LG’s newest flagship OLED TV, the LG G5, is available for pre-order. Which means many of our cinephile readers will be wondering if it's time to pull the trigger and upgrade their aging LED, or even Plasma set.
With our TV and AV editor, Tom Parsons, and senior staff writer, Lewis Empson, having seen the LG G5 TV at press previews and coming away impressed, we can certainly understand why you might be tempted to pull the trigger early.
The G5, after all, is very compelling at a technical level. It features a fourth-generation OLED panel, which promises serious brightness and colour-volume improvements on LG Display’s outgoing Micro Lens Array flagship OLED technology.
With the cheapest 48-inch LG G5 retailing for £2399 / £2499 / AU$TBC and the giant 97-inch option for £24,999 / $24,999 / AU$TBC, the new range’s launch pricing is also roughly in line with the outgoing G4’s – which is good news considering the current fluctuations happening to most electronics goods' cost.
But before you grab your wallet and part with your hard-earned cash, we have two key bits of advice to share.
Sometimes patience really is a virtue
We would urge you to wait for us to review any TV before you invest in it. With more than half a century's experience in reviewing home cinema and audio hardware, we know that a simple specification sheet never tells the full story.
Many's the time when a company has promised the world with its upcoming hardware, only for there to be merely modest gains when we actually get to run the new TV through our testing process.
It is also true that we have seen plenty of instances where a TV (even an OLED) which at first glance looks technically identical to its predecessor, in fact delivers noticeable performance improvements when we test it.
Our most recent example of the latter situation was, indeed, the LG C5, which has far fewer hardware improvements over its predecessor, the LG C4, than the range-topping LG G5 does compared with the LG G4.
Despite this, our reviewers saw clear improvements on peak brightness levels, colour accuracy and volume that make it a bigger step forward than its specifications suggested.
It makes sense, then, to wait for our LG G5 review before parting with your cash. Until we have put it through our testing process, we can’t sensibly confirm if it’s worth the money – even if its predecessor the LG G4 was one of 2024’s best OLED TVs.
Value for money matters
Having said all that, even if the LG G5 does indeed wow us during our review, it is also well worth keeping an eye on LG G4 prices.
Though the G5 has the same launch RRP as its predecessor, we have seen a gradual stream of stellar discounts on the G4 this year (check the widget at the bottom of the page for some of the offers currently running).
And, if our experience in covering the market is anything to go by, these discounts are likely to get deeper and even more frequent now the new model is on sale.
The chart below shows the 65-inch LG G4's price history on Amazon over the past 12 months; as you can see it has already dropped in price significantly and is currently cheaper than it was even during the Black Friday sales.
What Hi-Fi?'s advice always factors in performance-per-pound (or, of course, dollar) and, having tested the G4 against serious rivals, we can confirm the TV is still an excellent option for movie and sports fans as well as gamers.
As we conclude in our G4 review:
“LG’s second generation MLA OLED tech improves on all the areas that made the first generation great. Highlights include stellar HDR performance, wonderfully immersive and accurate colours that are consistent from the brightest to darkest parts of the picture, and stellar motion handling. This plus its excellent suite of gaming features make it a fantastic option for any home cinema enthusiast.”
One (inevitable) word of caution: if you buy an expensive new TV, you should definitely also plan on investing in a separate Dolby Atmos soundbar or speaker package if you don’t already have one.
The G4’s speakers are too thin-sounding and lack the directionality needed to do the TV’s stellar picture quality justice.
If you’re not obsessed with getting the latest model, it is well worth continuing to watch the G4's pricing and grab it on deal.
Having said that, unless you absolutely need a new TV now, we recommend you wait for our LG G5 review; until we get it into our test rooms, we can’t make any concrete comments on how big a difference there is between the two.
MORE:
These are the best TVs we have reviewed
Our picks of the best 65-inch TVs
We rate the best Dolby Atmos soundbars
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
