munsil HDR pattern disc and tested each TV's input lag using the Leo Bodnar 4K video lag tester.

The Samsung S95B combines OLED technology with quantum dot color to produce the brightest, most color-rich, and most room-flexible OLED TV we’ve ever tested.

*At the time of publishing, the price was $1,798.

The Samsung S95B Series includes the following models:

The Samsung S95B is our favorite OLED TV for 2022 because its QD-OLED design, which combines quantum dots with an OLED panel, makes it the brightest, most flexible OLED TV we’ve ever tested. Most OLED TVs excel in perfect darkness and struggle as more ambient light is introduced. While the S95B looks best in total darkness, it maintains its excellence in brighter rooms and really excels with HDR content that takes advantage of its unparalleled brightness and color production. The S95B supports the HDR10, HDR10+, and HLG high dynamic range formats (but not Dolby Vision) and has Filmmaker Mode to automatically show movies as the director intended. It's also a very gaming-friendly TV, with a 120 Hz refresh rate and four HDMI 2.1 inputs. The S95B is only available in 55- and 65-inch screen sizes, but if one of those sizes works for you, this TV is an easy recommendation for any viewing environment.

When OLED hit the market a decade ago, it revolutionized our collective idea of what a top-tier TV could look like, due primarily to its deep black levels and high contrast. Its main performance weakness compared with LCD TVs has been its lower light output: For years, we’ve seen improvements in luminance only by inches, with 2021's best models doing their best to hit 800 nits of brightness. Meanwhile, the best LCD TVs have soared to well beyond 1,000 nits.

The S95B's ability to overcome that hurdle is one of the primary reasons it's our new top pick. The QD-OLED panel keeps everything that's great about OLED and closes the brightness gap with quantum-dot LCDs, cresting to over 1,000 nits of brightness without any of the potential downsides we see from LED backlights in LCD TVs—like blooming or glow around bright objects in a dark scene.

My living room is often awash with an amount of sunlight that most OLED TVs struggle to overcome, so the S95B's improved brightness was immediately appreciable. OLED TVs generally limit their full-screen brightness when most of the on-screen content is bright (such as during daytime sporting events)—but the S95B's high brightness means it has more overall luminance to work with, so this limitation is much less noticeable. Especially if you’re watching HDR content with Samsung's Intelligent Mode enabled (which is not at all color accurate, but makes for a very punchy image), the S95B tends to go at full power, raising luminance uniformly across the spectrum so that everything looks brighter—and very bright objects look brilliantly intense. At times I found myself marveling at details like the glow of a computer monitor on a character's face, or wincing as the camera shifted to show a sunny window over someone's shoulder. It's not a treatment videophiles may wholly relish, but most folks will love how it looks in their living room at midday.

The S95B's unique panel design also improves color brightness and saturation. Because it uses quantum dots, the QD-OLED panel is similar to an RGB (red/green/blue) OLED panel. Almost any other OLED TV you buy today uses an LG Displays WRGB panel, meaning there's a white subpixel included with the usual trio of red, green, and blue subpixels. A WRGB panel is cheaper to produce and induces less wear and tear on the primary subpixels over time, but it comes at a cost to color saturation at higher brightness levels. For example, to achieve a very bright green, WRGB OLEDs (like the LG C2) use the white subpixel and the green subpixel together, combining them to make a brighter green. However, as the picture gets brighter overall, the white subpixel gets driven more, and there is an inherent reduction in color purity.

After almost a decade of seeing a WRGB panel's handling of colors, there is a noticeable improvement with Samsung's quantum-dot-equipped OLED. This TV can drive its red, green, and blue primaries into unpolluted luminance ranges beyond most OLED TVs from the past decade, and the end result is downright grin-inducing, though it's occasionally a touch fanciful in the less accurate picture modes.

In direct comparisons with the runner-up LG C2, the S95B's higher peak brightness (around 750 to 800 nits for the C2, and 950 to 1,000 nits for the S95B) makes only a small yet still an appreciable difference, but the improvement in high-brightness color saturation is quite significant. With both TVs set to the most accurate Filmmaker Mode, darker and dimmer content looks similar enough, but you can see the difference between the WRGB and RGB OLED panels when brighter, more saturated colors are on display, regardless of whether content is SDR or HDR. I noticed it while watching Obi-Wan Kenobi on Disney+, where the red telltales on the villains’ armor had a more vivid pop on the S95B.

