For years, the television market followed a fairly dependable rule: if OLED was too expensive, buy an LCD TV. That equation is starting to look considerably less dependable.

Three of the world’s dominant LCD panel manufacturers — BOE, TCL CSOT and HKC — have reportedly notified major television manufacturers, including Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics and Sony, of higher LCD panel pricing beginning in September or during the fourth quarter. The timing is especially inconvenient because TV manufacturers are securing inventory for Black Friday and the holiday shopping season.

The obvious explanation would be that consumers suddenly started buying televisions faster than factories could build them, but TV demand is actually softening. What has changed is the cost of producing LCD panels, how much manufacturing capacity panel makers are willing to keep online, and, most importantly, who now controls much of that production.

Welcome to television economics in 2026, where weaker demand and higher component prices can apparently coexist quite happily. Nobody said this business had to make sense.

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Why Are LCD Panel Prices Going Up?

There are two forces working together. TrendForce reports that demand from the AI industry is creating additional competition for upstream materials and manufacturing resources used by display manufacturers, and expects overall TV panel costs to increase 4% to 7% quarter over quarter during Q4 2026.

At the same time, television panel demand is expected to decline. TrendForce projects unit demand to fall 4% quarter over quarter in Q4 following inventory building during the third quarter, which would normally sound like a recipe for lower prices.

Except BOE, TCL CSOT and HKC are also reducing production. The three manufacturers are planning output cuts around China’s Golden Week holiday, with some LCD fabrication lines temporarily reducing or suspending operations.

TrendForce expects utilization at large-generation display fabs to fall to approximately 79.6% in October, down 4.2 percentage points from September. This is therefore not a conventional panel shortage caused by unexpectedly strong television sales.

Manufacturers are managing output more carefully to keep supply from running too far ahead of demand while also dealing with higher production costs. They also have considerably more ability to influence the market than they once did.

China Now Holds Most of the LCD Cards

BOE, TCL CSOT and HKC collectively account for approximately 70% of global TV panel supply, according to TrendForce. Their position becomes even stronger in larger screen sizes, where industry estimates put their combined share of the 65, 75 and 85-inch LCD panel markets at roughly 70% to 85%.

Chinese panel makers spent years expanding manufacturing capacity and competing aggressively on price while Korean and Japanese display manufacturers gradually retreated from LCD production. That concentration did not happen overnight, but its consequences are becoming much harder to ignore.

Samsung Display ended LCD production in 2022. LG Display subsequently wound down its Korean LCD television panel operations and later exited its Guangzhou LCD manufacturing business, while Japanese manufacturers had already reduced their exposure considerably.

That leaves fewer companies controlling an enormous percentage of the global LCD supply chain. Turns out that when enough competitors leave the room, the companies still sitting at the table gain some leverage.

Samsung May Appreciate the Irony

Samsung makes this situation particularly interesting because, for more than a decade, Samsung Electronics aggressively promoted QLED, Neo QLED and increasingly sophisticated LCD-based television technologies as alternatives to OLED. And to be fair, the best LCD televisions became dramatically better during that period.

Mini LED backlighting improved black levels and local dimming, quantum dots expanded color performance, and newer RGB backlighting technologies promise another significant step forward. Samsung’s 2026 Micro RGB televisions demonstrate that LCD still has plenty of technical life left.

The awkward part is that Samsung Display no longer manufactures the LCD panels required for Samsung Electronics’ enormous television business. Samsung Electronics therefore depends heavily on outside suppliers, including Chinese manufacturers whose expansion helped make LCD panel production less attractive for Samsung Display in the first place.

There is enough circularity there to make even Samsung’s AI processing dizzy. Meanwhile, Samsung has become increasingly serious about the technology it spent years positioning QLED against: OLED.

Its 2026 OLED lineup extends from the more affordable S85H and S90H through the flagship S95H. Our 65-inch Samsung S90H review unit used a WOLED panel from LG Display, while Samsung continues to use its own QD-OLED technology in portions of the premium lineup.

