HDR wars, an AVR resurgence and OLED's continued dominance – here are our reviewers’ home cinema predictions for 2026

2025’s about to go the way of the dinosaurs, but what a run it had – especially if you’re a home cinema fan.

Over the past year, we have seen everything from the arrival of new cutting-edge OLED technologies to more than a few surprises that even our team of experts didn’t see coming. These included the arrival of the Award-winning KEF XIO, the British hi-fi brand's first Dolby Atmos soundbar.

But with the New Year on the horizon, you may be wondering, what’s next? Well, we’re pleased to report that the answer is “a lot”. There are already a wealth of new, potentially landscape-changing technologies confirmed to launch in 2026.

Which is why we have created this guide, detailing the key trends, products and technologies we think are worth keeping a particularly close eye on over the next 12 months.

There’s going to be an HDR war

By Alastair Stevenson

The launch of Dolby Vision 2 was a memorable moment in 2025 for two reasons. First, because of the way it was announced – in an unceremonious, concise blog post that appeared during the first press day of the IFA tradeshow in Berlin.

Not only did it have very little technical information, but its unveiling was also so unexpected that even the manufacturers supposedly making new TVs supporting the standard seemed “surprised” when we did a ring around, asking about it.

Second, because it has some fairly impressive features, including significantly more-advanced tone-mapping, and motion controls that should open a whole new plethora of opportunities to filmmakers. Certainly, the What Hi-Fi? home cinema team can’t wait to see what content looks like in Dolby Vision 2 and Dolby Vision 2 Max.

Never one to like being one-upped, Samsung couldn’t let Dolby’s new standard go unchallenged. Mere months later, then, it invited our intrepid senior staff writer, Lewis Empson, to Korea to see its answer to Dolby Vision 2 – HDR10+ Advanced.

With both standards set to launch in 2026, we can’t help but think the battle for HDR supremacy could be one of the year’s biggest tussles.

OLED will come closer than ever to losing its crown – but it will ultimately keep it

By Tom Parsons

The death (or, at least, the surpassing) of OLED has been predicted time and time again. And in 2026 it is going to be challenged like never before.

That challenge is going to come from RGB Mini LED TVs, with Sony, Samsung, LG and TCL all set or expected to launch models that feature the tech in the year ahead.

These won’t be the first RGB Mini LED TVs – Hisense launched its 116UX model this year – but they will be the first available in semi-realistic sizes (the smallest so far confirmed is the 76-inch LG MRGB95), and the level of competition will result in some excellent models.

What makes RGB Mini LED technology interesting is that it features coloured rather than white LEDs in the backlight. The idea is that colour reproduction is improved and, as there’s no need for a light-sapping colour filter, the TVs can go brighter.

We have seen prototypes from several brands, most impressively Sony and Samsung, and we feel there’s huge potential in the technology. Personally, though, while I know it will reignite the conversation of OLED-beaters, I can’t see RGB Mini LED coming out on top.

Yes, manufacturers are developing all sorts of technologies for backlight control, but at the end of the day, these are still backlit TVs, and I find it hard to imagine their strengths ultimately proving preferable to the self-emissive pixels of OLED.

I live to be surprised, though, and perhaps RGB Mini LED will do just that. A good shake-up of the TV industry sure would be fun to watch and experience.

We could finally get the much-anticipated Sonos Beam (Gen 3)

By Robyn Quick

Few soundbars have stood the test of time quite like the Sonos Beam (Gen 2). It’s been four years since the Dolby Atmos soundbar hit the shelves and found its way into our test room, where it received a five-star review.

And, despite countless rival models in its price range attempting to challenge the Sonos bar, it has won a What Hi-Fi? Award every year since its release. It's easy to see why, with the soundbar offering an incredibly detailed, immersive, and warm audio performance all packed into a compact body.

We have been patiently awaiting the announcement of Sonos’s third iteration for years now. With the original Sonos Beam released back in 2018 and the Gen 2 model coming out in 2021, the new update is now well overdue.

I am optimistic that 2026 could finally be the time. We have seen the Sonos Beam (Gen 2)’s price drop by almost £100 in the UK well past Black Friday, which could be a sign the brand is looking to release a newer model soon. This is all speculation, of course, but who knows what 2026 will hold?

If it manages to improve upon the sound performance of the Beam (Gen 2), then this could be a game-changer in the entry-level Dolby Atmos soundbar category. We'll be keeping our eyes peeled…

It could (and should) be a huge year for AV receivers

By Lewis Empson

2025 has given us some truly showstopping home-cinema products. The excellent Epson EH-LS9000, Sony Bravia Projector 7 and BenQ W2720i projectors spring to mind, as does the superb KEF Q Concerto Meta 5.1 surround sound speaker package.

While those deliver the most crucial aspects of any home cinema experience – picture and sound – you need a good AVR to act as the beating heart of a quality home-cinema system.

As you may recall from our 2025 Awards, we crowned the Sony TA-AN1000 and Marantz Cinema 30 as our winners. This is the third year in a row that Sony has won the coveted Product of the Year title, and the Marantz earned its second commendation after the Cinema 30 made its Awards debut last year.

While we love these spectacular AVRs, we do wish that they would receive some sort of serious competition. The major players in the AVR market, namely Denon, Marantz, Yamaha, Sony, Arcam and JBL, were all eerily quiet this year.

In fact, many of the best AV receivers are beginning to grow somewhat long in the tooth. The Denon AVR-X2800H was released back in 2022, while the Arcam AVR5 is a year older.

I hope to see this AVR drought end in 2026, as the manufacturers mentioned above have had plenty of time to prime a selection of new models. I'm keeping my hopes up for an epic battle of the AVR brands that will completely shake up our Awards list for next year.

MORE:

Check out our picks for the best OLED TVs

As well as the best Dolby Atmos soundbars

Dolby Vision 2 vs Dolby Vision 2 Max: what you need to know about Dolby's next-gen HDR format