You want the best OLED picture you can buy, but you don’t want to pay top money for changes you’ll never notice. That’s the exact tension behind LG G6 OLED vs LG G5 OLED in February 2026.
CES 2026 gave the G6 a lot of buzz, but the headline isn’t a new look. The design stays very close to what already works. The real story is more practical: higher brightness for HDR, better handling of reflections in bright rooms, and a set of small processing refinements that add up when you watch every day.
To help you decide with confidence, you’ll get a quick specs table, the real-world differences that matter in your room, and a clear “who should buy what” answer at the end.
RELATED: LG C6 OLED Review (2026): Best 165Hz OLED Gaming TV?
Specification Comparison
Here’s a table that focuses on the specs you’re most likely to feel in daily use, not the ones that just look good on a product page.
| Spec that matters | LG G5 OLED | LG G6 OLED |
|---|---|---|
| Panel type | Primary RGB Tandem OLED (1st gen, “Four-Stack”) | Primary RGB Tandem 2.0 (2nd gen) |
| Peak brightness (HDR highlights) | Around 2,296 nits reported in testing references (varies by mode and window size) | About 20% higher claim, roughly 2,750 to 3,000 nits range in highlights (claims vary by measurement) |
| Reflection handling | Good, but more room reflections show up in daytime | Improved anti-reflection approach, lower reflectance for brighter rooms |
| HDR formats | Dolby Vision, HDR10, HLG (no HDR10+) | Dolby Vision, HDR10, HLG (no HDR10+, and Dolby Vision 2 isn’t expected) |
| Max refresh rate | Up to 165Hz on supported inputs and sizes (97-inch often capped lower) | Up to 165Hz on supported inputs and sizes (97-inch often capped lower) |
| HDMI ports | 4x HDMI 2.1 | 4x HDMI 2.1 |
| Gaming basics | VRR, ALLM, 4K at 120Hz (and higher refresh for PC) | VRR, ALLM, 4K at 120Hz (and higher refresh for PC), with more polish |
| Smart TV OS | webOS generation used on G5-class models (often listed as webOS 25) | Newer webOS generation, generally faster and smoother |
| Price in 2026 | Often discounted as the newer model arrives | Launches as the premium flagship, deals come later |
If you only remember one thing from this table, make it this: brightness and reflections are tied to your room, not your pride of ownership. In a dim room, both TVs can look stunning. In a bright room with windows and lamps, the G6’s changes are easier to spot.
For CES-era coverage and positioning, see What Hi-Fi?’s report on the G6 vs G5 claims.
Quick reality check on brightness claims so you do not get fooled
“Peak brightness” almost always means a small HDR highlight, not a full white screen. Think sparks, sun glints on water, metal reflections, explosions, and the bright pop of stadium lighting during sports.
That’s why the G6’s boost tends to show up in moments, not in the overall average image. If you mostly watch at night with the lights low, the gap can feel smaller than the numbers suggest. If you watch during the day, you’re more likely to feel the improvement because brighter highlights help the image hold up against room light.
Picture quality and HDR
Start with expectations, because this part trips people up. The G5 is already a flagship OLED with excellent contrast, strong color, and serious HDR punch. If you’re coming from a midrange TV, the G5 can feel like a new pair of glasses. The G6 is not that kind of jump from the G5.
What the G6 does well is refinement. LG’s focus is less about changing the look of the TV and more about raising the ceiling in a few key areas: higher brightness (especially in HDR highlights), better HDR tone mapping (so bright parts don’t wash out darker detail), and cleaner panel behavior (less banding and more consistent uniformity, which you’ll appreciate on large screens).
In other words, the G6 is trying to make the OLED experience easier to enjoy in normal homes, not just in a dark, carefully controlled room. That matches what many CES 2026 previews emphasized, including brightness and anti-reflection improvements, as summarized in FlatpanelsHD’s LG 2026 lineup coverage.
Bright room viewing
Reflections are the silent killer of OLED “wow.” You can have perfect blacks, then a window reflection lands on the screen and suddenly your eyes stop seeing contrast and start seeing your room.