Samsung is certainly not abandoning LCD, nor should it. But OLED has gone from awkward rival to an increasingly important part of Samsung’s television strategy, which makes the current shift in panel economics especially interesting.

OLED Is Trying to Get Cheaper

That matters because OLED manufacturers are attacking the technology’s biggest commercial weakness: cost. We recently covered LG Display’s new 2-stack WOLED architecture, which is designed to simplify panel construction while reducing material and manufacturing costs.

By eliminating one emissive layer compared with more complex designs, LG Display potentially requires less organic material and fewer manufacturing steps while still pursuing strong brightness and color performance. The goal is not simply better OLED, but OLED that becomes less expensive to manufacture.

LG Display is also developing FLiPP, a manufacturing process designed to eliminate the fine metal masks traditionally required to produce RGB OLED pixels. Again, the objective is greater manufacturing efficiency and lower costs as OLED production scales.

The pressure is already reaching retail. Roku introduced a 2026 Pro Series OLED starting at $999, while Samsung and other major brands continue pushing OLED further down their television lineups.

That does not mean LCD suddenly loses its reason to exist. LCD remains particularly strong for very bright rooms, can deliver extremely high full-screen brightness, and is much easier to scale into 85, 98 and 100-inch screen sizes without requiring a second mortgage and a sympathetic loan officer.

But the historical price gap between LCD and OLED is getting smaller. Higher LCD panel costs certainly will not help widen it again.

Which TV Brands Are Most Exposed?

The manufacturers specifically identified in reports about the latest LCD panel price increases include Samsung, LG and Sony. That is significant because all three sell large numbers of LCD televisions alongside their OLED offerings.

TCL occupies a somewhat different position because its corporate structure includes TCL CSOT, one of the world’s largest panel manufacturers. That degree of vertical integration gives TCL greater control over panel supply and manufacturing costs than companies that rely more heavily on outside suppliers.

Hisense and other major LCD television brands also operate within the same broader panel market and could be affected by industry-wide component pricing. However, they have not all been specifically identified in the current reports as recipients of these latest price-increase notices, so there is no reason to pretend every TV manufacturer faces exactly the same situation.

Will TVs Actually Cost More?

That is the question consumers actually care about, and higher panel prices do not automatically mean Samsung, LG or Sony will increase television MSRPs next week. Manufacturers negotiate panel contracts in advance, source components from multiple suppliers and can absorb some cost increases through margins.

They can also adjust production mixes and promotional strategies. The more likely near-term effect could be smaller Black Friday discounts, shorter promotions, or some models simply declining in price more slowly than they otherwise would have.

Display panels represent one of the largest individual costs inside a television, so sustained increases eventually become difficult for manufacturers to ignore. How much of that reaches consumers will depend on the brand, model, screen size and how aggressively each manufacturer wants to compete during the holiday season.

There is also a broader competitive issue developing around the $1,000 to $2,000 price range. If mainstream OLED prices continue falling while better Mini LED LCD televisions become more expensive to manufacture, consumers may increasingly compare the two technologies directly rather than treating OLED as the automatic premium upgrade.

That could become a much bigger problem for premium LCD than a modest panel-price increase. Price has always been one of LCD’s strongest weapons, and losing some of that advantage would change the buying equation.

The Bottom Line

LCD television technology is not disappearing, and Mini LED, quantum dots and RGB backlighting continue to improve what the best LCD sets can deliver. The technology remains especially compelling at very large screen sizes and in rooms where brightness matters more than perfect blacks.

The economics underneath those televisions, however, have changed considerably. LCD manufacturing has consolidated around a much smaller group of suppliers, giving those companies greater influence over production and pricing just as component costs are increasing.

At the same time, OLED manufacturers are working in the opposite direction by simplifying production and pushing the technology toward lower price points. Nobody should cancel their Black Friday plans because LCD televisions are suddenly about to become dramatically more expensive, because there is not enough evidence to support that conclusion.

But the direction is worth watching closely because the old pricing relationship between the two technologies is shifting. For years, LCD owned the price advantage while OLED owned the premium conversation.