Measuring the S95B confirmed most of what I was seeing while watching real-world content: The TV is bright enough for sunlit rooms. Even in the HDR Filmmaker Mode, it hits 1,000-plus nits, but the SDR Filmmaker Mode is much more subdued, topping out closer to 150 nits. In other picture modes, you’ll get a range of average brightness levels closer to 400 or 500 nits. It's also worth noting that Samsung's recent firmware updates have caused the S95B's overall light output to fluctuate: It originally hit closer to 1,500 nits but has been reined in by the updates. While this dampens some of the initial excitement about the S95B's capabilities, we think 1,000 nits (a benchmark for HDR formats) is still an achievement for OLED TVs. The decrease in brightness should also extend the panel life to a certain degree.

Whether you’re watching SDR or HDR video, the Filmmaker Mode is the most accurate picture mode for dark-room viewing. (This wasn't true when the S95B was first introduced, but firmware updates have fixed some early accuracy issues.) Staunch videophiles may want to do a bit of calibrating, but the average viewer will be nothing but impressed. While watching Dune on Ultra HD Blu-ray in 4K/HDR, shadow details were preserved well during dark-room viewing, and the HDR Filmmaker Mode showed HDR video at the correct brightness level across most of the signal range. Occasionally, near-black details looked a little too bright, but overall the nighttime sequences on Arrakis looked invitingly balanced and subtle. There is one unusual black-level-related behavior that we’ll discuss in Flaws but not dealbreakers, but it doesn't crop up during dark-room use.

The S95B is also great for high-brightness HDR gaming. Whether you’re playing on an Xbox Series X or PlayStation 5, the S95B's powerful color production delivers a fantastic experience. In fact, I might argue that HDR gaming benefits more from this TV's particular abilities than any other content format. As an example, the brilliant forests and intense sunsets of Ghost of Tsushima on the PS5 were an absolute joy on the S95B, thanks to the improved saturation in greens, yellows, red, and oranges. A high-contrast game like Stray (which features bright neon lights nestled in stretches of yawning gray and black) looked spectacular, as well. The S95B features an improved version of Samsung's Game Bar and is equipped with four HDMI 2.1 inputs, allowing for crisp 4K 120 Hz gaming with very minimal input lag (we tested around 9.1 to 9.2 milliseconds).

Samsung's Tizen smart TV platform has had a big change this year. In 2021, the interface primarily existed as a row of apps along the bottom of the screen, though you could set it to full-screen mode if you wanted. In 2022, it's mostly a full-screen experience, and that has made it a little more sluggish than it used to be (more on this below). While the new design has a bit more of a learning curve to get used to, it's easy enough to find all the usual streaming suspects (Netflix, Hulu, Prime Video) in the Media menu, but you may have to install your favorites.

Where the new smart platform really differentiates itself is the Game menu, which collects all of the HDMI inputs associated with game consoles and provides ready access to cloud gaming services like Google Stadia and Xbox Game Pass. It also guides you through syncing controllers and headsets over Bluetooth. I was able to sync a controller with ease and jump back into a game I’d been playing on Game Pass, Far: Changing Tides. While the game was artifact- and buffer-free, it looked soft and unsharp, though still very playable. There's also an Ambient menu for displaying images while the TV is off, something we saw on Samsung's QLED TV lineup last year.

The S95B has an extremely thin profile from the side (imagine a stack of three or four credit cards) and is equipped with a handsome, weighted center stand that takes up minimal tabletop space. You’ll find its four HDMI inputs (and other ports) around the right side of the TV. Assembly is easy, but the plastic pieces meant to pop into place on the rear of the panel and stand (to cover the ports/cables and provide a form of cable management) are finicky, and I ended up leaving the cable cover off more often than not because it was so hard to get it to sit flush. The stand is very stable, however, and holds the panel at ample height to easily fit a soundbar underneath. The stand's cable management is good overall and makes for a clean-looking TV on your tabletop, something Samsung typically excels at.

