QLED v.s. OLED: Which one is better?

Despite there only being a one letter difference between QLED and OLED, the viewing experience between the two could not be more polar. Let us break down the difference for you.

What is QLED

QLED TV uses the technology of quantum dots which produce pure colour by transferring LED light through quantum dot colour filters.

QLED Technology Explained

The quantum dots provide a layer over the backlight which emits pure primary colours. This delivers improved brightness and produces deeper colours by limiting the loss of light and provides sharper viewing angles by absorbing any extra surrounding light.

What is OLED

OLED technology draws on organic LED as its light source to produce colour.

OLED Technology Explained

OLED technology creates images by using self-lighting pixels. As opposed to a QLED TV, OLEDs have no backlight. The picture is produced from switching pixels on and off individually. This allows the purest of black colours to be displayed. This then produces the backdrop for compromised contrasts as the black mixes with the other RGB colour range.

Compare QLED and OLED in these area:

Below we compare and the key indicators of these two technologies one by one to see their differences in Black purity, Colour and Brightness and other performance indicators.

1.Black purity

Black purity refers to the ability of the display to produce deeper black, which determines whether the TV could achieve excellent quality of images. Deeper blacks provide higher contrast, richer colours, etc., resulting in more realistic and colourful pictures. In terms of black purity, OLED's superiority to QLED seems undisputed.

QLED work with the backlighting system, so it is virtually impossible to completely eliminate light leakage which results in a glowing grey called "elevated black," it can extend a centimetre or two around any bright object on the screen, or even cover the screen from corner to corner. It's a problem we see on even the best QLED sets.

However, OLED TVs are not affected by these issues. If an OLED pixel is not powered, it will not emit any light, so its colour is pure black.

2.Colour

OLED has beaten all competitors in this segment. However, the use of quantum dots in QLED TVs has improved colour accuracy, colour brightness and colour capacity, and has wider and more saturated colours under extreme brightness levels.

Although it is undeniable that QLED can provide excellent colour display, better saturated colours at high brightness levels do not provide too many advantages under normal viewing conditions, so it is a tie in this round.

3.Brightness

QLED TVs have considerable advantages in terms of brightness. It's mainly because quantum dots can reach brighter tones in the spectrum without losing saturation, which is especially important in rooms with a lot of ambient light.

QLED TVs are also considered more suitable for viewing HDR content because the spectral highlights in the image are brighter and more prominent, such as the light reflected by lake or car paint. However, there is some controversy at this point, some people think that the pure black of the OLED display is better for HDR content.

TCL’s QLED tv

X10/X815

OLED TVs and QLED TVs have different advantages in different aspects, so it is impossible to say which TV is better than the other. It can be concluded that OLED TVs have irreplaceable advantages in terms of black purity and response time, while being thinner and more energy efficient; while QLED TVs are larger in size, more colourful and brighter, and have a better viewing experience.