LG G6 (OLED65G6) review

The G6 is the latest incarnation of LG’s wildly popular G-series Gallery OLED, and one of 2026’s most highly anticipated new TVs.

It’s under particular pressure this year. Changes in the TV landscape mean it's one of only a select few new “premium” OLEDs set to launch in 2026, so a lot of eyes will be on it.

And, despite initially impressing our reviewers (at least after a couple of early flaws were fixed), the preceding G5 later came fourth out of four in our 2026 flagship OLED shootout.

The big question, then, is whether the G6 can take LG back to the top of the OLED TV performance pile.

Having thoroughly put it through its paces against both its predecessor and last year’s TV Product of the Year, we finally have an answer to that question.

Price

The 65-inch G6 we’re reviewing has a price tag of £3000 / $3399 / AU$4999. That makes it cheaper in the UK and Australia than the G5 was at launch (£3300 / $3400 / AU$5299), while US launch pricing has remained unchanged.

There's no denying that the G6 is still a very premium TV, but the price drops versus last year are very welcome. It will be fascinating to see if Samsung takes a similar approach with the pricing of its S95H.

As is to be expected, the G6’s launch price is vastly higher than the now-discounted prices of 2025 flagship OLEDs such as the G5, Samsung S95F and Award-winning Sony Bravia 8 II.

But prices should fall quite quickly. LG OLEDs have a reputation for being discounted faster and farther than most rivals.

Design

The LG G6 looks identical to the G5 in nearly every way. So much so that we frequently had to check the serial numbers of the two when setting them up on our test benches to make sure which was which.

The TV is mainly designed to be wall-mounted, hence the picture frame-style design, but the 55- and 65-inch versions are available with a stand if you prefer. The versions without the stand come with a Zero Gap wall mount instead, which allows for the TV to be mounted more or less flush against the wall.

But while the design certainly delivers on the promise of the ‘Gallery’ designation, it’s rather too familiar at this point, having barely changed since 2020’s GX. The upcoming Samsung S95H is a far more exciting take on the same concept.

Despite this minor qualm, the G6 is functionally sound and nicely unobtrusive. Our sample came with the pedestal stand, and while that doesn’t have a swivel mechanism, it’s sturdy and indicative of the set's generally excellent build quality.

The stand’s two height options and a fairly thin and flat plinth also make it generally easy to place a soundbar in front of the TV without blocking the screen.

The only big gripe is the lack of changes to the remote. It remains a chunky, cheap-feeling, plastic affair that doesn’t feature backlighting or USB-C charging – two things we’ve come to expect of a set at this level.

Motion controls still feature, adding some occasionally useful point-and-click functionality when navigating the set’s menus, but even so, the remote feels in need of a proper overhaul at this point.

Frustratingly, many markets were treated to a new LG TV remote last year, but the UK still has to make do with the old model.

Features

Like its design, the G6 doesn’t change the key ingredients in LG’s current OLED recipe. At its heart, you’ll find a Primary RGB Tandem OLED panel. That’s the same tech we saw in last year’s G5.

For those unfamiliar with it, Primary RGB Tandem uses a ‘four-stack’ panel structure to try and help an OLED offer higher peak and operating brightness levels, while retaining colour volume and accuracy, even during low light scenes – an area its predecessor, micro lens array (MLA), struggled with, especially against Samsung’s rival QD-OLED technology.

The only technical change to the panel is the inclusion of a new Reflection Free Premium display certification, which promises to reduce reflections to less than 0.5 per cent – meaning it should work better in less than ideal conditions with lots of stray, reflection-causing light.

But, while the fundamental panel tech remains largely unchanged, the inclusion of a new Alpha 11 Gen 3 AI processor means LG is quoting some pretty palpable improvements for the G6.

For starters, the chipset’s new Hyper Radiant Colour Technology system means that the set can offer “20 per cent higher” peak brightness levels than the already dazzling G5.

But more importantly, as peak brightness is one of many screen-quality metrics, the tech also aims to allow the G6 to offer better colour accuracy and a generally “more lifelike” picture. Finally, motion handling, upscaling, tone mapping and audio processing are also meant to be better thanks to the new silicon.

On the subject of audio, the G6 comes built in with Dolby Atmos FlexConnect functionality. This is a hot ticket item that aims to let the TV automatically connect to compatible speakers, including the LG Sound Suite we recently reviewed, to create a surround sound package.