This is where the G6 has its most practical advantage. LG’s newer anti-reflection approach is meant to lower visible reflectance, so you get less glare and fewer mirror-like reflections when you’re watching in daylight. Combine that with the G6’s higher highlight output and HDR content stays readable, even when the room isn’t acting like a movie theater.
You’ll feel this most in a few common scenarios:
- A living room with side windows where you watch sports on weekends.
- A lamp behind the couch that you don’t want to turn off.
- Bright animated content where you want color to stay lively instead of looking muted.
There is a trade-off worth keeping in mind. Some aggressive anti-reflection coatings can shift how blacks look in certain lighting angles. That doesn’t mean blacks become “bad,” it means you might notice a slight change in perceived black depth when a strong light source hits the panel. The upside is that you often get a more watchable picture overall in bright conditions, which is the point of the upgrade.
Dark room movie nights
In a dark room, both TVs play to OLED’s strengths: deep blacks, precise pixel control, and strong cinematic contrast. If movie night is your main use case, the G5 is already hard to fault.
The G6’s edge is subtler here, but it’s still real. Better HDR tone mapping can keep bright highlights intense while holding onto shadow detail. Practically, that can mean a flashlight beam or neon sign looks brighter without turning the surrounding scene into a gray haze. You also get the sense that color is a bit more “controlled,” where it stays punchy without looking wild or inaccurate.
If you’re sensitive to panel quirks, the G6’s work on reducing mild banding and improving uniformity can matter more than you’d think. On a big screen, a slightly cleaner gradient in a sky shot, or fewer faint streaks in near-black scenes, helps you stay in the movie instead of noticing the display.
If your room is already light-controlled, the honest takeaway is simple: the G6 looks better, but the G5 still satisfies most people.
Gaming, smart TV experience and sound
On paper, the gaming feature list looks familiar because LG already nailed the fundamentals on the G5: HDMI 2.1 on four ports, 4K at 120Hz for consoles, VRR (variable refresh rate) and ALLM (auto low-latency mode), plus higher refresh support for PC gaming in the right setup.
So what’s new? The G6 story is more about consistency and polish. Motion can look a touch cleaner in fast camera pans, VRR behavior can feel more stable, and game HDR can look better tuned so dark areas don’t crush detail while bright effects still pop.
Smart TV performance follows the same theme. LG’s newer webOS generation on the G6 tends to feel quicker when you jump between apps and inputs. It’s the difference between a TV that’s “fine” and one that stays out of your way when you’re moving between streaming, gaming, and live TV.
For a broader CES 2026 breakdown of what LG said changed across the lineup, this CES 2026 OLED deep dive is a useful reference point.
If you game a lot
If you’re a competitive player, you care less about “features” and more about how the TV behaves in the moments that decide a match. The G6’s improvements are likely to show up as slightly cleaner motion, fewer distracting shifts during VRR gameplay, and better visibility in high-contrast scenes.
A simple way to think about it is this: the G5 gives you the tools, the G6 makes those tools feel a little more consistent across games and inputs. It’s not a new category of performance, it’s a reduction in small annoyances.
If you want to sanity-check how LG models tend to score on input lag, response, and gaming behavior, RTINGS comparison tools can help you benchmark expectations (even when the exact G6 vs G5 pairing isn’t the focus yet), like this LG G5 vs LG C5 compare page.
webOS and everyday use
Day-to-day, you’ll notice the G6’s smart improvements when you’re not thinking about them. Apps tend to open faster, switching between streaming and gaming feels less sluggish, and the overall UI feels more responsive.
You also get the usual smart home support you’d expect at this tier. If you use voice control or a connected setup (Alexa, Google Home), the experience is generally better when the TV responds quickly and understands commands without you repeating yourself. The G6 is positioned as the more polished “hub” option, while the G5 still covers the essentials very well.
On sound, treat built-in audio as “good enough” for casual watching. The G6’s updated processing can improve dialogue clarity and reduce volume jumps between content types, which helps for news, YouTube, and late-night streaming. For movies, you’ll still get the biggest upgrade from a soundbar or an AVR setup.
Which one should you buy in 2026
This decision gets easier when you stop treating it as a spec war and start treating it like a room-and-habits match.
