The next wave of Samsung TVs will feature mini-LED backlighting on some models, giving the company's QLED TV lineup a more fierce competitor to OLED TVs

Better backlighting, sharper contrast, and better HDR performance are expected New mini-LED TVs will be announced in 2021 and will likely be featured in many of Samsung's QLED 4K and 8K sets next year

SamMobilecom reports that the first batch of mini LED TVs will be announced in the first half of 2021

Not to be confused with micro-LEDs, which use multicolor LEDs as individual pixels, mini-LEDs are a bit more basic, using smaller, brighter LED lights as backlights for LCD panels At 100-200 micrometers wide, mini-LEDs are smaller and more energy efficient than conventional LEDs, enabling slimmer LCD displays that provide brighter backlighting with lower power consumption

Conventional LED backlighting uses 30-50 LEDs clustered in several individual dimming zones behind the LCD panel, whereas mini-LEDs can use hundreds or thousands of LEDs in the same screen size, in tens or hundreds of dimmable backlight zones The contrast improvement is phenomenal, with an expected contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1, a significant improvement over the 10,000:1 of current TVs

This improvement over traditional backlit LCD screens allows the backlight to be more closely tuned to the content on the screen, increasing brightness where needed and dimming the backlight in darker areas While it cannot provide pixel-perfect illumination like self-luminous technology such as OLED, mini-LED technology offers a significant improvement over backlit LCD screens

This is a particularly important development for Samsung as the company continues to promote LCD-based QLED TVs in both 4K and 8K resolutions

According to recent reports, new mini LED TV models will be announced in the first half of 2021 Whether this means that they will be unveiled at CES 2021 in January or during the launch of new models in March and April remains unclear However, additional reports suggest that Samsung aims to sell up to 2 million mini LED TVs in 2021, suggesting that this new technology will be an important part of Samsung's QLED lineup [There are already some impressive mini-LED TVs on the market, as seen in our recent review of the TCL 6-Series Roku TV (R635) and last year's review of the TCL 8-Series QLED Roku TV Both sets offer superior backlighting with enhanced HDR capabilities and better-than-average performance thanks to a combination of mini-LED and QLED displays, a marked improvement between the first 2019 models and the latest 2020 sets

Expect to see other uses for mini-LEDs in the coming months, as Apple is expected to introduce mini-LEDs in its iPad Pro and MacBook lines; Business Korea reports that LG is also developing a mini-LED TV for 2021

Meanwhile, the company is also developing a mini LED TV for 2021

Meanwhile, Samsung continues to develop microLED display technology, which uses micron-sized LEDs as individual pixels rather than as backlights for LCD panels So far, microLED technology has only been demonstrated in very large displays such as Samsung's The Wall, which supports up to 292 inches to achieve 8K resolution display for commercial use [Samsung is also pushing the development of a new hybrid display technology called QD-OLED, which makes OLED technology more affordable while increasing the brightness and color gamut offered by OLED displays through the enhancement of quantum dots Although it will be several years before this new technology is available on televisions in the average home, it is a new front in Samsung's battle for display supremacy