Inside the next generation of television tech

WORDS SCOTT DUTFIELD

The LG Signature OLED T on display at CES 2024

It’s hard enough to wrap your head around the technology that brings us super-high-definition smart television displays, so the idea of a TV that’s also transparent is mind-blowing. In 2011, Samsung was the first to showcase this cutting-edge technology in its transparent organic light-emitting diode (OLED) TV. But it wasn’t until Chinese electronics company Xiaomi launched the Mi TV LUX in 2020 that transparent televisions became commercially produced. Now, tech giant LG has created the latest evolution in television history with the LG Signature OLED T, the world’s first wireless transparent TV.

Unveiled at the 2024 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), this venture in television technology wowed crowds with its ability to switch between a traditional OLED screen and a fully transparent display. Like other OLED screens, transparent TVs, known as TOLEDs, are made up of layers of organic and conductive material, filled with tiny diodes that emit light when electricity is passed through them. This removes the need for the backlight and colour filters commonly seen on liquidcrystal displays (LCD) and many LED TVs. The conductive layers within an OLED are typically made from minerals, carbonbased products and plastics that are transparent. To switch between television and transparency, the Signature OLED T uses a retractable contrast film behind the screen to deflect external light and increase the contrast of the on-screen image at the touch of a button.