QLED vs OLED – compare the best TV tech

The differences between QLED and OLED

The most popular TV manufacturer at the moment is Samsung. Their best TVs are branded as QLED. In 2019 alone they released no fewer than 28 different models in 7 series. These include a 98 inch model as well as TVs designed to look like paintings or modern art. QLED is currently the best Samsung has to offer viewers worldwide and was developed by their top engineers.
If you’re after the very best picture quality, you end up with OLED instead.
Based on reviews in recent years, the conclusion is that LG’s OLED televisions deliver better picture quality than Samsung’s QLEDs.
For instance, last year LG’s C9 OLED beat Samsung’s Q9 QLED. Many consider it to deliver the best picture quality ever tested.
The Samsung Q9 still offers the best QLED picture in 2019. These days you also have the Samsung Q80 and Q90, which come with various improvements, but they haven’t yet been extensively tested by independent consumer organisations.

Why OLED?

QLED is closer to a regular (older) LCD screen. OLED is seen by most experts as a completely different type of television, similar to how plasma was in the past.
Quantum dots are microscopic molecules that emit their own light in different colours when hit by light. In QLED TVs, these dots are embedded in a film and the light that hits them is supplied by an LED backlight. That light then passes through several other layers in the TV, including a liquid crystal (LCD) layer, to create the image. The light from the LED source is allowed to pass through these layers to the surface of the screen, which is why we call it a “transmissive” technology.

So OLED is not an LCD TV at all. LCD is the dominant flat‑panel technology and is cheaper than OLED.
OLED is different because it doesn’t use an LED backlight to produce light. Instead, light is produced by millions of individual OLED sub‑pixels. The pixels themselves – the tiny dots that make up the image – emit light, which is why it’s called an “emissive” display technology. This difference leads to all kinds of effects in terms of picture quality.
Some people prefer LCD (and therefore a QLED), but most now want the new OLED.
Sony also sells OLED TVs in the US, and Panasonic and Philips sell OLED TVs in Europe. All of the panels they use are manufactured by LG Display.

The general opinion is that OLED is just a bit better than QLED and that people are usually advised to choose an OLED for the following reasons:
A QLED TV is an LCD television with quantum dots;
QLED, like LCD, is “transmissive” and relies on an LED backlight;
QLED stands for Quantum dot LED;
QLED is a variant of LED LCD, in which a quantum‑dot film is added to the LCD sandwich;
OLED stands for Organic Light‑Emitting Diode;
OLED is a fundamentally different technology from LCD, which is currently the most common type;
OLED is “emissive”, which means the pixels emit their own light.

The picture quality of QLED and OLED

The picture quality of a QLED TV varies more than that of OLED TVs. You can also see big differences in picture quality between individual QLED models. The more expensive Samsung models perform much better than the cheaper ones.
By now, OLED TVs offer broadly comparable picture quality. The differences in picture quality between OLED models are minimal.
The general opinion is that OLED has better black‑level contrast. This is partly because a QLED / LCD television lets through a bit more light, which leads to greyer blacks. OLED is also still much brighter overall, and thanks to its superior contrast, it usually delivers the better picture.

Colour, resolution, video processing and other picture‑quality factors are basically the same for both.

At the moment, 55, 65, 77 and 88 inch OLED TVs are available. However, the 77 (around €5.000,-) and 88 inch models (around €25.000,-) are not affordable for everyone.
QLED comes in more sizes: 43, 49, 55, 65, 75, 82, 85 and even 98 inches. QLED and LCD have the advantage of being cheaper from 65 inches and up. A 77 inch Samsung (the Q70) QLED, for example, costs just over €1.500,- And large televisions are the fastest‑growing segment.
Of course, OLED quality is better, but it’s also about three times as expensive. So here the rule is: the more you pay, the better it gets.

MicroLED

MicroLED is another emissive technology, again from Samsung. As the name suggests, this type uses millions of tiny LEDs as pixels. MicroLED has the potential to offer the same perfect black levels as OLED without the risk of burn‑in. It can also deliver higher brightness than any current display technology. This bodes well for the future, especially since the competition won’t be standing still either, meaning TV technologies and picture quality will only continue to improve.
For now, however, OLED still leads QLED when it comes to picture quality – at least until someone manages to combine the two.