The TV world is exciting, with the various big brands and underdogs constantly outdoing each other with new screen technologies, smart operating systems and low prices. And so, as the new year begins, people are naturally wondering: What could 2026 bring for televisions?
There were some big changes in 2025: Mini-LEDs became cheaper, OLEDs gained some new features, and companies continued to introduce some useful software expansion features. Our list of the best TVs has seen some changes. But I expect 2026 to be even bigger, thanks to a brand new type of screen technology coming on sale.
However, every rose has its thorn and not every upgrade will be… well, an upgrade. I expect great hardware, but some changes in the way TV software is handled in 2025 suggest it could be a pretty frustrating year to buy a smart TV. More on that later.
So let’s take a look at my big TV predictions for 2026, both the new hardware and software that could be coming.
The big new advance: RGB televisions
The big new TV technology at the start of 2026 will be RGB TVs. Don’t expect it to be called exactly that as each brand has its own name, but when you see Micro RGB or RGB Mini-LED or Micro RGB, just know they are the same thing.
This new panel technology works like LED and mini-LED TVs: there’s a layer of small lights that illuminates a second layer of pixels to show you your picture. The difference with RGB TVs is that these little lights are not white, but red, green and blue, allowing the display of a much wider color gamut, better contrast and higher maximum brightness.
We launched some RGB TVs in 2025, but they were huge and expensive concept models. In 2026 we expect market-ready models from most major TV providers in various sizes and prices.
With all the major TV vendors planning some RGB TVs, it’ll likely be a case of vying for the big spot on the major TV shows, in sales, and in our own buying guides, and competition is always a good thing for the consumer (i.e. us).
Additionally, a smaller but still important advantage of RGB screens is their energy efficiency, which is reportedly higher than LED or mini-LED screens. Who doesn’t want their bills to be a little lower?
8K TVs… sort of
While 8K TVs have always been a niche market for very specific use cases, there’s a chance that a change in 2026 could throw the doors wide open.
The “change” is that upscaling AI could become commonplace, which is what some analysts and fans are hoping for. In theory, you could buy a TV that can play 4K content and upgrade it to 8K for you. This wouldn’t be “true” 8K since only native 4K would be supported, but you’d still see all those extra pixels.
While there’s no guarantee this will be commonplace in 2026, Samsung has unveiled technologies that achieve this in 2025, so it could be on the horizon. If it’s easily accessible on affordable TVs, consumers will follow.
Is there anything new with OLEDs?
With the best OLED TVs having been among the most popular devices on the market for years – for both reviewers and cost-conscious buyers – you might be wondering what 2026 might bring for this type of front-lit screen technology.
The answer is probably “not much.” Most major TV brands tend to refresh their OLED product lines every year, so there will definitely be plenty of new offerings, but the differences are generally quite small and iterative.
Many 2025 devices brought slight improvements, such as: B. anti-reflective screens, improved video upscaling and slightly higher refresh rates. All nice upgrades for people buying a set, but nothing that would make you give up your 2024 set to get the new features. And that will probably be the case in 2026: nothing that makes you say “whOahLED”. If anything big is coming, it’s broader support for Dolby Vision 2.
“Concept” TV
There are a few TV markets that have been buzzing for a few years now and will definitely continue into 2026. These probably won’t explode so I don’t want to spend too much time on them, but they will continue to advance in terms of technology and popularity so it’s worth mentioning.
Some brands have introduced wireless TVs that go cable-free to look classy in your home, and “lifestyle” TVs that are disguised as a painting or other piece of furniture until they’re used (Samsung’s The Frame is the best-known version). Expect a few more of these in 2026, although I’d be surprised if we saw any truly affordable or consumer-grade models.
Rollable and transparent televisions are even further back. We’ll definitely see one or two at the big tech shows, but they’ll likely be concepts rather than affordable options that everyone will buy on Black Friday.
A big advancement in 2025 was the introduction of 165Hz TVs, which enabled a faster refresh rate than 144Hz models. However, I don’t expect another frame rate upgrade in 2026; After all, high speeds like this are largely just the domain of PCs at the moment, and we need to release consoles that support over 120Hz before they have a chance of becoming mainstream.
AI: helper or nuisance?
For several years now, TVs have had AI capabilities to increase frame rates, optimize colors, and balance sound, all in the name of maintaining quality and consistency in everything you watch. These features have been around for much longer than the buzzword “AI,” and you may have enjoyed them for years without even realizing it.
However, a new trend that will gain traction in 2026 is real AI assistants or chatbots appearing on the home screen of your smart TV. This has actually already started, with LG forcing many of its TV owners to have a non-removable Copilot widget on their home screen… before almost immediately going around and allowing users to remove it.
As tech companies try to force you to use their AI chatbots on every device you have, it’s natural that the TV will also fall victim. Google TV added Gemini in September 2025, and it’s likely that TVOS will get the updated Siri AI when it launches sometime in 2026. As brands work hard to make these assistants ubiquitous, they’re likely to become more prominent in TV operating systems.
Or maybe not. As the LG debacle showed, when the company quickly backed down due to the backlash, consumers are still not sold on these machine learning chat bots. Brands haven’t successfully championed these tools to make life easier, and on your TV it could end up being just another step to finding the show or movie you want to watch. For me, looking for something to look at is part of the joy, and I don’t want a bot to take that away from me – especially if, like Gemini and Copilot, it insists on feeding me blatantly false information, being completely confused on basic information, and calling itself out when it’s really not wanted.
Software full of advertising
Another UI prediction and another negative prediction went hand in hand.
If you feel like you’re seeing more commercials while watching TV, it’s not just you. I’ve been into streaming entertainment for years and always feel like I spend less time watching a show and more time waiting for commercials to end. More and more streaming platforms are introducing advertising-enabled tiers, and even smart TV interfaces are not immune to the flood of advertising everywhere. Just ask Fire TV users.
A major new jargon expected to become widespread in 2026 is “agentic AI,” or complex artificial intelligences that go beyond simple response-based chatbots to predict what you want and when you want it. This is already thought to be a major innovation in television operating systems: if you regularly tune in at a certain time, the set will know it’s a particular show, or if you have a tradition of Sunday night horror shows, it will pick up on it. In theory, this means that your TV can suggest the show, movie or sport you were already planning to watch, saving you a lot of time searching through lists to find it.
In practice, this will likely result in more ads being shown to you. Partly for shows and films you might want to watch, but partly also for products and services. Your viewing data is important to advertisers, and as personalized advertising becomes more popular across the web browser and TV interfaces, agent AI will improve advertisers’ ability to attract your attention to their commercials. And of course, watching TV becomes an even more irritating experience. Thanks, AI.
By the end of 2025, this is already the case with certain streaming services: Prime Video ads are designed to entice you to buy directly from the commercial, and Netflix gives you huge branded banners every time you take a break, and we’re seeing the same thing happen with TV interfaces too. But some brands have fought back and are likely to become even more popular as people try to escape advertising; Roku and Apple come to mind.
