Samsung's OLED-killing MicroLED 4K TVs revealed in multiple sizes

Self-lit pixels without the burn-in – but you'd better have deep pockets

Samsung Micro LED TV
(Image credit: Samsung)
Matthew Bolton
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MicroLED has been the heir apparent to OLED for some time, but now Samsung has revealed the first plans for a range of TVs that use the revolutionary new screen technology.

Called, simply, the Samsung MICRO LED line, there will be a monster 110-inch set that we've reported on previously, plus a 99-inch version confirmed, while Samsung's announcement video also showed sets in the 80-inch and 70-inch range.

There's no word yet on worldwide prices for all these, and the only release dates we have are "by the end of the year", but we expect them to be, shall we say, pretty niche. This truly is cutting-edge tech, and it's only coming at large sizes – between the two, non-oligarchs should probably turn the Samsung's new Neo QLED TVs if they're looking for some next-gen TV tech.

Still, if you have the cash, MicroLED is very much the future. Like OLED TVs, the pixels are self-lit, which means they can offer infinitely deep contrast by controlling their brightness individually. It means detail and colour precision should be perfect too. But they have much longer lifespans than OLED panels, which means no burn in.

The current TVs all appear to offer 4K resolution – Samsung hasn't officially confirmed this, but it has said that each TV includes 24 million MicroLED pixels, and that the pixels come in sets of three (red, green and blue). 24 million divided by three is 8 million, which is the number of pixels in a 4K panel.

This isn't the first appearance of MicroLED in Samsung's line-up – last year, it made 'The Wall' available to buy, which was a modular series of MicroLED panels people could build into whatever size and shape of screen they wanted.

That's still an option, but these TVs are the first time that Samsung has offered the technology in a simple package with normal TV screen specs, which is obviously a major advantage.

Though they may be niche for price reasons, we can't wait to try these sets and see how the first generation of MicroLED shapes up against the latest mature and polished OLED tech – they're a look into the future not just of the panels we'll have on our TVs, but likely phones, smartwatches and more, too.

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Matthew Bolton
Matthew Bolton

Matt is T3's former AV and Smart Home Editor (UK), master of all things audiovisual, overseeing our TV, speakers and headphones coverage. He also covered smart home products and large appliances, as well as our toys and games articles. He's can explain both what Dolby Vision IQ is and why the Lego you're building doesn't fit together the way the instructions say, so is truly invaluable. Matt has worked for tech publications for over 10 years, in print and online, including running T3's print magazine and launching its most recent redesign. He's also contributed to a huge number of tech and gaming titles over the years. Say hello if you see him roaming the halls at CES, IFA or Toy Fair. Matt now works for our sister title TechRadar.

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