If LCD gets more expensive while OLED keeps getting cheaper, that line becomes considerably harder to draw.

Guess OLED isn’t dead after all.

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First impressions last a lifetime, and the iPhone Duo certainly made one when I got my hands on it at Apple Park earlier this month. But along with the intrigue came a handful of questions that I can’t wait to explore once the Duo becomes my everyday phone.

Apple’s passport-sized foldable iPhone, which opens for preorders Oct. 16 and launches Oct. 23, is designed to be versatile. You can quickly text or check notifications on its 5.4-inch cover screen, then unfold it to watch videos or multitask on the 7.6-inch inner display. Rotate it to portrait orientation, and it’s well suited to scrolling through vertical social content. Judging by how much I enjoy using Samsung’s similarly sized Galaxy Z Fold 8, I have high hopes for the iPhone Duo.

In my short time with the Duo, I got a glimpse of how Apple’s hardware and software work together to differentiate the phone in an increasingly competitive foldable market. But with this being Apple’s first foray into the space, I have plenty of questions I look forward to answering once I can test the phone.

Here are the five features I’m most eager to explore on the iPhone Duo.

How streaming will be optimized for the displays

One of the biggest draws of a foldable phone is the ability to watch videos on a larger inner display. 

Traditional book-style foldables such as the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra and Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold tend to have taller designs that resemble a slab phone when closed. When you open the phone to watch widescreen video, the content is letterboxed, leaving massive black bars at the top and bottom of the display. With a passport-sized foldable such as the Galaxy Z Fold 8, whose 4:3 aspect ratio is better suited for content consumption, those bars are significantly reduced, allowing more of the inner display to be used for video.

At Apple’s product unveiling, the company demonstrated how Netflix is optimizing its app for the iPhone Duo, ensuring content is well suited to both the phone’s cover and inner displays by reducing those black bars. The Duo sizzle reel shows similar customizations for Apple TV. The question is how other streaming services will customize their apps for the Duo’s 1.4:1 aspect ratio to deliver a more immersive viewing experience.

One standout feature of the iPhone Duo compared to other foldable phones is its matte main display reduces glare and the appearance of a crease. That can make it easier to watch videos under various lighting conditions, and I especially look forward to testing that under the bright California sun. It’ll be interesting to see whether colors look significantly more muted as a result of that matte screen, or if I hardly notice a difference. In my limited time with the phone, I didn’t sense there was a huge tradeoff when it came to the display’s vibrancy, but I also look forward to exploring that more.

Another element that could make on-screen content feel more immersive is the Duo’s “disappearing” under-display inner camera. While phones such as the Galaxy Z Fold 8 have a noticeable hole-punch cutout on the larger display, the Duo essentially hides its camera when it’s not in use. That means fewer visual distractions when watching TV shows and movies, while also keeping a tiny black hole from getting in the way of documents and other content on the larger screen.

Notably, the Duo’s speakers sit on opposite sides of the foldable phone, with one set on the upper left half and the other on the bottom right. The Galaxy Z Fold 8, on the other hand, places both speakers on the left side. I was initially thrown off by the Z Fold 8’s slightly lopsided audio, but I’ll admit I quickly stopped noticing it as I continued to use the phone. Still, the Duo could have a noticeably improved sound experience because of its more balanced speaker setup, paired with Apple’s Spatial Audio. 

It’s also interesting that the Duo’s volume buttons sit at the top of the phone when it’s held in landscape, therefore making the controls easier to access when the phone is rotated to portrait. That may be a slight adjustment for me at first, but I’m curious if I’ll end up preferring that arrangement as I swipe through endless reels.  

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The multitasking experience 

Another major perk of foldables is the ability to multitask. Unlike the Galaxy Z Fold 8, which allows for multitasking with up to three apps, the Duo is limited to two. That’s not much of a letdown for me, since I usually stick to running two apps simultaneously on the Z Fold 8 to prevent overcrowding.