The tech includes the ability to use the G6’s built-in speakers as the central channel, and clever room and viewer location optimisation powers. Though the tech is in its infancy, it’s a nice touch that gives the G6 an element of future-proofing.

However, there is one minor, pigmy-sized elephant in the room when it comes to next-gen Dolby tech. Specifically, the G6 doesn’t support Dolby Vision 2 (“the future of home cinema”, if Dolby is to be believed) – and it seems fairly unlikely that it ever will.

For now, as we’re yet to see any content mastered in the format, it’s not a deal breaker. But it is a minor concern for those who tend to keep their TVs for five years or more, especially as Philips has confirmed its 2026 flagships will support the standard, as will several non-OLED sets from TCL and Hisense.

LG has hinted that it may add the functionality via an over-the-air update at a later date, but the lack of certainty is still a minor frustration considering the G6’s price. People paying this amount don’t want a TV that’s out of date within a year. Though until we see the benefits of Vision 2, we want to emphasise that it's a minor gripe. We don’t currently know how big a deal Vision 2 is in general.

The supported standards remain Dolby Vision, HDR10 and HLG, meaning outside of Vision 2, the only other noticeable absence is HDR10+.

The TV’s broader feature set is, like that of all of LG’s recent flagships, more or less flawless. WebOS 26 supports pretty much every app you can think of, ranging from Now to Apple TV, Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video, all of which are present and work correctly. We’re also pleased to see it continue to support niche streaming platforms, including the anime-focused Crunchyroll and Hidive.

Gaming functionality lives up to LG’s strong track record, with all four HDMI 2.1 inputs offering up to 4K/165Hz gameplay with VRR and ALLM, and Dolby Vision Gaming HDR supported.

LG has also added more game-streaming features, including a new low-latency interface and a dedicated controller developed alongside popular gaming peripherals manufacturer Razer, which can be connected directly to the TV – though this is sold as an optional accessory.

Picture

So what difference does a piece of silicon and general spruce make for a flagship OLED? Quite a lot, as it turns out.

Powering up the G6 next to the G5 in both sets’ out-of-the-box settings, the new OLED immediately reveals a focus on two things: selling quite how bright it can go, while simultaneously increasing the amount of dark detail on offer. And on paper, this makes sense, letting you get a more dynamic, punchy image with eye-catching peaks traditionally reserved for Mini LED sets, coupled with the pitch blacks OLEDs are famous for.

And it does make a very strong opening impression. Running our tried and true Civil War 4K Blu-ray, the entire screen burns brighter than any previous OLED we’ve tested, with the American countryside scene offering palpably higher peaks and more vibrant colours. Dark parts of the surrounding foliage offer more detail, too, with every leaf and twig looking sharper and clearly visible.

Even compared with last year’s other Primary RGB Tandem OLED and QD-OLED flagships, the G6 is significantly brighter. The picture offers noticeably more eye-catching spectacle as a result.

And, while we’re not convinced this makes the picture more lifelike, as LG promised, the new focus is, in many ways, a positive. If pop’s what you value, make no mistake, the G6 will delight.

But as the film switches to the next shot, issues creep in. The helicopter’s flight looks too smooth, with it bouncing rather than cutting through the sky. More pressingly, some detail, especially subtle gradients of reds and oranges in the setting sky, is lost, as the set pushes the brightness at the expense of richness, making it look slightly flat.

Traditionally, we’d have put this down to using the out-of-the-box Standard picture setting. Nearly all the TVs we review are overly aggressive with their processing here. But switching to Filmmaker Mode, while the positive aspects of the picture remain and some issues are mitigated, to our surprise, the G6 continues to over-brighten parts of the picture.

We also continue to experience jarring over-saturation, with greens in particular proving problematic, adding an air of artificiality not present on the G5 – which is a surprise given Filmmaker Mode’s focus on offering an as-the-director-intended experience.

The issue becomes even more apparent when we switch to our Pan test disc, which remains our go-to brightness stress test thanks to its atypical 4000 nits mastering. Once again, the G6 is clearly brighter than the G5 and our Product of the Year Award-winning Sony Bravia 8 II, but the pop comes with a slight loss of colour volume and at a clear expense of accuracy.

Going through every picture mode, even after tweaking the settings for hours, we can’t settle on a combination that we’re happy delivers the authentic, accurate picture we would expect, which is a great shame for those who value accuracy over razzmatazz.

We end up settling on Filmmaker Mode with TruMotion set to the subtle Cinematic Movement option, and Dynamic Tone Mapping switched off, as the best compromise – but we’re still left unsatisfied.

