LG seemingly isn't launching any new soundbars this year, and that's baffling to me

(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)

LG has already provided a big surprise at this year's CES by announcing new OLED TVs that seemingly feature brand-new 'Four-Stack' panel technology, but there's equally surprising news on the soundbar front. And this news isn't good: the brand is not, it seems, launching any new soundbar models this year.

In an embargoed briefing I had ahead of CES, LG's David Park stated that, in terms of soundbars, "we're pretty much going to carry over everything that we introduced [in 2024], so no major, big changes. For us at LG, it will be all about optimising and making sure consumers understand the benefits [of LG soundbars]".

The use of the phrases "pretty much" and "no major changes" do of course allow a little ambiguity, but I understood what Park was saying to mean there will be no new LG soundbar models for 2025.

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Now, I appreciate that there's no law that a brand has to launch new products every year – in fact, I'd argue that the annual product cycle is something that we should probably be fighting against at this point – but the last company that should be taking a year off producing new soundbars is LG, because its current soundbars simply aren't up to the standards set by their rivals.

We've only reviewed one of LG's 2024 soundbars, but I have heard most of the other models either at events or as part of our Awards testing process, and none is even close to the best in its category. The flagship S95TR (also known as the US95TR and US95T), which is the model we have reviewed, is the biggest disappointment. It's clearly intended to go up against the Samsung Q990D but it's not even a close fight – the Samsung model is significantly better in pretty much every regard.

While it is fair to say that the Q990D is a rather special bit of kit that any rival is going to struggle to match at its price, it's not the only soundbar that beats the LG S95TR: Sony, Sonos, JBL and Yamaha all produce better performance-per-pound alternatives, and for a brand of LG's stature, that's not really good enough.

And yet, instead of launching new models designed to address that situation, the brand's plan seems to be to put even more effort into convincing buyers of its TVs that they should also buy one of its soundbars for the sake of synergy.

I appreciate product synergy as much as the next AV nerd, but not at the expense of quality. Yes, if you partner the S95TR soundbar with an LG OLED, the speakers of both devices will work together, but the sound still won't be anywhere near that of the Samsung Q990D (which is soon to be replaced by the just-announced Samsung Q990F) working in isolation.

Of course, Samsung promotes the synergy of its TVs and soundbars in exactly the same way that LG does, but I wouldn't buy a Samsung OLED to go with the Q990D soundbar, just as I wouldn't buy the LG S95TR soundbar to go with a G5 OLED. I would instead buy the best TV and the best soundbar and I would use them together, synergy be damned, and I think LG should be aiming to produce that 'best soundbar' rather than relying on sales of its hugely impressive OLED TVs in order to sell its soundbars as add-on devices.

MORE:

Here's everything you need to know about LG's 2025 OLED TV range

Check out our LG S95TR vs Samsung HW-Q990D comparison

Samsung is has just announced the replacement for the Q990D – read all about it in our Samsung HW-Q990F hands-on

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Tom Parsons has been writing about TV, AV and hi-fi products (not to mention plenty of other 'gadgets' and even cars) for over 15 years. He began his career as What Hi-Fi?'s Staff Writer and is now the TV and AV Editor. In between, he worked as Reviews Editor and then Deputy Editor at Stuff, and over the years has had his work featured in publications such as T3, The Telegraph and Louder. He's also appeared on BBC News, BBC World Service, BBC Radio 4 and Sky Swipe. In his spare time Tom is a runner and gamer.