The alphabet soup of TV screen types is getting ever more complex ahead of CES 2026. So you may already have an idea about OLED, aka organic light-emitting diode displays, but get ready for so-called Tandem OLED as well as “Tandem WOLED.” When you try to sound it out, it’s a name that sounds like “woah, OLED,” and—depending on how bright and beautiful it looks—it could be the next big upgrade for TV buyers.
Despite its age, OLED is still one of the best screen types available for rich colors, strong contrast, and deep “inky” black levels. LG already makes some high-quality OLED TVs. Or, at least, those screens are the ones that every other display provider compares themselves to. At CES 2026, LG will be bringing out a variety of updated OLED models. The Tandem OLED models stack multiple layers of self-emissive RGB sub-pixels on top of each other, enhancing brightness. Meanwhile, Tandem WOLED uses an extra layer of white light to enhance brightness.
LG mentions more about these screen types in several videos released late last week. The new display monikers are an update to some of the company’s existing display technology. Previous screens with this “Tandem WOLED” technology had names like “Primary RGB Tandem” and were found in devices like LG’s recent UltraGear monitors. Either way, it’s a mouthful, and we’re not yet aware of what updates the company has made to its technology. Regular Tandem OLED will be used more in smaller screens like laptops, tablets, and inside cars (that likely already have far too many screens).
However, LG’s videos hide several hints of what’s coming in January of next year. As first spotted by TFCentral, the big one to look out for is an utterly massive 5K2K ultrawide screen dubbed the 39WU. The 39-inch monitor would have a resolution of 5,120 x 2,160, and it appears to have a relatively gentle curve, likely around 800R. That’s far less dramatic of a swerve than the 40-inch Samsung Odyssey G7 I recently reviewed.
LG will also show off a 27-inch dual-mode OLED monitor (it hits 540Hz refresh rate at 1440p and 720Hz at likely 1080p) as well as another 27-inch 4K panel. High refresh rates above 240Hz don’t matter to anybody but the esports pros, but Tandem OLED could become the new standard for screens, even more than current QD-OLED, which uses an extra layer of quantum dots to enhance picture quality. Tablets like Apple’s iPad Pro from 2024 and 2025 use this screen technology, which we’ve noticed has generally enhanced brightness compared to other OLED screens.
OLED has more competition starting next year than it previously did. Most TV makers will debut some consumer-end TVs with a kind of micro RGB technology. This screen type is closer to mini LED, which uses an LCD panel with a multitude of miniature diodes to produce a kind of backlight. These newer micro RGBs use extremely tiny LEDs capable of emitting red, green, and blue light independently. Gizmodo saw some mammoth 115- and 110-inch examples of these TVs at the CES 2025, but soon companies like Samsung will be offering smaller models that can actually fit in most living rooms. We also expect more screen makers to offer mini RGB (like micro RGB, but with larger diodes) and micro LED (like mini LED, but with smaller diodes).
And despite it all, OLED may still reign supreme. Mini LED and micro RGB are both impressive, but a quality organic light-emitting diode panel will offer near-instantaneous response times compared to any other panel type. This determines how fast a pixel changes color, which is especially important for offering a great experience for gaming at higher frame rates. These varieties of OLED, even if they’re not exactly new, may keep the screen type as the king of contrast for the near future.
