Skip to main content

Does QD-OLED have a burn-in problem?

For years, as the largest maker of OLED TVs, LG has had a great story to tell about OLED’s many advantages. Things like black levels, contrast, and overall picture quality.

On the flip side, rival Samsung has battled against it for just as many years, spending millions of dollars highlighting one of the perceived drawbacks of OLED TV technology: permanent image retention (otherwise known as burn-in). So it’s not surprising, now that Samsung has finally embraced OLED tech, that LG might want to return the favor.

Related Videos

And that’s exactly what happened on February 28. During an invite-only online media event organized by LG and attended by Digital Trends’ in-house TV expert, Caleb Dension, the company was focused on a single message: Samsung’s OLED TVs have a burn-in problem.

To be clear, LG Display (the LG division that actually manufactures OLED panels) was the one delivering the message. But it wasn’t basing the accusation on its own research. Instead, it used a set of long-term test results from rtings.com, a review site known for its in-depth, measurements-based product evaluations.

The test in question was performed on Samsung’s first QD-OLED TV, the 65-inch 2022 S95B, a TV that uses quantum dots combined with blue OLED pixels to achieve its full-spectrum RGB color. Rtings.com found that if left the same image displayed on the S95B for days at a time, with brightness set to maximum, permanent image retention occurred. The same test also apparently was performed on Sony’s 2022 A95K — the only other model that uses Samsung’s first-gen QD-OLED panel — with similar, yet slightly less-pronounced results.

LG Display was also quick to point out that LG’s 2022 G2 and C2 evo OLED models, which were also subjected to the same punishment, appeared to come away unscathed, or at least with no perceptible damage in the photos that were shown to attendees.

A diagram of a WOLED display.
Samsung Display

LG Display explained that the reason its panels fared better is thanks to its use of white subpixels. The deeper meaning of this explanation was lost on no one. Samsung has made LG’s white subpixel a prime target in its promotion of QD-OLED panels, claiming that the white subpixel reduces color accuracy by washing out the adjacent subpixels.

For its part, LG is now striking back by saying that without the brightness boost afforded by those white subpixels, Samsung is pushing its own OLED pixels too hard and that burn-in is the consequence of doing so.

Is LG Display right? Yes. But it might not matter.

The problem with image retention tests like the ones performed by Rtings.com is that they necessarily represent a worst-case scenario. Leaving the same news channel on an OLED TV for days at a time with its brightness maxed out feels like an edge case at best. In that way, they’re a little reminiscent of phone bend tests. Don’t leave the same image on an OLED TV for days at a time. Also, don’t sit on your phone.

Not to say that no one uses TVs this way (gyms, airports, and some bars are all places that might do just that) — but if that’s your intent, you should be staying away from any OLED TV — not just Samsung’s.

Example of screen burn-in on an OLED TV.
An example of screen burn-in on an OLED TV. Note that the visible zebra pattern, known as moire, is caused by taking a photo of a TV screen and is not part of the burn-in. Ian O'Shaughnessy

The truth — whether LG wants to admit it or not — is that all OLED TVs can suffer the same fate as the S95B and A95K if you push them long enough and hard enough. Burn-in happens when some OLED pixels age at a faster rate than their neighboring pixels, which can happen when a logo or other graphic stays on-screen for a long time while the rest of the screen continues to show an ever-changing set of colors and brightness. LG’s use of a white subpixel doesn’t change that fact.

What’s more likely, in our opinion, is that LG (which has far more experience producing and controlling TV-size OLED displays than Samsung) has simply evolved its OLED TV software and hardware to mitigate the worst effects of burn-in when under extreme use. It hasn’t always been this way. We’ve received example images from readers who have older LG OLED TVs that have experienced burn-in.

Our takeaway from LG’s “I told you so” is that owners of Samsung and Sony’s first-gen QD-OLED TVs should exercise the same caution we have always recommended when using OLED TVs: avoid prolonged, high brightness display of any consistent image elements. Our other takeaway: just as LG has improved its ability to fight OLED burn-in over time, so too will Samsung, and we have every expectation that its next-gen QD-OLED panels will be less susceptible to burn-in than the ones it was making a year ago.

Editors' Recommendations

This tiny Ikea waterproof Bluetooth speaker is just $15
Ikea Vappeby Portable Waterproof Bluetooth Speaker in black.

Ikea is well known for selling attractively designed products at reasonable prices, but its latest Bluetooth speaker is priced so low that even Amazon might not be able to compete. The Vappeby waterproof portable Bluetooth speaker, as its name suggests, is tiny, waterproof, and surprisingly cheap at $15.

The tiny, silicone-wrapped speaker measures only three inches square and is just two inches thick. For reference, that's about as wide as an iPhone 14 in portrait mode. It comes with its own lanyard cord, which you could use to hang the Vappeby in a shower as Ikea shows in its photos, or you could simply use it as a wrist strap. It's available in three colors: yellow, black, or red, and if you buy two of them, they can be used as a stereo pair.

Read more
What is Dolby Atmos Music, and how can you listen to it at home and on the go?
best tech under $100

Whether we get our music through streaming services, satellite radio, CDs, or vinyl, most of it has been recorded using the time-honored technique of two-channel stereo. But over the past few years, there's been a growing movement in the recording industry toward so-called spatial audio formats. The most popular of these formats is Dolby Atmos Music, and it can make good ol' stereo sound like mono AM radio.

But what exactly is Dolby Atmos Music? How is it different than stereo? And what kind of gear do you need to listen to it at home and on the go? We've got everything you need to know to get on the Dolby Atmos Music train.
What is Dolby Atmos Music?

Read more
YouTube TV rolls out multiview: watch up to 4 NCAA games at once
An example of YouTube TV's multiview feature.

If you love college basketball and can process more than one game at a time, you're going to go bananas for YouTube TV's new multiview feature, which will be rolling out on a limited, early access basis starting March 14.  With multiview, you'll be able to pick up to four channels and see them all simultaneously, with the ability to easily flip the active audio from one to another. The new feature is compatible with any TV-based YouTube TV installations (streaming media players, smart TVs, and game consoles), but it doesn't yet work on mobile devices or computers.

Initially, multiview will only be available to select YouTube TV users, who will be chosen at random. But Google says the goal is to include every subscriber by the time NFL football season starts in the fall. Another limitation, at least for now, is that YouTube TV will preselect the multiview channels you can choose. At launch, only channels that carry NCAA tournament games will be included in that preselected list.
How to use YouTube TV multiview
If you're one of the lucky, randomly chosen users, you'll see an option to watch up to four preselected, different streams at once in your “Top Picks for You” section. After selecting multiview, you can switch audio and captions between streams, and jump in and out of a full-screen view of a game.
It's all about sports
At the moment, YouTube TV sees multiview as an enhancement of the sports viewing experience, so only sports content will be eligible. YouTube TV has had some big sports wins in 2022, including 4K coverage of the Soccer World Cup, and that trend will continue in 2023 thanks to its acquisition of the NFL Sunday Ticket games. However, YouTube TV recently lost access to MLB Network and the MLB.tv add-on, which reduces the amount of sports content available for multiview in 2023.

Read more