The Year in OLED TVs: 2025 takes the tech to new brightness peaks
SOURCE:TechRadar|BY: Dave Meikleham
Whether it was Samsung wowing us with its Glare Free technology or the incredibly bright LG G5, OLED ruled the TV world in 2025.
(Image credit: Future)
There’s no getting around it: OLED TVs have just enjoyed their most impressive year since the screen tech was first commercially rolled out around 2012. Now in some cases brighter, and generally just plain better, than the best LED and best mini LED TVs, after the last calendar 365, there’s no question OLED remains the supreme TV technology.
What. A. Year. The astonishing Samsung S95F banished reflections like no OLED TV before it thanks to its ‘Glare Free 2.0’ matte-coated panel. A fantastic four-way face-off between some of the best TVs we’ve reviewed produced two clear candidates for the best OLED TVs ever made. And Sony also impressed us with its newfound commitment to investing in QD-OLED panels.
Keep reading to catch up on all the major OLED developments of 2025, in what has been a simply sensational year for our favorite TV technology. If you’ve been on the fence about upgrading to OLED, we’re convinced you’ll be ready to make the leap after reading this year-in-review for Organic Light-Emitting Diode displays.
OLEDs got brighter… and overall better
The Panasonic Z95B (shown) uses LG Display's impressive new four-stack OLED panel (Image credit: Future)
Historically, OLED as a technology has always lagged behind the best LED TVs when it comes to screen brightness. No more. Since 2023, LG Display – an independent wing of the iconic South Korean manufacturer that produces screens for both LG and other TV companies – has made massive strides when it comes to producing startlingly vivid panels.
It started with the likes of the superb LG G3 and its MLA (Micro Lens Array) display, and boosts in OLED brightness have only become more impressive since then. We first caught a glimpse of LG Display’s fourth-generation “four-stack” OLED panels at CES 2025. And hot damn did they scorch our corneas.
Back in January, LG claimed four-stack panels like its LG G5 and the Panasonic Z95B would be able to achieve a gobmacking peak brightness of 4,000 nits – a 33% bump over 2024’s . This is thanks to the new four-stack panel, which helps increase light output by wedging two blue OLED layers between individual red and green ones.
When it came time to review the LG G5 and Panasonic Z95B, we found the flagship 2025 LG panel was the brightest we’ve ever measured. The former clocked in at an eye-rubbing 2,268 nits of peak HDR brightness in Filmmaker mode. The Panasonic wasn’t far behind, producing an almost equally vibrant 2,107 nits.
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Crucially, the LG G5 isn’t just brighter than previous generations, it’s also just flat out better. Thanks to LG Display’s ‘ultra-low reflection technology’, the G5 offers an anti-reflective layer that is 30% more resistant to glare than the G4 – and this is commendably achieved without raising black levels. Color performance is also enhanced over the 2024 model.
It really has been one hell of a year for key OLED improvements. Thank you, LG Display.
Glare Free says good riddance to reflections
Best TV winner in the TechRadar Choice Awards 2025: the Samsung S95F OLED (Image credit: Future)
In years gone by, watching an OLED TV in a bright room could bring up serious issues. Chief among them? Just how annoyingly damn reflective older generations were. Early OLED panels were practically mirrors in a sun-filled living room.
Thankfully, huge improvements have been made with the advent of anti-reflective coatings for OLED screens. No form of this tech has impressed us more than Samsung’s Glare Free. The second-gen version of this panel debuted with TechRadar’s TV of 2025, the magnificent Samsung S95F. You better believe it’s time to say so long to screen glare.
Not only does it significantly improve upon the reflection-slaying matte screen of the older Samsung S95D, but the S95F also improves on its predecessor further by delivering more accurate black levels, even in the brightest conditions.
Whereas the S95D was guilty of introducing distracting black crush – particularly in dark films like The Batman – the S95’s updated matte screen noticeably improved this issue.
With a superb peak HDR brightness of 2,109 nits, and advanced gaming features like AMD FreeSync Premium and Nvidia G-Sync, a 165Hz refresh rate and ALLM, the Samsung S95’s incredible Glare Free-assisted panel makes it hands-down the best OLED TV for bright rooms and a perfect option for fans of the best PS5 games.