While the UK version of the S95B allegedly includes two remote controls, our 65-inch sample only included Samsung's Eco Remote, a thin clicker that charges via sunlight or room lighting rather than using batteries (you can also charge over USB-C, if necessary). We found the Eco Remote to be easy to use. The channel input and menu buttons have been combined into a single button, and having to push a button and scroll up to access the quick settings menu was irritating at first but easy enough to get used to.

It's a shame that the S95B is only available in 55- and 65-inch screen sizes. Many gamers may be angling for a smaller size (42 or 48 inches) for desktop gaming, while folks with home theaters may be acclimated to a 77-inch OLED screen and don't want to downsize. If you’re in that camp, we’d direct you to the LG C2 Series.

The biggest picture-quality difference between the S95B and most other OLEDs is in its black-level integrity in a room that isn't pitch black. The quantum-dot layer behind the glass is reactive to ambient light, which can cause the TV's nominally perfect blacks to take on a slightly brightened appearance in certain room conditions. This isn't ideal, but after using the TV for several weeks, I feel that this problem has been greatly exaggerated in other reviews. Rtings has stated that "to enjoy this TV to the fullest, you really need to be in a perfectly dark room," but I strongly disagree. In fact, I think the S95B fares better in normally or brightly lit rooms than any OLED I’ve tested before. Still, to get the best contrast with darker films and TV shows, a completely dark room is always best.

Initially, my wife and I struggled mightily with getting the Tizen smart TV platform to cooperate. The platform was notably slower and more ponderous than it was last year, but recent firmware updates have eliminated the most egregious problems. At time of writing, Tizen could still stand to be a bit more responsive, but Samsung is clearly working to improve it, and it's very palatable in its current form. This won't matter if you plan to plug in a different media player anyway.

Every OLED TV uses a process called ABL (auto brightness limiting) to stave off issues with panel damage and burn-in, and to extend the life of the panel. This is a sudden on-screen adjustment where viewers might see the whole screen get a little brighter or darker. It can be distracting; fortunately, it's a minor problem with the S95B. I only saw it occur occasionally, and the TV's high brightness actually made the effect less noticeable most of the time—so most folks probably won't see it happening.

Speaking of burn-in, we’ve seen questions and concerns about the Samsung's potential for burn-in—which is a form of permanent image retention that can afflict any display, but OLED displays in particular. We can't make any definitive statements about the S95B's burn-in vulnerability without longer-term use and testing, but it's been postulated that burn-in is less of a risk for QD-OLED models. We continue to believe that burn-in is not a major concern if you’re using your OLED TV with varied types of entertainment content. But if you’re someone who plays the same video game for hours per day, weeks on end, or you plan to use the TV as a more static computer monitor, LCD might be the safer choice. The S95B does include tools to mitigate burn-in, including a pixel refresher, a cell-cleaning process, and a screensaver that turns on very quickly when content is paused—but it's still a fact of the technology that prospective buyers and current owners should be aware of.

Another reason to be wary of using the S95B as a computer monitor is that this TV has an unusual subpixel layout that can make high-density text (such as what you’ll see on websites) exhibit trace elements of "color fringing," when pixels seem to bleed color into one another. It's a minor problem but worth reporting if that's your intended use case.

I noticed that my 65-inch S95B seemed prone to a small amount of panel warp. Our sample TV clearly wasn't new and probably made the rounds through reviewers before getting to me, but there does appear to be a very slight curve through the metal of the uppermost bezel, so be careful when you’re first assembling it.

The fact that the S95B is a new panel design may give some shoppers pause. This TV had some performance issues when it first launched, but the amount of firmware updates Samsung has rolled out over the past few months proves that the company is listening attentively to buyer feedback and addressing issues. While most of these updates focused on fixing initial accuracy errors in Filmmaker Mode and adjusting the TV's brightness numbers, we’re hoping that future updates remove some of the smart platform's sluggishness. But overall, the S95B is an excellent performer, and we’d gladly deal with some minor flaws on a daily basis just to keep experiencing its gorgeous picture quality.

