I tested LG’s cheapest OLED TV and Samsung’s more affordable mini-LED TV side-by-side and I know which one I’d buy

OLED vs mini-LED is a battle that’s been raging on for a few years now. While LG, Sony and Panasonic sit firmly in the OLED camp, Samsung, Hisense and TCL place their trust more in mini-LED. Granted, most of these brands have both TV types in their lineups, but it’s clear which one each favors.

Samsung and LG are makers of some of the best TVs, and you’ll regularly find Samsung at the top of our best mini-LED TVs list and LG at the top of the best OLED TVs. Each has had a strong showing with their flagship models in 2025, with both the Samsung QN90F (mini-LED) and LG G5 (OLED) earning five stars in their reviews. But what about the mid-range models?

I recently tested the Samsung QN80F and gave it four stars in my review, mainly due to its average sound quality, reflective screen and a sometimes inconsistent picture. I also had a chance to evaluate it side-by-side with LG’s most entry-level OLED: the LG B5. While these TVs sit in different places in their respective lineups, they’re priced very similarly, with the 55-inch QN80F selling for $1,299 / £1,199 and the 55-inch B5 for $1,299 / £1,399.

So, how does the QN80F fare against the ‘cheapest’ 2025 OLED on the market, and which TV is worth the money?

Color me impressed

Samsung and LG TVs both have exceptional color reproduction, with colors on Samsung mini-LED models generally looking bright and punchy, and LG OLEDs looking deeper and richer. Putting the QN80F mini-LED next to the LG B5, this was once again the case.

With both TVs set to their Movie picture modes, I watched the Wizard & I scene from a 4K Blu-ray of Wicked, and the B5 demonstrated bolder and more engaging colors. Pink flowers, blue details on walls and uniforms, and Elphaba’s green skin all looked more vivid on the B5, primarily due to the B5’s stronger contrast. Colors still appeared bright and vibrant on the QN80F with the same scene, but they didn’t have the same depth.

Measuring UHDA-P3 color gamut on both TVs yielded results of 93.05% on the Samsung QN80F and 99.5% on the LG B5, so it’s no real surprise that the B5 had the edge when it came to color depth and detail.

Brightness and reflections

Brightness is where the Samsung QN80F takes a big win. While mini-LED is traditionally a brighter display technology than OLED, flagship OLEDs such as the LG G5 and Samsung S95F have made great strides in giving OLED a brightness boost, with both hitting over 2,000 nits. But, then again, these pricey TVs use new, advanced OLED panels (QD-OLED on the S95F, and ‘four-stack’ OLED on the LG G5).

The LG B5 uses a standard W-OLED panel, and when it comes to brightness, it shows. When I measured the B5’s peak HDR brightness, it hit 668 nits in Movie mode, whereas the Samsung QN80F clocked in at 1,106 nits in the same mode. A near-500 nit brightness difference is easy to appreciate, and as Elphaba ran through a wheat field in the same Wizard & I scene from Wicked, the sun appeared brighter on the QN80F thanks to its high HDR brightness in peak highlights, and the wheat itself had a glossier, more eye-catching look.

One thing that couldn’t be ignored in my comparison was how reflective the screens on both TVs were. I anticipated this from the B5, mainly due to its low measured fullscreen HDR brightness (a meagre 131 nits), but I expected the QN80F, which clocked in at 754 nits on the same test, to perform better. In bright room lighting conditions, both of these TVs suffer from distracting mirror-like reflections when watching darker scenes. In dimmed conditions, they perform better, but there can still be visible reflections.

Black levels: OLED’s best friend

Despite a very reflective screen on both TVs and their struggles with bright room viewing, they display decent contrast in most environments. The QN80F’s higher brightness gives a stronger perceived contrast thanks to the higher brightness difference between light and dark tones. But look closer, and it’s clear that contrast and black levels are areas where OLED shines.

Watching the subway fight scene and opening crime scene in The Batman, the B5 demonstrated superb contrast, and while there was a hint of black crush at times, shadow detail was also excellent. I found the QN80F to have solid contrast in isolated viewing during my testing, but next to the B5, there was an obvious winner. The B5’s sharper textures and finer details also gave the picture a more 3D-like effect.

Blacks on the B5 also have that inky quality that OLED fans love. In both The Batman and in Nosferatu, particularly the scenes where Hutler first arrives at Orlock’s castle, the QN80F’s black levels were slightly raised, taking on a grayer tone, whereas the black of the forest and the night sky were truly as foreboding and ominous as intended on the B5.

Final thoughts

Both the B5 and QN80F have a strong feature set, especially for gaming, and the new versions of LG’s webOS and Samsung’s Tizen smart TV platforms are arguably the best to date. But both TVs will require one of the best soundbars to provide a cinematic experience at home, so my comparison all comes down to picture quality.

The QN80F takes a big win for brightness, but I couldn’t help but prefer the B5’s overall picture during my side-by-side test. Its superior colors, deeper blacks and more realistic-looking textures gave it the edge. If I had the money to spend, I’d be picking the LG B5.

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