If a whole new set of trademarks are to be believed, Samsung's CES QLED line up is going to be busy. As reported by What Hi-Fi, the tech giant has listed myriad new exciting names for its 2021 line up.
Spotted by both 4Kfilme and FlatPanelsHD, the new names include QLED Neo, QLED Z, QLED Platinum, Quantum Matrix, and QLED+. No clues yet as to whether the first will have us don impossibly cool sunglasses and gain kung fu abilities.
Obviously, there's an amount of guesswork to be had here but taking a look in our QLED-lit crystal ball, it wouldn't be totally unreasonable for one of these trademarks to be for Samsung's new MiniLED tech.
UPDATE: Samsung Neo QLED 4K and 8K TVs revealed!
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Not to be confused with the ultra-expensive, 110-inch Samsung MicroLED TV, MiniLED has been rumoured to be Samsung's next premium LCD offering. As reported by Thelec last month, MiniLED TVs will use, well, mini, LEDs to backlight LCD panels for more efficient local dimming and therefore deeper blacks.
Samsung is rumoured to be producing both 4K and 8K TVs with MiniLED. While this technology could bring LCD up against OLED in terms of depth of contrast, it's important to note that this additional layering of smaller LEDs to backlight the panel won't mean the tech will come cheap.
Could this be Quantum Matrix or QLED Platinum? The latter might be more likely to match the credit card we'll need.
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Samsung's current QLED, or quantum dot technology, is impressive but like OLED's 2021 quest for better brightness, there are always improvements to be made. As you can see in our QLED vs OLED faceoff, there are benefits to each technology but 2021 will be the year where each will have to evolve to stay relevant.
CES in January just can't come soon enough and the good news is that we'll be here with all the of the latest news.
Louise Blain is a journalist and broadcaster specialising in technology, gaming, and entertainment. She has a weekly consumer tech slot on BBC Radio Scotland and is the presenter of BBC Radio 3's monthly Sound of Gaming show. She can also regularly be found on BBC Radio 4, BBC Five Live, and The Evolution of Horror podcast as well as writing for GamesRadar and NME. Louise loves finding ways that tech can make our lives better every day and no, she doesn't have enough smart lighting yet.