LG's C2 Series boasts stellar performance for the price and is available in a lot of screen sizes, but it lacks the high brightness and color saturation of our top pick.

*At the time of publishing, the price was $1,600.

The LG C2 Series includes the following models:

If you need a larger or smaller screen size or you just want to spend a bit less than the Samsung S95B, LG's C2 is more than just a runner-up: It's the perfection of LG's meat-and-potatoes OLED TV. The C Series has been our top pick for years running, and while the C2 may not be a massive upgrade over last year's C1, it's more or less flawless by all but QD-OLED standards. You’re getting perfect black levels, huge viewing angles, great motion, and vivid, accurate colors in a wide variety of screen sizes. What you don't get are the improved brightness and color volume that Samsung's QD-OLED delivers, so the LG C2 is a better fit for rooms with some light control.

The big news for the C2 this year is that it has been fitted with LG's "OLED evo" panel technology, which helps it to achieve higher brightness than last year's C1. Our measurements bore this out immediately: The C2 crests close to 800 nits in HDR Filmmaker Mode (a little less than the Samsung S95B), while still maintaining excellent performance in core areas like image contrast, color accuracy, and correct HDR brightness. The out-of-the-box settings are extremely accurate in Filmmaker Mode, though an experienced calibrator could make small improvements (but that's the case with any TV fresh from the factory).

The OLED evo panel may only make a small difference in peak brightness, but the C2's more finely tuned panel composition means bright content that lights up the whole screen (in SDR and HDR) generally looks brighter and more effusive, and the panel does a better job combating glare during daylight viewing than on previous C Series models. The Samsung S95B is still the better daytime TV, but the C2 has made appreciable improvements in that area compared with last year's C1.

While I was more impressed with the S95B's handling of color, the C2 is no slouch either. I played through Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order on the Xbox Series X (in Dolby Vision at 120 Hz) and was really impressed with the vivid coloration of lightsabers. While playing Ori & The Blind Forest, I found the TV's handling of sunset coloration and its smooth gradations from light to dark to be almost breathtaking, especially because the C2 is capable of Dolby Vision gaming (something the Samsung S95B can't do). The Dolby Vision format tends to handle bright and midtone gradations better than the HDR10 format, but this effect is more pronounced on dimmer TVs, so differences between the S95B and C2 while playing the same game were minimal.

The C Series is probably at its best when you’re watching film content in a totally dark room, due to its deep black levels and ability to show fine shadow details. While watching some tricky scenes from HBO's Westworld, I was especially impressed with the C2's handling of subtle color gradations in fleshtones during low-light sequences, and this TV maintains the perfectly inky quality of its black levels regardless of ambient lighting—unlike the Samsung S95B, which showed some fluctuation in black level in a brighter room. However, I also found those same dark scenes to be tricky to see when ambient light was reflecting off the C2's screen, which was less of a concern with the S95B.

So overall, there were pros and cons when comparing the two TVs, depending on your viewing conditions and degree of light control. The two TVs look almost identical in SDR Filmmaker Mode, so if you don't watch a lot of HDR content (or play games in HDR) and therefore won't experience the S95B's brightness and color improvements, the C2 may be the smarter choice.

Additionally, like last year's C1, the C2 is also an excellent gaming TV in general. Games feel fluid and responsive, and LG's Game Mode has been marginally improved for 2022. Like last year, Game Mode enables users to select specific genre presets (like FPS or RPG) and helpfully highlights details about crucial aspects of gaming, such as FPS count and HDR status. My favorite new addition is a dark-room toggle that makes it much easier to quickly reduce the OLED cell brightness.

However, dedicated gamers should be aware that (perhaps because of the OLED evo panel upgrade), our C2 review sample had slightly worse input lag than the C1 (and worse input lag than the Samsung S95B). The lag wasn't significant enough that I noticed it at all while gaming, but if you’re planning to play highly competitive games that necessitate frame-perfect inputs, you may want to consider a different TV. This may be a key reason while the gaming-oriented 42- and 48-inch C2 sizes don't use the OLED evo panel; but with those, you aren't getting the improvements to brightness, panel composition, and HDR highlights. There are also reports that gaming in a 4:3 aspect ratio (such as on retro game consoles) as much as triples the C2's input lag. We haven't confirmed this, but if you fall into that niche, you should investigate further.