Like other foldables, including the Galaxy Z Fold 8, 8 Ultra and Pixel 11 Pro Fold, you can easily drag and drop content across apps on the Duo. I played with this a little bit during Apple’s event by quickly attaching photos to text messages, but I’m curious how many other apps, both internal and third-party, will support this capability. 

Apple Pencil support could really make the Duo feel like a tablet

The iPhone Duo has frequently been referred to as a hybrid between an iPhone and an iPad Mini, and one aspect that makes that especially true is its support for the Apple Pencil stylus. That support is slated to arrive later this year via a software update.

Rumors pointed to Apple designing a smaller Apple Pencil for the Duo, which never materialized due to “technical problems” before mass production, according to Bloomberg. Instead, Apple opted for its USB-C Pencil (but notably not the Apple Pencil Pro). 

I’ve never owned a tablet; I haven’t been able to muster a strong enough reason to spend hundreds of dollars on what I see as a larger and less capable version of a smartphone. Foldables are a happy medium for me, allowing me to use a compact or standard-size handset that doubles as a larger canvas for watching, working and multitasking. Stylus compatibility could elevate the Duo above competitors such as the Galaxy Z Fold 8, which doesn’t have S Pen support. 

That said, I hardly ever reach for the stylus on the Galaxy S26 Ultra, because typing and swiping with my fingers feels so much more intuitive. But having the option to use the Apple Pencil with the Duo is a plus either way. I’ll have to see if it opens my eyes up to a world of tablet-like productivity I’ve been missing out on.

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Camera performance

Foldable phone cameras have long had a bad rap, given that early models had less room for larger image sensors and lenses. This resulted in images that were significantly downgraded from what you’d get on a flagship, despite the high sticker price.

That gap has narrowed in recent years as both camera hardware and foldable design have evolved to become sleeker and more capable. Phones such as the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra and the Pixel 11 Pro Fold have impressive cameras that may not be quite on par with their non-folding premium counterparts, but that still deliver great images.

The iPhone Duo appears poised to offer up similarly high-quality shots, with a 48-megapixel main camera and a 48-megapixel ultrawide camera. Like the Z Fold 8, though, there’s no telephoto camera. I was mentally prepared for this omission, given my experience with Samsung’s passport-sized foldable, and I don’t really mind the absence of a telephoto lens on that device. That said, it is disappointing when a phone in the $2,000 range doesn’t have the most specced out rear camera setup.

The biggest looming question is how good the iPhone Duo’s internal selfie camera will be. In its tech specifications, Apple simply refers to it as an “under-display FaceTime camera” that supports 1080p video recording at 30 or 60 frames per second — but no official word on the megapixel count. This implies it may be a step down from the 12-megapixel selfie camera on the front of the Duo. 

To be fair, apart from when I’m testing a foldable phone’s cameras, I rarely ever opt for the inner selfie camera because it doesn’t feel like a natural way to snap an image, especially when the cover screen camera is right there. Plus, to get higher-quality images, you can use the Duo’s Smart Take feature to see a preview of your shot on the cover screen when using the rear cameras. So there are better options for taking a photo than using the inner selfie camera. 

I look forward to seeing how all the Duo’s cameras perform once I take it out and about beyond the confines of Apple Park.

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How good will battery life be?

For some people, battery life will be the make or break element. How long will the iPhone Duo last as you endlessly scroll, stream and snap photos?

Apple says the iPhone Duo will give you up to 31 hours of video playback on the inner display, and 44 hours when using the outer screen. When equally spilling your time between both, the company says you’ll be able to go 24 hours before needing to charge. 

With more traditional book-style foldables such as the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra and Pixel 11 Pro Fold, I tend to stick to the cover screens because they’re so similar to the dimensions of slab phones that I forget there’s a larger display inside. Palm-sized phones such as the Z Fold 8 help to remedy that by giving me more incentive to unfold the device and use a larger canvas, and the Duo falls in that camp. 

