Hands on: LG C6 review

If you haven't heard of LG's immensely popular C-series OLED TVs, then we can only presume you've been living under a particularly secluded rock.

The mid-range model, which sits below the flagship G-series (you can find our LG G6 hands-on review here) and W-series (we have also conducted a hands-on LG W6 review), and above the entry-level B-series, has traditionally offered an immense bang-for-your-buck proposition. Which is why we bestowed last year's C5 with a plethora of What Hi-Fi? Awards.

While we stand by our statement of calling the C5 "the best TV for most people", there were a couple of things on our wishlist for the sequel.

Number one on that list was for LG to bestow its mid-range series with the brightness-boosting OLED technology found on its premium models. We had hoped that the surplus Micro Lens Array panels would be allocated to the C5 last year when it transitioned to Primary RGB Tandem OLED, but that never materialised.

The notion that “good things come to those who wait” has once again been proven, as it took just another year for LG to answer our prayers.

That's right, the LG C6 closes the gap between it and the premium G6 model in a handful of ways… well, sort of. In reality, it all depends on which screen size you choose.

We'll explain more in just a moment, but here's a quick disclaimer that we include with all our hands-on reviews. We came face to face with the C6 at CES 2026, and therefore, we can't making any final judgments here.

A bustling and bright convention room at a swanky hotel and casino is no match for our dedicated AV testing room, so you'll have to wait until we get the C6 in-house later this year for our final verdict.

For now, though, here are our first impressions of the 77- and 83-inch versions of the LG C6.

Price

LG hasn't confirmed pricing yet – it's still early days. We do, however, hope that pricing is confirmed further ahead of launch than it was last year, when LG waited until the last moments before the C5 hit shelves to confirm how much it cost.

Speaking of the C5, we can use this as a reference point for our expectations regarding the price of the C6. We reviewed the 55-inch model initially at £1900 / $1999 / AU$3299, and we subsequently tested the 42-inch model at £1099 / $1399 / AU$1695 and the 48-inch version at £1399 / $1599 / AU$2495.

It's the larger 77-inch (which launched at £3800 / $3699 / AU$5999) and 83-inch (which retailed for £5999 / $5399 / AU$7999 at launch) sizes that we are most intrigued by, however.

These are the two models that pack in the brightness and colour-boosting Tandem OLED panels, so a price increase isn't totally out of the question. A price reduction may be wishful thinking, though we will, of course, be keeping our fingers tightly crossed.

Build

LG opted to wall mount all examples of the C6 it had at its CES stand, so we can't say for certain that the C6 looks identical to the C5, which in turn looked very similar to the C4, C3 and C2 models. Still, it looked very similar to its predecessors to our eyes.

That's no great shame, as the C-series features a super-slim design throughout, with a “backpack” (LG's phrase which we will henceforth be adopting) that houses the internal components of the TV, including the four HDMI sockets.

Unlike the G-series, LG has previously included tabletop stands with all sizes of its C-series OLEDs. There's no indication that it plans on changing this for 2026.

One thing that we do hope changes this year is the remote control; LG teased UK customers with a slender smart remote last year, only to exclude it in select markets which unfortunately included the UK.

Features

The LG C5 was one of the best bang-for-your-buck TVs of 2025 when it came to features, and the C6 seems to take this notion even further.

When quizzed about the more conventional screen sizes – 65-inches and below – LG confirmed that all sizes will be 20 per cent brighter than the C5.

That's a strong start. A claimed uniform increase in brightness would be a change from previous years, in which the two smallest size options saw lesser brightness improvements compared with their larger counterparts.

The biggest improvements will, of course, be found with the 77- and 83-inch screen sizes, as they use the Tandem OLED panel structure alongside LG's new Hyper Radiant Colour Technology.

Now, there is an important distinction between the larger C6 models and the freshly announced G6 (of which you can find our hands-on review here). The C6 isn't using the same panel as the G6; it is instead using one more closely aligned with last year's G5.

In fact, LG directly calls the two largest C6 sizes “more like a G5 plus”. This strategy is neither disappointing nor surprising, as we expected LG to take this sort of approach if it ever did implement the higher-performance panel into the C-series range.

What is a surprise is LG's processor choice for the C6. It has opted to include its super-powerful Alpha 11 AI Processor Gen 3 chipset – the same processor found in its flagship G6 and W6 models.

This isn't the first time that LG has shared its processor across its mid-range and premium TVs. It stopped the trend with the C4 and G4 in 2024, with the previous years' models (the C3 and G3) both featuring the same Alpha 9 AI Processor Gen 6.

Therefore, we could expect the C6 to perform closer to the G6 when it comes to picture processing, as well as with day-to-day performance, including the various AI-backed software features that LG has implemented into the webOS platform.

Furthermore, the LG hopes to uphold the C-series' reputation for being the best gaming TVs, with four full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 sockets, capable of handling 4K/144Hz signals with VRR and ALLM.

Film fans, on the other hand, will appreciate the inclusion of HDR10, HLG and Dolby Vision HDR, albeit not the newly announced Dolby Vision 2 version that is being featured in upcoming Hisense, TCL and Philips TVs.

The only area we can see the 77- and 83-inch being significantly different to the G6 is that it doesn't include LG's new Reflection Free Premium certification. An LG representative at the booth assured us that the C6 does carry some sort of reflection-combatting display coating, but it won't be quite as effective as that on the G6.

Picture

Assessing the picture capabilities of the C6 is quite tricky: LG opted to show only a looping set of demo reels mostly centred on the TV's new processor and panel technology.

We have spent a considerable amount of time staring at the C5 in various sizes, as well as the G5, so we could certainly see some picture improvements, especially relating to brightness and colour.

These are two aspects that the Tandem OLED panel addresses directly, so it's no surprise to see upgrades here, but it's worth noting that these changes probably won't be reflected in the smaller sizes.

A 20 per cent brightness increase is not to be sniffed at, but we doubt that the 42- through 65-inch size options will look quite as bright and bold as the larger options.

We'll have to wait until we can pair our review sample of the C6 with our 4K Blu-ray player and reference discs in order to make any conclusive judgements about the TV's picture performance.

Generally speaking, the C5 appeared to be a modest upgrade on paper; but it exceeded expectations when it came to our picture-testing process. So we hope the C6 will go above and beyond in the same manner.

Sound

As always, LG chose not to play any audio out of this TV while it was on display. That makes sense, as we can only imagine the cacophony of more than ten TVs blasting out audio over the general buzz and chatter of the show floor.

It does, however, make getting any impression of this TV's audio performance impossible. Once again, we'll have to wait until we encounter this TV in our AV testing room, before we can assess the built-in speakers properly.

Considering the C5 delivered a fairly weak sound experience last year, we do hope that LG has learned its lesson and made a few tweaks to improve the performance of the TV’s built-in speakers.

Early verdict

We need to do a lot more testing on the LG C6 to confirm any final thoughts. Having said that, this is easily one of, if not the, most exciting 2026 TV we’ve seen thus far.

LG has finally answered our prayers to include the premium panel technology in its mid-range OLED TVs. And, even if it's not exactly how we pictured it doing so, we're happy to see LG move in this direction.

Indeed, LG's move to include this upgraded panel tech only at the largest sizes does sort of make sense in the current climate of super-sized TVs.

Making its OLEDs more competitive with the super-bright Mini LEDs at this size is a move that could well pay off; but only time – and an in-depth review – will tell.

MORE:

Check out our full LG C5 55-inch review

As well as our LG G6 hands-on review

Here are our picks for the best OLED TVs