Micro RGB screens emerged strongly at CES 2026, after having first appeared last year without much attention, amid confusion with other display technologies such as OLED, Micro LED, and Mini LED.

However, the scene changed this year, with Micro RGB becoming the latest premium display technology, widely present in the booths of major TV companies.

This proliferation raises questions about the nature of this technology, its differences from current display technologies, and why major companies are adopting it in the high-end market segment.

Evolution of flat panel display technologies

The first LCD screens relied on liquid crystals that allow light to pass when voltage is applied, using a uniform backlight and RGB color filters to produce the image.

However, this technology suffered from light leakage, making black appear dark gray, along with uneven lighting distribution and high power consumption, as well as losing some brightness due to the color filter layer.

The next improvement came with LED backlighting, first on the edges then behind the entire panel, which improved brightness, energy efficiency, and color accuracy, and introduced local dimming to enhance contrast.

Quantum dots and Mini LED

In 2013, quantum dot technology emerged, replacing color filters with a nanolayer capable of producing pure RGB colors when exposed to blue light.

This improved brightness and color accuracy, a technology popularized by Samsung's QLED screens.

With the development of Mini LED, quantum dot technology was combined with hundreds or thousands of local dimming zones, allowing high brightness and improved color accuracy, though these screens still suffered from blooming around bright objects and inability to achieve true black.

OLED and Micro LED

OLED technology addressed these issues with self-emitting pixels that can be completely turned off, allowing near-infinite contrast and true black. However, this technology faces limitations in brightness and burn-in risk due to its organic nature.

Micro LED, on the other hand, uses tiny inorganic self-emissive LEDs, combining high brightness and no burn-in, but it remains very expensive, reaching consumer markets only in limited models at exorbitant prices.

Micro RGB – also known as RGB Mini LED – arrives as the latest evolution in LED technologies.

Unlike traditional Mini LED screens that use white or blue backlighting, Micro RGB relies on separate red, green, and blue backlight sources, precisely controlled, operating behind the liquid crystal layer.

This design enables higher color accuracy and a wider color gamut, with an increased number of local dimming zones, improving contrast compared to traditional Mini LED, and offering higher brightness than OLED, though it still cannot turn off each pixel individually like OLED or Micro LED.

The importance of Micro RGB lies in its ability to achieve full coverage of the BT.2020 standard used in advanced HDR content, a standard that requires very high precision in the three primary colors.

First models on the market

Until recently, Micro RGB was limited to a single model: the Samsung MR95F TV with a 115-inch screen, which – according to the company – achieves 100% coverage of the BT.2020 gamut, a first in the TV market.

Although Samsung did not disclose the number of dimming zones or peak brightness level, it indicated that the number of dimming zones is four times that of the Q90F model, with a price of around $30,000.

Wide expansion at CES 2026

During CES 2026, Samsung announced the expansion of Micro RGB technology to sizes ranging from 55 inches to 115 inches, with a new certification called Micro RGB Precision Color 100, confirming full BT.2020 coverage.

LG also unveiled its first Micro RGB lineup in 75, 86, and 100-inch sizes, with promises of full BT.2020 coverage in HDR, as well as full coverage of Adobe RGB and DCI‑P3 standards in SDR mode.

As for Hisense, it introduced screens under the name RGB Mini-LED, claiming color coverage exceeding 100% of BT.2020, along with unveiling a 163-inch Micro LED TV using an RGBY color system by adding yellow to expand the color spectrum.

Related > Top TV screens at CES 2026 led by Micro RGB and OLED