If you already own the G5 and you’re happy, the design isn’t a reason to upgrade. LG stuck with the gallery-style approach because it works, especially for wall mounting. The G6 may refine mounting and cable management a bit, but from the couch, it’s not the kind of change that justifies a new purchase on its own.
The strongest case for the G6 is also the most boring and the most real: your room is bright, you watch a lot during the day, and you want HDR to keep its pop without fighting reflections. If that’s you, the G6 is one of the rare OLED upgrades that can feel like an everyday improvement, not just a test-pattern win.
If you’re shopping fresh in 2026, value matters. The G6 launches at a premium, while the G5 often drops into a sweet spot where you can get near-flagship performance for less money. Timing matters, patient buyers usually get the better deal.
LG G6 OLED vs LG G5 OLED pros and cons
LG G6 OLED pros
- Brighter HDR highlights, which helps HDR look more lively in normal rooms
- Better bright-room viewing thanks to improved reflection handling
- More refined HDR tone mapping, highlights pop without flattening shadows
- Small improvements to banding and uniformity can help on large screens
- Faster, more responsive smart TV feel in day-to-day use
LG G6 OLED cons
- Higher launch pricing, best deals usually come later
- No big design change, you won’t “see” the upgrade when it’s off
- Built-in sound improves, but still won’t replace a real movie audio setup
LG G5 OLED pros
- Still a flagship-level OLED picture with excellent contrast and HDR
- Excellent gaming features and connectivity, including HDMI 2.1 across four ports
- Often the better value in 2026 as prices fall
LG G5 OLED cons
- Less bright in harsh daylight compared with the G6
- Reflection handling and processing are a step behind the G6 in bright rooms
Who each TV is for: bright room streamer, movie purist, competitive gamer, and value hunter
Bright-room streamer: If you watch a lot in daylight, the G6 fits your life better. You’re paying for reflections and brightness control, not for a new design.
Movie purist: If your room is dim and you care about film-like presentation, the G5 still gives you premium OLED contrast. The G6 is nicer, but it’s a “small improvements” upgrade in a dark room.
Competitive gamer: If you already have a G5, you don’t need to move unless you want every last bit of motion and HDR polish. If you’re buying new and gaming is your top use, the G6 is the cleaner long-term pick.
Value hunter: If you want 90 to 95% of the experience for less money, the G5 is the smart buy in 2026. Put the savings toward audio or a bigger screen.
LG G6 OLED vs LG G5 OLED FAQ
Is the LG G6 OLED a real upgrade over G5?
Yes, but it’s mainly refinement. You get a newer OLED panel, higher peak brightness, better HDR tone mapping, and cleaner uniformity, not a new look.
Will you notice the brightness jump in everyday HDR viewing?
In many rooms, yes. The G6 is reported around 20 percent brighter in highlights (roughly 2,750 to 2,800 nits), so specular HDR pops more.
Does the LG G6 handle reflections and glare better than G5?
You’ll likely see improvements in brighter rooms. The G6 is positioned to keep blacks deeper under ambient light and reduce washout, helping daytime viewing.
Is upgrading worth it if you already own an LG G5?
Usually no. If you like your G5’s brightness and gaming, the G6 gains are incremental. Upgrade mainly if you want the brightest LG OLED and cleaner HDR.
Are there meaningful gaming upgrades on the LG G6 OLED?
You keep the core stack (HDMI 2.1, VRR, ALLM, low lag). The G6 focuses on steadier motion, smoother handling, and better HDR gaming calibration.
Does the G6 improve picture processing and upscaling quality?
Yes. With a newer Alpha 11 generation processor, you can expect cleaner SD and HD to 4K upscaling, plus fewer artifacts in motion-heavy scenes.
Conclusion
The honest truth about LG G6 OLED vs LG G5 OLED is that the G6 is a real upgrade, just not a flashy one. It’s mainly about higher brightness, better HDR control, and reflection handling that makes daytime viewing easier. If you already own the G5 and you mostly watch at night, you can keep it and feel good about that choice.
If your living room has windows, lamps, and a lot of daytime viewing, the G6 earns its premium more often. Check current prices, take note of how much light hits your screen, and buy the model that matches how you actually watch, not how you wish you watched.