With that in mind, I’m curious how well the Duo’s battery will hold up as I frequently hop between the cover and main displays. Unlike Samsung’s latest foldables, the iPhone Duo doesn’t have a silicon-carbon battery, which can increase energy density and speed up charging time. Still, Apple says the iPhone Duo can charge up to 50% in around 20 minutes with a 60-watt adapter or higher.

The Duo does have the advantage of MagSafe support with Qi2.2 wireless charging up to 25 watts, like the Pixel 11 Pro Fold. By comparison, the Z Fold 8 and 8 Ultra don’t have built-in magnets, so you’ll need a Qi2-compatible case to tap into wireless charging. While it’s probably smart to slap a case on your nearly $2,000 iPhone Duo, it’s nice to know it’s not necessary for painless wireless charging.

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Now, the countdown is ticking. Until I can put the Duo through its paces in the real world, the verdict on this — and the many other questions that are bound to arise — remains out.

Abrar Al-Heeti

Senior Technology Reporter

Abrar’s interests include phones, streaming, autonomous vehicles, internet trends, entertainment, pop culture and digital accessibility. In addition to her current role, she’s worked for CNET’s video, culture and news teams. She graduated with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Though Illinois is home, she now loves San Francisco — steep inclines and all.

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Confirming earlier reports, Meta announced its first pair of camera-free AI glasses, the clunkily named Ray-Ban Meta Audio, at its Connect 2026 conference on Wednesday. Designed to combat criticism around the more malicious use cases for AI glasses, which saw them nicknamed “pervert glasses” by some, the new devices will be audio-only, offering the ability to listen to music and podcasts, take calls, translate speech, and communicate with Meta’s AI assistant, Muse.

The glasses are designed by Meta’s partner in its AI hardware efforts, EssilorLuxottica, and will start at $349.

While Meta today offers a range of AI glasses in a variety of styles, colors, and capabilities, the audio-only glasses could help the brand recover from some of the reputational damage after critics pointed out how people, often men, were using AI glasses to record videos without subjects’ consent. Meta attempted to mitigate this issue with an update that would disable the camera if the LED light that indicated the glasses were recording was ever tampered with. However, the creepiness factor remained.

This latest device could prove to be more popular for that reason, while also providing an answer to something like Apple’s Siri-powered AirPods.

“Once you get used to high quality audio, it’s just a thing that you want all the time, right?” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said during a keynote Wednesday, adding that the company after working on the idea realized it could design a whole new category of glasses around audio glasses.

Because they don’t have to house cameras, the glasses are slimmer than Meta’s other models and weigh only 43 grams. They also have adjustable temple tips, swappable nose pads, overextension hinges, and battery life of up to 12 hours on a single charge, Meta claims. With the included charging case, that battery life extends to up to 48 hours.

They’ll also come in a variety of colors and options — 23 color and lens combinations in total — and in two new styles, a retro-inspired “Clubmaster” Ray-Ban style and “Burbank,” described as more of a “classic, timeless, rectangle shape.” Like other Meta glasses, you can order them with your optical prescription as well, if needed.

The glasses will be available for preorder on October 13, the company noted.

Alongside the glasses, Meta announced its next-generation AI glasses (the ones with cameras), the Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 3). In addition to the Ray-Ban Meta Wayfarer, there will also be two new styles, the Aviator and Zena — the latter offering more of a cat-eye frame shape. These will have a 12 MP camera that supports 3K Ultra HD video, a six-mic array, and up to nine hours of battery life.

The glasses Meta launched with EssilorLuxottica will also see an expanded lineup of styles and colors as well as a new partnership with singer Lisa, which follows the company’s earlier brand partnership with Kylie Jenner. The glasses will also be roll out to more countries globally, Meta said.

All of Meta’s AI glasses will, of course, feature access to its newer personal AI assistant, Muse.

The company also teased other coming updates, including support for Dolby Atmos Capture, a feature that picks the best photo from multiple frames, an option to choose landscape or portrait modes, hearing enhancements for those with hearing loss, more detailed responses, different audio modes, customizable controls, and something called “private processing” that Meta claims will prevent the company from seeing your data.

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