Our 4K Blu-ray of Sinners, in fact, illustrates another issue. While the G6 produces a generally wonderfully immersive experience, with the dark night-time speakeasy oozing atmosphere and the vampires’ eyes, brooding in the fields, holding spectacular malice, we find that skin tones tend to look a little green and, more disappointingly, that the darkest parts of the picture simply aren’t dark enough.

It seems as though LG has chosen to raise the black floor slightly, perhaps to increase shadow detail, but we regularly find that what should be perfect black looks slightly grey.

We experienced the same issue with the step-down LG C6, but this could be more or less fixed by changing the Near Dark Detail setting from 0 to -1. This doesn’t quite do the trick with the G6, though, which still looks a little grey. Pushing down to -2, though, removes too much dark detail in its quest for deeper black. Ultimately, as with the picture settings in general, we struggle to find the perfect balance.

That isn’t to say that the black depth vs shadow detail issue is a huge one. On the contrary, not everyone will notice it without the benefits of a side-by-side comparison, but as we watch the opening of Alien: Romulus, we’re frustrated by the need to choose between perfect blacks and detail levels.

While the G6 is rather bombastic in its delivery of HDR content, it’s noticeably more considered with SDR. Playing our old faithful Blu-ray of True Grit, the differences between the G6 and G5 are subtle, and it becomes immediately more apparent that they’re from the same family of TV.

The G6 upscales the film with suitable care, retaining its intentionally grainy, Spaghetti Western feel without flattening it or adding noise. Characters’ stitched, thick cotton clothes are nicely sharp and detailed, and there’s a pleasingly light touch that is missing from the TV’s HDR performance. Here, it feels as though the G6 is carefully improving the experience, while remaining true to the source material.

Sound

Audio quality is a key area in which LG’s flagship OLED TVs have struggled to impress in our review rooms for the past few years. And, while we’re not reaching for the party streamers with the new G6, there’s no denying it is a step in the right direction.

Playing an iconic scene in Sinners, where Sammie, aka “Preacher Boy”, performs the blues, the G6 delivers a noticeably fuller, more robust sound than the G5, which offers up a thin and hollow rendition by comparison.

The guitar’s plucked strings have some bass to them, and Sammie’s wailing vocals are nicely audible and separate from background noise.

As the medley grows, adding new tracks to the mashup, the set delivers a decent sense of directionality, with each addition swooping in as the camera carves a path through each room and musical era.

But it’s still a good deal short of perfect. The low end isn’t powerful enough to deliver the oomph you need to do the scene justice, and the delivery lacks the precision to handle the vocalist's wailing vibrato, which is nearly entirely lost.

The TV also struggles to maintain a rhythmic and tonal hold on proceedings as ever more musical strands are added, and in the end, it becomes more of a cacophony rather than the intended complex medley.

This theme continues as we switch to chapter two of Blade Runner 2049. The speakers’ low end is too weak and flabby for the scene’s synth track, which occasionally sounds more like a child blowing a raspberry, rather than a booming synthetic growl.

Ultimately, while the G6 is certainly an improvement on the G5, it’s still a long way short of rivals such as the Sony Bravia 8 II and Philips OLED910, and is even beaten by certain step-down OLEDs, such as the Sony Bravia 8.

In fact, we’d say the C6 sounds better than the G6, which makes us wonder if the Gallery design is the biggest cause of LG’s G-series sonic struggles.

As ever, though, our criticisms of TV audio quality need only be taken into account if you’re ignoring our strong advice that any new TV should be partnered with a dedicated sound system.

Verdict

LG seems to have dug its heels in on the idea that brighter (and more colourful) is better with the G6. The set feels quite different to past G-series models as a result, delivering a memorable, punchy experience that immediately catches your eye.

For those after a bombastic home cinema experience, this makes the LG G6 a good TV; one capable of offering a strikingly bright, punchy picture with vivid, vibrant colours.

But this new focus brings fresh weaknesses, most notably to black depth and cinematic authenticity. The raw materials are clearly here and, with some more considered tuning, the G6 could be among the best in class. As it stands, though, this feels like one step forward and another step back for LG’s flagship OLED range.

SCORES

• Picture 4
• Sound 3
• Features 5

MORE:

Read our review of the Sony Bravia 8 II

Also consider the LG C6

For last year's model, see our LG G5 review

Read our Samsung S95F review

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