Outside of its high-quality picture presentation and mostly stellar gaming prowess, the C2 wins big accolades for its flexibility. It's compatible with every major HDR format (HDR10, HDR10+, Dolby Vision, and HLG) and supports both AMD FreeSync and Nvidia G-Sync for gaming. It's also flexible by way of its screen sizes, and if you’re in the market for a smaller TV, paying less than $1,500 for the smallest size is a solid value.

Another element that adds to the feeling of flexibility with these TVs is how much lighter they are. The 65-inch C2 is only 37 pounds—compare that with last year's 65-inch C1, which at 71 pounds weighed almost twice as much. The 42-inch C2 hits only 20 pounds, making it a real featherweight contender. LG utilized different materials for construction of the C2, and the greatly reduced weight is a very welcome change (especially if you’re a TV reviewer moving the 65-inch model around by yourself).

Despite the weight loss, the C2 still sports four HDMI 2.1-compatible inputs (one with eARC to send higher-quality audio from the TV back to your sound system) and all the usual connectivity fixins you’d want.

Like with the S95B, one of my biggest complaints about the C2 is its smart platform. After all these years of using LG's WebOS platform, I still hate fussing with the Magic Remote's motion-controlled on-screen cursor. I also find that, while WebOS 22 is snappier and more responsive than Samsung's Smart Hub on the S95B, the layout is questionable at times. A "Trending Now" box seems to showcase a completely random smattering of content, and some aspects of WebOS are simply ugly. For example, the movie Sonic the Hedgehog 2 has a banner that says "Hot Deal," and the banner is poorly vectored and pixelated. This is not the kind of thing you like to see on a premium TV.

All in all, the LG C2 is an improvement over previous C Series models, and if you aren't trying to combat sunny glare or watching the latest highly saturated HDR content, the C2 looks almost as good as the S95B—while sliding into home plate at lower price points. The C2 is also built upon years of successful iterations, so it feels more "stable" than the Samsung S95B right now due to that model's numerous firmware updates.

If you want a QD-OLED model with premium trimmings, including Dolby Vision support: Sony's A95K (available in 55- and 65-inch sizes) is one of the best-looking TVs we’ve watched and tested, and it's a more fancily appointed product than Samsung's S95B. But after testing it for months, we’re not convinced that for most buyers its upgrades are worth the hundreds more it costs. Like the Samsung S95B, the A95K utilizes a quantum dot film to give impressive vivacity to colors and achieve brightness beyond that of most standard OLED TVs. Unlike the S95B, the A95K is also compatible with the Dolby Vision HDR standard (as well as HDR10, HDR10+, and HLG formats), utilizes a heatsink to improve panel brightness, and comes equipped with Sony's Acoustic Surface Audio technology (which improves audio performance by making the TV screen itself a speaker).

From a core performance perspective, the A95K achieves similar levels of HDR brightness as the Samsung S95B (roughly 1,000 to 1,300 nits, depending upon content). But its black levels don't fluctuate as noticeably in the presence of ambient light—which may appeal to videophiles. I was also truly impressed with the A95K's out-of-the-box accuracy: Its picture modes are perfectly tuned, with only the OLED cell brightness changing between Cinema, Standard, and Dynamic modes. As with the S95B, the A95K's ability to maintain color purity while increasing brightness beyond that of traditional OLED TVs is what makes QD-OLED so revolutionary.

Though it's not as zippy a gaming TV as the Samsung S95B, its Google smart platform is intuitive and robust, especially if you’re already well integrated in the Google/Gmail suite of services. I was also consistently impressed with its motion and video processing, and I found that it did a better job of upscaling sub-4K content than the S95B. The built-in screen speakers are also a step up over the average TV speakers, though I didn't think they bested my existing soundbar/subwoofer setup.

