OLED TV Panels to Reach 4500 nits Peak Brightness in 2026

As part of their CES showcase, both the leading OLED panel manufacturers Samsung Display and LG Display have announced improvements to their OLED TV panels which will push brightness even further. These new specs will apply across their flagship panels, with both QD-OLED and WOLED technology offering incremental improvements over last years 4000 nits peak spec. Actual TV’s incorporating these panels will no doubt be formally unveiled at CES as well, but it’s interesting to see what’s happening in the TV space, as it can give an indication of how monitor panels may improve in the future, or at least the technologies that are being utilised. We’ll also take a look at monitor panel updates here.

Samsung Display QD-OLED TV panels

Their press release says that “on display for the first time is the 2026 QD-OLED TV model, featuring newly optimized organic materials and supporting a peak brightness of 4,500 nits, among the highest brightness levels achieved for a self-emissive display. QD-OLED achieves its peak luminance by combining the maximum brightness of each RGB component. Compared to competing products with similar peak brightness, QD-OLED demonstrates the potential for more vivid colour reproduction and higher perceptual brightness, further enhancing compatibility with AI-based picture quality optimization technologies.”

It’s not clear what panel sizes will feature these new specs, but we will seek further information from CES this week. Make sure to follow our CES tracker here for all the latest news.

Source: Samsung Display

LG Display Tandem WOLED TV panels

LG Display will unveil a new OLED TV panel that “represents the pinnacle of OLED picture quality innovation.” Their press release says that “it features Primary RGB Tandem 2.0, an advanced version of LG Display’s proprietary Primary RGB Tandem technology, which generates light by stacking the three primary colours of light (red, green, and blue) in independent layers. By incorporating an even more refined pixel structure and advanced algorithms, it maximizes light efficiency.“

As a result, the new OLED TV panel achieves a peak brightness of up to 4,500 nits. LG Display also say that the panel “incorporates advanced light-absorption and diffusion technology to minimize reflections, delivering the lowest reflection rate among existing displays of just 0.3 percent.”

It’s not clear what panel sizes will feature these new specs, but we will seek further information from CES this week. Make sure to follow our CES tracker here for all the latest news.

What about monitor panels?

So 4500 nits is the new headline for OLED TV panels, but what about monitor panels? What brightness improvements can we expect there for 2026? We won’t see anything near 4500 nits, but then the use cases and viewing position are very different. Still, we’ll see brightness improvements in the OLED monitor space this year:

QD-OLED monitor panels

In terms of Samsung Display’s QD-OLED technology we’ve already seen the release of new 4th Gen 32″ 4K panels, and even new 5th Gen 34″ ultrawide panels. We’ve reviewed the Asus ROG Swift PG32UCDM3 (32″ 4K), as well as the Asus ROG Swift PG34WCDN and MSI MPG 341CQR X36 (34″ ultrawide) monitors already in fact!

Thanks to the use of their latest EL3.0 OLED material, these new panels offer improved SDR and HDR brightness, including offering 300 nits SDR luminance (up from 250 nits previously) and certification under the VESA DisplayHDR 500 True Black tier. The 34″ ultrawide 5th Gen panel also offers an increased peak brightness of 1300 nits for the first time from any QD-OLED monitor panel.

New 2026 QD-OLED panels unveiled so far

• 32″ 4K 240Hz – Gen 4
• 34″ ultrawide 360Hz – Gen 5

WOLED monitor panels

LG Display have confirmed that “starting this year, the company will expand the application of Primary RGB Tandem 2.0 beyond OLED TV panels to its full line-up of Gaming OLED panels, enabling monitor displays that achieve a peak brightness of up to 1,500 nits.” We’ve already seen decent improvements in 2025 thanks to their 4th Gen panels (now simply known as “Tandem WOLED”), featured in monitors like the Asus ROG Strix XG27AQWMG, Asus ROG Swift PG27AQWP-W and Gigabyte MO27Q28G that we’ve reviewed. SDR luminance reaches up to ~380 nits in some cases, and peak brightness for HDR is now 1500 nits, a decent step up from the earlier 1300 nits panels.

We already know that LG Display will be expanding this Tandem WOLED technology in to new panel sizes this year, including a 27″ 4K panel with a true RGB-stripe (although this won’t offer brightness enhancements sadly due to the removal of the white sub-pixel), a new 39″ ultrawide 5K2K panel and updated 32″ 4K panels too. Expect to see further monitors announced during CES using these new panels.

New 2026 WOLED panels unveiled so far

• 27″ 4K RGB-stripe – 4th Gen Tandem WOLED
• 32″ 4K 240Hz – 4th Gen Tandem WOLED
• 39″ ultrawide 5K2K 165Hz – 4th Gen Tandem WOLED

More information

We’ll report back on any other interesting information from CES this week in this area, including on whether there are any updates to screen sizes that could just about be considered monitor-like, such as the 42″ OLED panels we’ve seen in the past. We’d love to see an update to the panel specs and features in that space.

To stay up to date on all our CES coverage, news and reviews you can follow our CES tracker here and subscribe to our YouTube channel.

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[Round-up] All the monitor news from CES 2026

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