Most TV manufacturers release new models yearly; I see lots of them every January at CES, and they hit shelves the next spring or summer. These new TVs typically improve on previous models with brighter and more vibrant screens or new features, and are the ones most prominently displayed online and in physical stores as soon as they come out.
If you’re looking to save money, I have a big tip to share: Consider buying last year’s TV instead of this year’s model. This is especially true if you’re looking for a fancy, high-end TV; you can save hundreds or even thousands if you go back a generation and find the equivalent model still available.
I recently followed my own advice and bought a 65-inch LG C4 from 2024 for $1,200. It hit that low price during Prime Day, but even now, you can find it for $1,400. The 2025 version of the TV, the LG C5, is available at the time of this writing for $1,700, though its MSRP (and the 65-inch C4’s list price when it launched last year) is $2,700. Clearly, it pays to wait.
How Much Can a TV Change in a Year?
I’ve had the C4 for two weeks so far, and its picture is fantastic. This isn’t surprising, considering LG’s C-series of OLED TVs has consistently earned high scores when I’ve reviewed them. I didn’t get a chance to test the C4 last year and haven’t gotten the C5 into the PC Labs just yet, but my colleagues at reviewed both and deemed them to be excellent. In fact, one of the only complaints they made about the C5 was that it’s so similar to the C4. The numbers they measured reflect that, with the C5 only about 200 nits brighter (1,187 nits) than the C4 (968 nits) in the most accurate HDR picture mode. Color is very slightly improved on the C5, but not by a significant degree. In other words, the cheaper, year-old version is still a fantastic TV.
The Best Last-Gen TVs You Can Still Buy
This isn’t an isolated example—it’s just the one sitting in my living room. I have plenty of notes and measurements on the changes and improvements between TV generations. Let’s take a look at one of PCMag’s favorite multigenerational TV lines of the last two years: 2024’s Hisense U8N and its successor, 2025’s Hisense U8QG. Both earned our Editors’ Choice award and our highest recommendation for overall value among all TVs in the market for their given year.
Hisense U8N vs. U8QG color levels, HRD10 signal (Credit: PCMag)
The U8QG is definitely an improvement over the U8N in some respects, but not a huge one. Its panel is brighter (3,200 nits to the U8N’s 2,755 nits), but not significantly. Humans perceive changes in light levels on a curve, and the difference between 600 and 1,000 nits is much more noticeable than the difference between 2,600 and 3,000 nits. Its colors are a bit wider and more accurate, but not by a huge amount. Its biggest boon over the previous generation is a built-in 4.1.2-channel speaker system, but the U8N’s 2.1.2 arrangement can also produce a big, three-dimensional sound field. The U8QG adds a side-mounted USB-C port that can accept video signals over DisplayPort, but as a trade-off, it only has three HDMI ports instead of four in the previous model.
The 65-inch U8QG is currently marked down to $1,400, or you can pick up the U8N for $1,000 in the same size. They’re both great TVs, but one is slightly better while the other is much cheaper.
Let’s look at another example, the 2024 and 2025 versions of the Roku Pro Series, which are two of the best televisions with Roku’s smart TV platform that I’ve tested.
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Roku Pro Series 2024 vs. 2025 color levels, HDR10 signal (Credit: PCMag)
The 2025 Roku Pro Series is brighter (1,941 nits to the 2024 model’s 1,621 nits), and its colors are a little more accurate. That’s pretty much it. They’re otherwise nearly identical in features and performance. The biggest difference between them right now is the price. The 55-inch 2025 Pro Series is $900. The 55-inch 2024 Pro Series is $600. It costs two-thirds as much for nearly the same experience.
When and Where to Get the Best Deal on a TV
Getting a great deal on last year’s TV means being able to find it, and that’s not always certain. You’ll probably have the best luck in the summer, when the newest TVs have already launched, and retailers are looking to trim their stock of the previous models. That stock usually starts depleting around the fall, when you’ll see fewer options still for sale, with scattershot availability in any given screen size.
Don’t just check Amazon for deals. Look up the manufacturer’s site to see if they sell directly to consumers, and check if any brick-and-mortar retailers in your area have what you want in stock or for a better price. You might get lucky and find a clearance or open-box unit only available locally that costs even less than you would otherwise pay for the same model. I ended up buying my LG C4 from the NY-based electronics chain P.C. Richard & Son for the same price it was on Amazon. The regional chain mounted my new TV and hauled away my old one for much less than Best Buy charges (and these are services that Amazon doesn’t offer at all).
Recommended by Our Editors
Which TV Upgrades Are Worth the Money?
Even though you can save money by opting for the previous year’s TV, this doesn’t always mean it’s the best option. Like I’ve shown, newer TVs often do have improvements over the versions they replace, and those upgrades are worth considering.
If the savings are minor and the newer model is in your budget, you might want that one. I bought my LG C4 when it was on sale for $1,200, which is $500 less than the C5 is right now, a 34% difference. After Prime Day, though, that same C4 is $1,400, making the difference a much narrower $300 or 20%. If that was the case when I was shopping and the C5 had some aspect that was clearly superior, I might have bought the newer one.
The Hisense U8QG’s sound system is a clear upgrade over the U8N, and its USB-C DisplayPort input on the side can be very handy depending on how you plan to use it. If those advantages are worth the 33% difference in price between them ($1,400 to $1,000), you should get the U8QG. They’re both excellent TVs, so you should choose whichever one seems best suited for your needs and budget.
So don’t be afraid of getting the newest TV. Just know that you might get a great deal if you look back a year.
About Will Greenwald
Lead Analyst, Consumer Electronics