Sony seriously impressed with its Bravia 8 II OLED
The Sony Bravia 8 II impressed us with its refined overall picture quality and increased brightness over 2024's Sony Bravia 8 (Image credit: Future)
2025 was the year Sony doubled down on upgraded QD-OLED panels. Though it may not be quite as bright as the LG G5 or Samsung S95, the Japanese giant’s Sony Bravia II still floored us when we reviewed it in June.
Sony states the Bravia II is 150% brighter than its previous Bravia 8 series of OLEDs, and during our testing the superb TV delivered peak HDR levels of 1,439 and 1,067 nits in its respective Cinema and Standard modes. Sure, that’s not going to give the LG G5 sleepless nights, but Sony embracing improved QD-OLED screens has provided significant improvements over its older OLED W-OLED models.
Throw in the usual exquisite color accuracy you’d expect from a top-tier Sony TV, plus built-in speakers that outdo most high-end TVs, and there’s no question the Sony Bravia II is one of the most impressive sets we reviewed in 2025.
A four-way flagship showdown saw LG and Samsung tie
The participants in TechRadar's four-way blind OLED TV comparison test (left to right): Samsung S95F, LG G5, Sony Bravia 8 II, Panasonic Z95B (Image credit: Future)
One of the most exciting OLED events of 2025 happened back in August when TechRadar pitted the most impressive sets of the year against each other in an epic four-way flagship OLED TV test.
It’s rare we get to have four cream of the crop OLED panels under one roof for simultaneous testing, so when the chance presented itself, there’s no way we could resist. After putting the Samsung S95F, LG G5, Sony Bravia II and Panasonic Z95B through rigorous side-by-side tests, two winners emerged. Spoiler: we couldn’t separate them.
With the help of several colleagues, TechRadar’s James Davidson conducted a blind test, ensuring each TV’s logo was covered up. The TVs were then referred to as number 1 through 4, with the testers tasked with evaluating the sets on five key areas: black levels, color, motion handling with fast-paced action movies, motion clarity when viewing sports, and upscaling quality.
When it came to black levels, the Samsung S95F was our testers’ favorite, in part due to its Glare Free 2.0 panel. The S95F also ousted its competitors when it came to color reproduction, producing the “most pop” according to our blind testers.
As for action movies, the Samsung S95F once again came out on top, thanks to producing the smoothest viewing experience during high-octane scenes.
There was to be no clean sweep for the S95F, though. Our judges had the LG G5 as the winner when it came to upscaling, while it also tied for the top spot with the Panasonic Z95B when it came to watching sports.
With all the votes tallied up, the Samsung S95F and LG G5 ultimately tied on the same number of votes with a total of 25 points each. That’s mainly because the LG G5 obtained a clean sweep in our upscaling tests.
So all in all an epic tie, and one that proves the S95F and the G5 are truly the best two OLED TVs we’ve ever seen.
OLED TVs received great Black Friday deals in 2025
Flagship OLED TVs like the LG G5 (shown) received phenomenal discounts during 2025's Black Friday sales (Image credit: Future)
Once upon a time, you’d have to sell an arm and a leg (and possibly the rest of your appendages) to own a high-end OLED TV. Mercifully for those of us who don’t have bank balances to match Succession’s spectacularly sweary Logan Roy, OLEDs keep dropping in price year on year.
This year, the trend of OLED displays skewing towards lower prices was particularly evident around the Thanksgiving season, where a slew of ultra-alluring Black Friday deals popped up.
The sales event of the year produced some truly stunning discounts this past November. The 65-inch model of the wonderful LG G5 dropped from $3,339.99 to just $1,999.99 at Best Buy – a phenomenal $1,340 price drop.
The awesome QD-OLED Samsung S95F was also significantly reduced over at Amazon, with the 65-inch version dropping from $2,997.99 to $2,287.99, a mouthwatering 23% discount.
Another one of our favorite TVs, the 55-inch Sony Bravia II, was also reduced by 23%, its original MSRP of $2,599 being slashed to $1,998. It was yet another deal that capped an incredibly enticing year for OLED adaptors. Long may these organic light-emitting diode discounts continue.
Dave is a freelancer who's been writing about tech and video games since 2006, with bylines across GamesRadar+, Total Film, PC Gamer, and Edge. He's been obsessed with all manner of AV equipment ever since his parents first bought him a hideously garish 13-inch CRT TV (complete with built-in VCR, no less) back in 1998. Over the years he’s owned more plasma and OLED TVs than he can count. On an average day, he spends 30% of his waking existence having mild panic attacks about vertical banding and dead pixels.
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