LG is finally making a small flagship OLED TV – but I’m concerned there’s one big catch

The LG G5 TV wall-mounted in a high-end living room

(Image credit: LG)

We at What Hi-Fi? have long championed the need for more small yet top performing home cinema and audio products.

This is particularly true in the top-end OLED TV market, where most flagship sets, including last year’s five-star LG G4, Samsung S95D and Panasonic Z95A sizes started at 55 inches.

There are also a number of people who would appreciate a smaller size to fit into their hobby space or even bedroom – just because you happen to be watching in bed, doesn’t mean you should have to sacrifice picture quality.

But, while I am happy to see a smaller entry into the brand’s flagship OLED family, I do have one big concern about the small TV. Specifically, LG has been quite hazy about whether it will feature its new Brightness Booster Ultimate tech. This is a new technology we are yet to try in the flesh, but it looks set to replace LG Display’s Micro Lens Array (MLA).

Like MLA, which appeared on the LG G3 and LG G4, Brightness Booster Ultimate aims to let OLEDs offer much higher max brightness levels. The difference is that, according to LG, Brightness Booster Ultimate can offer 40 per cent higher whole screen brightness levels than MLA. It also, apparently, improves colour vibrancy. Considering how bright we found the LG G4 could go last year, this is a very bold claim.

Though I have always argued that brightness isn’t the main ingredient for truly great picture quality when watching movies – motion handling, colour accuracy, light control and more also play a huge part – the fact that Brightness Booster Ultimate isn’t on the 48-inch LG G5 is a fly in the ointment. This is mainly because, outside of the processor, the smaller G5 is very similar to its step-down sibling, the LG C5.

Does that mean it will be terrible? It’s way too early to call that as both OLED TVs have only just been unveiled. To answer that question we will need to run the 48-inch LG G5 and C5 head-to-head in our dedicated viewing rooms. LG is also yet to release full specification sheets for the new TVs, so there may be some other differences between the two that we are not aware of.

Even if there aren't, we have also seen plenty of instances where seemingly minor generational spec changes can still lead to huge performance improvements in the real world. That was certainly the case when we compared the LG C4 with its predecessor the LG C3 last year. Despite looking very similar, CPUs apart, the C4 offered much more realistic colours and holistically better picture quality during our checks.

But it does make the G5 a little less alluring at launch – which is why I felt the need to pen this opinion piece.

Alastair is What Hi-Fi?’s editor in chief. He has well over a decade’s experience as a journalist working in both B2C and B2B press. During this time he’s covered everything from the launch of the first Amazon Echo to government cyber security policy. Prior to joining What Hi-Fi? he served as Trusted Reviews’ editor-in-chief. Outside of tech, he has a Masters from King’s College London in Ethics and the Philosophy of Religion, is an enthusiastic, but untalented, guitar player and runs a webcomic in his spare time.