The bottom line is, if you’ve got money to spend, the Sony A95K may be the best-looking TV of 2022. But its picture quality—while slightly more refined—is so similar to that of the more affordable Samsung S95B that it doesn't earn a spot in this guide as an upgrade pick. The use of a heatsink may see longer OLED cell life for the A95K versus the S95B, but without personally testing the longevity and durability of both TVs, we can't factor that into the value consideration. However, if you want Sony's premium take on QD-OLED but don't want to pay 2023 prices, we highly recommend the A95K, which can still be found at reasonably lower prices than when it debuted in 2022.

We’re currently testing the 77-inch Samsung S95C—the successor to our current top pick—and our initial impressions are positive. The 77-inch model joins 55- and 65-inch options to give buyers looking for a bigger screen more reason to consider the S95C.

Like last year's S95B, the S95C continues to combine the best qualities of OLED and quantum dots to excellent effect, especially for HDR content. It's not significantly brighter than the previous model, sustaining peaks of around 1,300 to 1,400 nits in HDR modes—but so far we haven't noticed the ABL (auto brightness limiter) working across a variety of content, which is an improvement compared to the 2022 model. Likewise, the "raised blacks" created by light striking the TV's quantum dot layer, while still present (and only of marginal concern on last year's model), seem less obvious this year—but we’re still investigating.

The richness of colors remains perhaps the most impressive aspect of the TV compared to most OLED TVs released within the last decade, and it makes Ultra HD Blu-ray discs and HDR video games look especially impressive (though there is an over-brightening of gaming content that is an unfortunate factory default, which we’re still exploring).

Last year's model was just a bit on the fragile side, with bezels slightly prone to bending or warping under physical duress. While we can't speak directly for the 55- and 65-inch models, the 77-inch model is much sturdier. It also includes Samsung's OneConnect box this year; cables of multiple length are included, and the box itself can even be mounted on the back of the stand, which is especially useful if you intend to wall-mount the S95C.

We’re also very happy to report that the full-screen Tizen smart platform—which was annoyingly sluggish last year—is much better in 2023.

We’re still finishing our full battery of tests and comparisons, and looking into some inaccuracies measured in Filmmaker Mode during SDR video playback. But right now the S95C looks to again be a major player amongst 2023 OLEDs. It is in direct competition with LG's G3 OLED, which we plan to test next.

Sony recently announced the new A80L OLED series, which is offered in 55-inch ($1,900), 65-inch ($2,600), 77-inch ($3,600), and 83-inch ($5,500) screen sizes. Like Sony's premium LCD TVs, the A80L Series will feature Sony's Cognitive Processor XR technology and use the Google TV smart platform. We expect to test the A80L in the coming weeks.

LG's 2023 "Gallery" G3 Series uses a micro lens array (MLA, which LG calls Brightness Booster Max) to achieve higher brightness compared with 2022 models, and it's available in 55-, 65-, 77-, and 83-inch sizes for $2,500, $3,300, $4,500, and $6,500, respectively. The C3 Series is available in 42-, 48-, 55-, 65-, 77-, and 83-inch sizes for $1,400, $1,500, $1,900, $2,600, $3,600, and $5,300, respectively. The entry-level B3 Series (there's no A Series in 2023) comes in 55-, 65-, and 77-inch sizes for $1,700, $2,400, and $3,300, respectively. All of LG's 2023 OLED TVs will have 120 Hz refresh rates.

TCL announced that it's getting into the QD-OLED game and will introduce a model in 2023, but we don't have any further details right now.

Panasonic announced its new flagship OLED TV, the MZ2000, which the company says has much higher brightness capabilities than previous models, adds advanced gaming features, and features an improved Filmmaker Mode that's suitable for use in more viewing environments (not just dark rooms). The MZ2000 is available in 55-, 65-, and 77-inch screen sizes, but like all Panasonic TVs, it will probably not be sold in the US.

The major TV manufacturers generally introduce new lines every year and slowly phase out the older models. Most of the TVs listed below were considered and dismissed by this guide's former writer, Chris Heinonen, in 2021 or earlier:

LG's 2021 G1 Series was the step-up model from the C1 Series (our previous top pick) and featured the company's Gallery design that is ideal for wall-mounting. It was the first TV to use LG's "OLED evo" panel but didn't offer appreciable performance improvements compared with the C1, despite costing more money. In 2022, LG added the OLED evo panel upgrade to both the C2 and G2 OLED TVs. According to trusted review sources, the G2 Series boasts somewhat improved brightness compared with the C2, but it is still priced at a premium due to its on-wall Gallery configuration, and it has less brightness and color than the more affordable Samsung S95B. We also did not consider the Z2 OLED; as LG's only 8K OLED, it is priced at a serious premium, but we feel it is too early to upgrade to 8K resolution.

