What are Micro RGB TVs and why are they everywhere at CES 2026?

"Micro RGB TVs first arrived with little fanfare and a confusing name, so you may have mistaken it for other panel tech or not even noticed. That is not likely to be the case this year, though - it's the hot new "luxury" display technology and is all over the place at . So why do we even need these new TVs and how are they different from OLED, Micro LED and Mini LED models? Here's how it works and how it compares."

"The first LCD TVs used liquid crystals that become transparent to light when voltage is applied, letting a rear backlight shine through as a pixel. Those pixels combine to create moving or still images, with color created via an RGB filter layer placed in front. The main problem is that LCD crystals let some light partially leak through, so blacks are dark grey instead of pure black. And for a backlight, early LCD TVs used a white screen lit by dim and power-hungry fluorescent lights, which caused uneven light distribution. And finally, the RGB filter color layer reduced a panel's brightness."

"The next step up, then, was to use LED backlights instead, placed at first at the edges of the white screen and then later directly behind it (the first TV with this tech was Sony's 2004 Qualia). That added the benefits of higher brightness, lower power consumption, improved color balance and even light distribution. It also allowed individual dimming zones that improve 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. This type of LCD panel employs a semiconductor nanocrystal layer (rather than an RGB filter layer) that can produce pure monochromatic red, green, and blue light when struck with a"

Micro RGB televisions have emerged as a new luxury display technology after an initially low-profile introduction. Early flat-panel LCDs used liquid crystals and an RGB filter to create color, relying on rear backlights to illuminate pixels. Those panels struggled with light leakage that produced grey blacks, uneven fluorescent backlighting, and reduced brightness due to RGB filters. Switching to LED backlights improved brightness, power efficiency, color balance, and enabled local dimming zones for better contrast. Quantum dot layers replaced RGB filters on some LCDs to produce purer red, green, and blue primaries. Micro RGB presents a different approach compared with OLED, Micro LED, and Mini LED designs.

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