If you are thinking about buying an OLED TV this year, and you have good reason to do so, you might want to wait a bit. That's because QD-OLED panel technology will officially be available in TVs in 2022.

At CES 2022, we saw several devices with QD-OLED panels that promise better images than the best OLED TVs available today.

But what is a QD-OLED? QD-OLED stands for quantum dot organic light-emitting diode. Self-illuminated diodes allow for deeper black shades, richer colors and contrast compared to LCD displays, making OLED TVs one of the best TVs available.

Quantum dot technology has also been seen before. For example, Samsung uses quantum dot technology in its QLED TVs. Quantum dot panels expand the color gamut of LCD displays by up to 50% by placing a layer of nanoparticles (in this case tiny crystalline semiconductors) in front of the LED backlight. Quantum dot displays also improve color control and brightness.

This is all thanks to the quantum dot layer operating with a blue light source rather than a white backlight. Blue light has more adaptive light energy than white light and produces a wider color gamut. Display brightness is also improved when passive color filters are removed.

In short, quantum dot TVs are the best we have ever seen. However, when quantum dot technology is applied to OLED displays, the situation gets even better.

Despite the luminescent properties of OLED pixels, OLED panels are not as bright as LCD panels on their own. Boosting the red, green, and blue (RGB) OLED pixels requires the help of white OLED sub-pixels, which is one reason why LG Display's OLED panels are called WRGB OLEDs, where W stands for white, rather than true RGB panels. However, there is only so much luminance that the white layer can support before sacrificing color accuracy.

By adding a quantum dot layer, QD-OLEDs can completely replace white sub-pixel OLEDs with blue OLED panels. Quantum dots emit light in a high energy state when hit by certain light frequencies. In short, if a QD-OLED display can achieve higher brightness than a conventional OLED panel without emitting more color, there is no need to add color filters.

It would be easy to brush off the QD-OLED hype as hyperbole, or as a minor improvement in OLED TVs that the average viewer may not notice. However, when Tom's Guide saw a QD-OLED display with our own eyes, we were underwhelmed.

We were shown the Alienware 34 Curved QD-OLED, which was unveiled at CES 2022. Our Global Editor-in-Chief Mark Spoonauer marveled at the stunning colors and excellent viewing angles of this display. Peak brightness of 1,000 nits. Factory-calibrated colors are not bad either.

Throughout this year, we will see more QD-OLED TVs and displays. Samsung is working with Sony to produce Sony's new 4K Bravia XR A95K. Samsung is focusing on micro-LED and neo-QLED TVs, but we also know that the company is working on its own consumer QD-OLED TVs.

We hope so, as the QD-OLED TVs and displays coming out this year are likely to be expensive. As is usual with new screen technology. However, as more manufacturers adopt the technology, prices will tend to come down.

Nevertheless, QD-OLED is very impressive and answers the general concerns of standard OLED displays, so QD-OLED is likely to be the screen technology of 2022.