Sony RGB Mini-LED Explained

Tom's Guide

Kate went to Sony HQ to get a preview of Sony's future TV product roadmap, namely, a RGB Mini-LED display prototype that innovates one of today's leading TV technologies. Although she wasn't able to film or photograph the demo, in this video, she'll break down what she saw and the benefits of RGB Mini-LED over Mini-LED TVs like the Sony Bravia 9 and OLED TVs like the Sony A95L QD-OLED. Make sure to drop your questions about RGB Mini-LED below!

Transcript

00:00Hey guys, I just got back from Tokyo where I had a semi-exclusive look at Sony's latest display

00:06technology that's in the pipeline for 2026. And as you probably already guessed by the title of

00:11this video, it's RGB mini LED. And while Sony isn't the first TV manufacturer to announce

00:16development for RGB mini LED TVs, from what I've seen with my own eyes, it could be a game changer

00:23for large screen displays. Let's break it down. Though I do have to clarify outright that I really

00:27wasn't allowed to film anything, but I could take one photo and you'll see it on later in this video.

00:32Otherwise, everything else is imagery provided by Sony for reporting purposes. So put this in the

00:38context of traditional QLED displays. Those rely on a white LED backlight that passes through the

00:44quantum dot sheet to produce color. But Sony's RGB mini LED system takes a different approach.

00:50Each pixel doesn't just get brightness, it gets color directly from the backlight itself. Instead

00:55of relying on a single white light source, it uses red, green, and blue LEDs within to control

01:01colors independently across all the dimming zones. This means that in a perfect world where all the

01:06LEDs are controlled properly, a larger color volume, sharper color peaks, limited blooming,

01:11purer reds, and hopefully dramatically improved color accuracy. I mentioned color volume. Sony is

01:17saying that the color volume of its RGB mini LED backlight prototype they demoed is four times larger

01:23than Sony's A95L QD OLED, which is considered by pretty much everyone to be the best OLED TV on the

01:29market. Actually, having had the chance to see both side by side, I could see in real time the RGB

01:35mini LED tech keeping colors rich and saturated even in darker areas of the screen, maintaining detail

01:41and those shadows where traditional displays tend to lose it. I so wish I could show you the way Sony

01:47had it set up, especially the one demo where the backlight was switching between just using white

01:52versus the RGBs, and the difference was very significant, especially when it came to off-angle

01:57viewing and limiting color distortion. They're, again, something that's usually considered to be a

02:01benefit of OLED. But one of the biggest advantages over OLED? No screen size limitations. Because this

02:07technology isn't constrained by organic materials, it can scale up to massive displays over 100 inches

02:14with apparently no loss in quality. Again, however, that has to do with control. Sony is claiming that

02:19the precision of this backlight is next level. The prototype I saw has 66-bit backlight control.

02:25That's just wild compared to even the 22-bit control on Sony's current Bravia 9 mini LED TV

02:31powered by that next-gen driver I showed you the last time I went to the HQ. I know I've been complaining

02:36about how I can't show you much, but Sony actually did bring out a very small condensed version of an

02:42RGB mini LED backlight and threw up my initials. I'll show it here. It's really not as effective as

02:47the demos I saw of the backlight in action with actual footage, but at least you can see a little

02:52bit of those colored LEDs. It doesn't feel totally appropriate to call what I saw a concept. Sony has

02:57clearly been working on this for many years, and I definitely expect we'll see more to come.

03:02A lot of people, maybe more specifically TV enthusiasts, are definitely tracking RGB mini

03:07LED as one of the next big innovations, so there's a lot at stake for which manufacturer manages to do

03:13it best. Bottom line, Sony's RGB mini LED isn't just another incremental upgrade. It's a completely

03:20new way of handling backlight technology that could finally bring OLED-level contrast, viewing angles,

03:26and color accuracy to massive screen sizes. It's still in development, again, Sony isn't assigning it

03:31to any actual product for the time being, but if what I saw in Tokyo is anything to go by,

03:37we'll be paying attention, so make sure you subscribe to this channel, hit that like button,

03:40and let me know what you think about what Sony is up to in the TV labs.

03:44Otherwise, that's it for me. Thanks for watching, you guys. I'll catch you next time.

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