In 2022, LG also released the A2 and B2 OLED TVs. The A2's limited brightness (less than 400 nits in SDR, less than 600 nits in HDR), lack of modern HDMI 2.1 gaming features, and 60 Hz refresh rate kept us from considering it for this guide, since we thought it would quickly lose relevance due to its limitations. The midrange B2 (available in 55-, 65-, and 77-inch sizes) performed well during SDR testing, but it fell far short of our picks in both HDR brightness and HDR color production, since it does not use LG's OLED evo panel. In particular, the B2's colors looked washed out compared with the more vivacious color on the newer QD-OLED models. Still, the B2 is not a terrible choice if you need to save a few hundred dollars compared with the C2—but the C2's superior performance and (especially) snappier processing make it worth spending more to get.

The Vizio OLED55-H1 (and its larger 65-inch sibling) is a former budget pick, but we changed our mind after seeing multiple reports of firmware issues that take a long time to get resolved—and then introduce new bugs when they are released. The Vizio's image looks very good, but the TV has had persistent problems with HDMI 2.1 and gaming at 4K 120 Hz, and there are also issues with sending lossless audio over eARC to non-Vizio soundbars. Because of this, we’d recommend getting a more reliable "budget" OLED TV like the LG A1.

The XC9000 from Skyworth, which comes in 55- and 65-inch sizes, is one of the cheapest OLED TVs you can buy. But its HDMI inputs are only 2.0 and not 2.1, and it only has a 60 Hz refresh rate, so there's no 4K 120 Hz gaming available here. We did not test this TV, but other reviewers have found that it has a maximum peak light output of around 500 nits, and it looks to display colors using the native gamut instead of the correct one, so colors will be oversaturated all the time. It uses integrated Android TV, not Google TV, and the responsiveness of the interface seems slower than the competition. Given that the LG A1 is available for about the same price, we’d recommend it instead.

A previous upgrade pick, Sony's A90J Master Series is still available. Previously, the A90J was the best-looking OLED we’d ever tested: Sony's smart utilization of an aluminum heatsink allowed it to produce higher brightness and a wider range of colors than the 2021 LG C1 without the same risks of image retention, making for more pop during HDR content. As a bonus, the A90J also features the Google TV smart platform, which tends to be more intuitive than the proprietary platforms from Samsung and LG. But we think it has fallen behind the new Samsung S95B in terms of pure brightness and color performance, and it's also more expensive than Samsung's QD-OLED TV in those screen sizes. However, if you’re looking for a very large OLED TV, you can find the 83-inch A90J for only a bit more money than the price of the 83-inch LG C2—and for quite a bit less than the price of the 83-inch LG G2.

Sony's 2021 A80J Series offers a great image and packs the same superb image processing as the more expensive A90J, but it doesn't get nearly as bright as the A90J—averaging around 500 nits for HDR content. Plus, you only get two HDMI inputs with the higher HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, and there's no support for variable refresh rate or Dolby Vision HDR games at 120 Hz. If you only watch SDR content and don't play games, the A80J will look superb, but HDR video and games look better on our picks.

Panasonic makes excellent high-performance OLED TVs. Unfortunately they are generally not sold in the US, though you may sometimes find select models exclusively through Value Electronics. The company's newest model is the LZ2000, which comes in 55-, 65-, and 77-inch sizes. You can read about it here.

This article was edited by Adrienne Maxwell and Grant Clauser.

TV Reviews, CNET

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Lee Neikirk

Lee Neikirk is a senior staff writer reporting on TVs at Wirecutter. He has been testing and reviewing AV gear since 2012 and is an ISF-certified TV calibrator. When he's not fussing over pixels, Lee is either jamming on a guitar, playing video games, or driving around endlessly trying to find beach parking.

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