RGB mini LED: technology that makes OLED look old

RGB mini LED seems to be the big TV news coming out of CES. This after it initially seemed OLED TVs would steal the show from all other picture technologies. LG and Samsung, for example, revealed their OLED TVs will become smarter and feature really useful AI. And while Panasonic still sources OLED panels from LG, they want to outdo their supplier – thanks to a new cooling system.

But the big OLED party ended swiftly when Hisense presented its first RGB mini LED TV, the 116UX, announcing on the spot that it’ll be launched later this year. The Chinese tech giant spoke of up to 10,000 nit peak brightness (yes, that’s right, ten thousand) and a BT.2020 colour space coverage of 97 per cent.

I’d like to say that I’ll believe it when I see it, but I’m afraid that with so much peak brightness I’d risk burning my eyes out…

What is RGB mini LED?

Alright, one thing at a time. What is RGB mini LED anyway, and how does it differ from a conventional mini LED TV like Sony’s Bravia 9?

In short, RGB mini LED uses red, green and blue LEDs instead of white LEDs for backlighting. It makes colours appear stronger, more accurate and conjures an overall brighter image. Simply put, colours look more natural and the TV can display more hues.

Why is this important? Well, RGB LEDs enable purer colours, more precise gradations and 97 per cent coverage of the BT.2020 colour space. For anyone unfamiliar with the term, the BT.2020 colour space is a standard that can display many more colours than the DCI-P3 space previously used for HDR content. The greater the colour space coverage, the more lifelike and intense colours appear.

And a peak brightness of 10,000 nit? It’s not just a marketing gimmick. For comparison, even the brightest OLED TVs currently achieve a maximum of 2000 to 3000 nit. The next OLED generation even wants to make it to 4000. This is important when it comes to displaying HDR content, where strong contrasts between the brightest and darkest areas of an image are important.

However, even the latest generation of OLEDs pale in comparison to the 10,000 nit RGB mini LEDs that have been announced. To explain exactly how this works, we need to delve a little deeper into the matter.

The difference to conventional mini LEDs

With conventional mini LEDs, the backlight consists of thousands of tiny white LEDs that can be dimmed in zones to increase contrast. This is known as local dimming.

Advantage number one

Hisense wants to enable even finer control of the backlight with RGB mini LEDs. Instead of thousands of dimming zones, as is usual with conventional mini LEDs, even smaller and more precise dimming zones could be realised with RGB LEDs. This would both improve contrast as well as reduce blooming – the unwanted glow of light areas next to dark areas.

Advantage number two

White mini LEDs aren’t actually white, but based on blue LEDs coated with a thick layer of phosphor to create a white background light. This can lead to colour distortions, especially with bright reds or rich shades of green.

RGB mini LEDs avoid this problem by using separate red, green and blue LEDs. If they all shine at the same time, the result is a much brighter and cleaner white than what you’d get with a thick phosphor layer.

However, these LEDs should also work independently of each other, and their intensity can be individually adjusted. This both extends the coverage of the aforementioned BT-2020 colour space and increases colour purity as well as accuracy. All with near-perfect blacks, thanks to the thousands of dimming zones. Another thing I’ll only believe when I see it. But according to insiders, even high-end OLEDs should look old against the overall package of the new RGB mini LED.

To categorise

Satisfactory results of almost 90 per cent BT.2020 coverage have so far only been achieved by Samsung OLED televisions using a Quantum Dot layer. So what Hisense is announcing with its 97 per cent is a big deal.

Is the hype justified?

Tech icon Vincent Teoh from HDTV and nerd guru Caleb Denison from Digital Trends have made no secret of their enthusiasm. Teoh described the Hisense 116UX as a game changer, praising the combination of colour purity, brightness and contrast in particular. According to Teoh, it’s the next evolutionary step in mini LED technology. Caleb Denison went one step further. To him, it’s the first mini LED TV that can seriously compete with OLED.

Why all this euphoria?

Experts such as Teoh and Denison clearly justify their excitement for the unique combination of brightness and colour display provided by RGB mini LEDs. OLEDs, as impressive as their black level display is, have weaknesses when it comes to peak brightness. This is a drawback, especially in bright rooms or with very dynamic HDR content. RGB mini LED could offer the perfect solution here. The technology promises a new dimension of luminosity and dynamics previously reserved for OLEDs – without a risk of burn-in.

And the competition?

While TCL and Samsung also presented their own RGB mini LEDs, only the Hisense 116UX seems to be actually close to launch. As a result, Hisense decided to give the technology its own name: TriChromaLED.

Regarding price, Hisense is still staying silent. Going by display size and technology, I’d estimate around 50,000 francs.

What does this mean for the future?

Whether RGB mini-LED has the potential to replace OLED in the long term remains to be seen. The technical foundation is promising, but there’s still a long way to go before the technology becomes affordable and suitable for mass use. At least with the 116UX, the Chinese manufacturer has proven that there are exciting innovations beyond OLED. Monitor expert and fellow editor Samuel Buchman even told me he’d finally found his new TV.

Looks like we’re in for a treat. I hope it doesn’t actually burn my eyes out during the first test – no, seriously.