I’ve been tracking TV deals and new releases at Mashable for years. My friends and family have watched me scramble to compare the new models during CES in January, and then scramble to see which of those models got a big discount during Prime Day or Black Friday. And I always hear some iteration of this question: “How much can TVs possibly change over the years?”
That’s a valid question most of the time. If you’re not a serious gamer or someone who tests TV specs for a living, the difference between an OLED TV model from the current year vs. the same model from the year prior probably isn’t all that riveting. But I promise you, the best TVs of 2026 so far are quite literally built different.
2026 is the year of the RGB TV. What is that?
The conversation about the best TV for whatever situation has been a dichotomous battle between QLED and OLED forever. As a refresher, QLED TVs typically get brighter but sometimes struggle with black levels and blooming. OLED TVs rule the world of contrast and picture quality in dark rooms, but aren’t as vibrant in bright rooms. RGB is kind of the best of both worlds, and it was easily the biggest TV trend at CES 2026.
RGB doesn’t automatically knock OLED and QLED to second and third place. The big TV brands that dropped an RGB TV or two, like Samsung, LG, and Hisense, also unveiled new OLED or QLED models that are still highly competitive, depending on your typical streaming or gaming situation.
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