Summary
- New smart TVs use mmWave sensors and built-in AI (Google Gemini) to detect sitting and power on automatically.
- Transparent OLED TVs exist (LG $60K); pricey luxury now, but more models may arrive.
- 8K and RGB Mini-LED are coming: stunning color and clarity, but content and price slow adoption.
Futuristic tech can seem to have a certain connotation. Some people still think it has to do with flying cars that were seen in The Jetsons. Others think we’d be traveling through tubes from city to city. But in reality, there have been some really unbelievable technological advances that we may think are pedestrian. Electric and self-driving cars are a thing now. You don’t have to rely on fuel to get your car from one place to another.
Robots can be controlled by artificial intelligence and do what we tell them to do. Depending on how you feel about this, it can be exciting or scary. Even just being able to have a mini computer in your pocket that helps you message or call people, search the Internet, or take photos and erase objects in those photos is wild to actually think about.
For smart TVs, being able to connect your TV to the smart home ecosystem that you have is something to write home about. TVs have come an incredibly long way since the days of the CRT TVs. Smart TVs can already do so much and it may seem like any other enhancements are still far off. But they aren’t as far as you might think. Here are some advancements that are right around the corner.
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TVs that can turn on when you walk in the room
This may seem like a luxury, but it is pretty cool
Imagine walking in from a hard day at work, kicking your shoes off, and having the TV tuned in to your favorite channel before you even sit down. This is possible if you have a voice-controlled TV and you do the work yourself to turn it on. But it would also be annoying if you aren’t interested in watching TV and just wanted to walk by it on your way to do something else. This is soon to be possible if you have the latest Google TV from TCL. It hasn’t been released yet, as it was announced last week. But the QM9K series from TCL will have Google Gemini built into it and will utilize the AI for all sorts of tasks.
It was originally shown at CES 2025 and will be able to be more interactive than a traditional Google Assistant-aided TV is. The mmWave sensor is what is really impressive about this TV. It is able to tell the difference between when someone walks into the room for the first time and when someone is sitting down on the couch. If you are registered as sitting down on the couch, your TV will turn on without the need for a remote. You’re also able to fine-tune the radius of the mmWave sensor, so you can potentially have it turn on when you walk in.
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Transparent TVs could become more available
They currently exist but they are insanely expensive
There’s a great line in the series finale of 30 Rock when Jack Donaghy is struggling to come up with a new idea. He eventually pitches clear dishwashers because “you can see what’s going on inside!” People often want to know what’s happening behind the scenes, which is why special access to things can feel like such a win. LG currently offers a transparent TV and it comes with a HEFTY price tag. It is available for sale in a 77-inch frame and costs $60,000.
Imagine walking in from a hard day at work, kicking your shows off, and having the TV tuned in to your favorite channel before you even sit down.
I’m not sure who is actually buying a transparent TV for $60,000 but, if you feel so inclined, you can. The OLED T is a 4K TV with webOS as the operating system, so it will work like any other LG TV on the market. But it’s a TV you can see through. Samsung is also reportedly coming out with a transparent TV, as the company debuted one at CES 2024.
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Widespread 8K adoption isn’t that far away
The resolution will be extremely clear
8K resolution in TVs has been around for a decade, but they aren’t as widely used as 4K.
8K resolution for a TV seems like something that is far off and also might not be necessary. 4K is a really impressive resolution, widely used, and isn’t that difficult to come across these days. Is 8K going to be worth it? That depends on who you ask. On the one hand, it looks incredible and is better than some options on the market. But on the other hand, it only is available on really large screens, which means that the price tag for those screens is high.
Not for nothing, as you can tell by this story, but newer TV tech often comes with a high price tag. 8K TVs are available now, but not many people have sprung for them. Maybe it’s the fact that the price tag is generally a few thousand dollars. But also it’s because the lack of 8K content to actually enjoy. The content needs to be in 8K for you to really notice the difference. That doesn’t mean that 8K content is not going to continue to be made. It will be important for 8K resolution to become more widely used and the price of the TVs to go down for it to become more widespread.
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RGB Mini-LED is practically here
There are multiple companies coming out with these
At CES 2025, Hisense debuted its RGB Mini-LED TV, which comes in the massive size of 116 inches. The Class UX Series RGB Mini-LED TV currently costs $25,000. But there are other manufacturers who are currently developing RGB Mini-LED TVs, including Samsung and TCL. The Mini-LED displays make your colors pop even more than an OLED TV does. The darks are darker. The colors are sharper. The depth of colors are deeper.
As of now, the plans for these TVs and their updated panels are slated to still be in very large TVs. But the more the technology is played with, the smaller the sizes will be for their displays. There is a strong hope that these TVs will be made more frequently and the price will eventually go down. More so than 8K TVs and transparent TVs, this is seen as a more realistic TV innovation that could be more in play for your living room.
