Overlook Invisible TVs. Here is the Show Tech That Will Matter at CES 2026

Yearly, the tv class is without doubt one of the flashiest at CES, that includes huge video TV walls and progressive options like transparent screens. CES 2026 will undoubtedly see ever-weirder and ever-unobtainable prototypes, however will they find yourself on a “worst gadgets” roundup? Time will inform. 

In earlier years, we have seen all the pieces, from battery-powered TVs that stick to a wall to OLEDs that roll up like a treasure map. I am not a TV designer, and so I might by no means anticipate the weird issues firms are cooking up proper now. But, whereas these cutting-edge gadgets seize headlines, our focus will stay on the merchandise that really matter to you.

Learn extra: CNET Is Choosing the Best of CES 2026 Awards

We all know that gimmicks aren’t what folks purchase TVs for. Image high quality is crucial facet of any TV, and I count on we’ll see developments in that space, particularly on the inexpensive finish of the market. Alongside computer systems and telephones, TVs have a 12-month shelf life and are up to date yearly — often with image and have enhancements. Here is what this yr guarantees.

The mini-LED trickle-down

Two televisions from 2025 level the best way ahead — the Hisense QD7 and the TCL QM9. Each fashions have mini-LED technology, however they’re at both excessive of the market — the Hisense is a funds TV, and the TCL is a flagship. Each have been important for his or her enhancements to image high quality, particularly the QD7. The Hisense’s mini-LED backlight was a lower above the funds TV competitors this yr, and I hope it is the beginning of a brand new development. Native dimming has a constructive impact on LCD image high quality, and the power to do it at an inexpensive worth is healthier for everybody. 

Mini-LED is an evolution of conventional LCD TV backlight tech, utilizing 1000’s of tiny light-emitting diodes to enhance image high quality. One of many first mini-LED TVs to change into accessible was the 2019 TCL 8-Series, and it is a expertise which has change into extra extensively accessible with every passing yr.

Enhancements in show expertise can typically appear incremental, nearly glacial, however this yr, mini-LED backlights helped make LCD TVs eye-weepingly brilliant. This can be a good factor. For example, in 2025, TCL modified its expertise to “Halo management,” which was designed to cut back LCD bloom, and it labored! 

The brightest TV I reviewed final yr was the QM9K, and it took stuffed with benefit of this improve: It was brilliant and able to nice distinction. You possibly can count on to see this expertise rolled out to extra TVs within the firm’s vary. Rivals like Samsung and Hisense will little question be taking notes as properly.  

The Micro RGB backlight evolution

The brightest TVs I noticed in 2025 have been probably the most impractical to check in a lab setting. That is principally as a result of they have been enormous — over 100 inches diagonal — they usually included the Hisense 116UX TV and the Samsung Micro RGB TV. 

The important thing to their success was a micro RGB backlight, which is distinct from MicroLED display type. These backlights are fabricated from crimson, inexperienced and blue micro-LEDs, they usually have two foremost advantages: They do not want a shade filter, whether or not quantum dot or in any other case, they usually can create brighter screens. At CES, we’ll see a complete bunch of TVs based mostly on this — led by each Samsung the LG. What we’ll see is TVs of all sizes — from 55-inches and up — and at costs which might be significantly lower than a automotive.

OLED’s brilliant future

Whereas OLED has all the time had a bonus over LED by way of distinction, that hole has decreased. Although OLED cannot enhance on its already nice black ranges, the a method the expertise has proven development is with brightness, and I count on this development to proceed in 2026. The LG G5 was the brightest OLED TV I examined this yr, for example, and it was brighter than the LCD TVs of just a few cycles in the past. It successfully did this by layering two OLED panels on prime of one another in what the corporate referred to as “4 stack.”

I would like to see enhancements on the “extra inexpensive” finish of OLED, which hasn’t seen any true upgrades in a very long time. The $1,400 LG C5, for instance, isn’t significantly totally different from the LG C4, and the LG C4 was based mostly on the LG C3, and so forth. 

If OLED is to compete with the brand new mini-LED menace, producers must make it extra engaging to a wider vary of patrons. By this, I imply, OLED TVs want brighter panels throughout the board, beginning with the entry-level fashions. Whereas doubling the variety of panels is clearly expensive, there are different tweaks that OLED producers could make, together with voltage tweaks and improved filters.

Different issues to think about

Because of developments like Dolby Vision 2 and Samsung HDR10 Plus Superior, the TVs introduced at CES shall be brighter than ever, and this brightness will really be helpful for suitable HDR motion pictures and gaming.

Whereas TV firms nearly by no means speak about funds fashions at CES, the cutting-edge expertise we have seen this yr — and in 2026 — will undoubtedly trickle right down to the funds finish. What does this imply? Higher image high quality for much less cash. 

Tariffs on imported products and the resulting inflation has been a wild card for tech merchandise in 2025, and it stays unknown what impact it will have on subsequent yr’s costs. Most TVs proven at CES are unlikely to come back with a price ticket, although. Some background discussions about pricing would possibly occur through the present, given the conference’s worldwide nature, however the precise costs will not be revealed till months later.

The underside line

We do not have lengthy to attend for the most recent in televisual goodies. CES 2026 begins on Jan. 6, so keep tuned to search out out what’s new. I’m visiting CES in Las Vegas for the primary time shortly, and I will be extra all for the actual advantages to you, the reader, somewhat than the attention-grabbing devices. I am hopeful about seeing higher, brighter and extra inexpensive TVs than ever earlier than.