LG C6 review: the OLED TV to beat this year

The LG C6 OLED TV has a tough job to replace one of the most popular TVs around the LG C5. So LG has brought out the big guns this year. It is equipped the C6 with the Alpha 11 Gen 3 image processor which is the same flagship processor you get in the excellent LG G6 to bring a significant brightness boost and more refined picture quality overall making this a solid upgrade over its predecessor. Colors are punchy yet more natural, shadow detail is more refined, sound quality is improved and it has an even higher refresh rate for gaming. There are some small issues around reflectivity plus some quirks in dark tone accuracy that can thankfully be fixed just with some easy setting tweaks. I'll take you through those later but the overall package here is simply as good as TVs get at this price. The LG C6 is available from 42 inches to 65 inches. The 77 and 83 inch models are a kind of spin-off model officially called the C6H and they're separate because they use a new upgraded OLED panel the same primary RGB tandem 2.0 panel that is used in the LG G6. The rest of the C6 lineup including the 65 inch model we reviewed still use a standard W OLED panel so consider this to be a review of the smaller sizes only we plan to review the C6H separately. The C6's price starts from $1,399 or £1,299 for the 42 inch, $1,599 or £1,399 for the 48 inch, $1,999 in the UK it costs £1,799 and $2,699 to £4,999 for the 65 inch. That's actually a price reduction compared to the launch price of the LG C5 in the UK which we love to see and the price has stayed the same as last year in the US and Australia. So let's get into all the details about what makes the LG C6 so impressive and the settings we found that bring the best out of it. The LG C6 comes equipped with a new processor the Alpha 11 AI Gen 3 processor. With this the C6 supports an upgraded brightness booster feature, more refined upscaling and picture enhancements such as 13-bit colour processing which in this case is 12-bit of pure colour processing plus one bit of brightness processing to decrease colour banding. It also supports 11.1.2 channel audio upmixing through its AI Sound Pro mode. Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos are supported but once again there is no support for HDR10 plus or DTS and no plans to support Dolby Vision 2 on this TV in the future. For sound the C6 comes with its usual 2.2 channel speaker array. In terms of sound profiles LG has trimmed back options from 8 to 4 this year opting for AI powered sound modes over the traditional sound modes such as cinema or sports. The C6 is fully equipped for gaming with four HDMI 2.1 ports that support 4k at 165 hertz which is a step up over the 4k 144 hertz supported in the C5 plus full variable refresh rate compatibility including AMD FreeSync and Nvidia G-Sync. There's HD HDR, Dolby Vision gaming and auto low latency mode. It comes with LG's Game Optimizer dashboard where gaming settings can be instantly accessed and altered for optimum performance. The C6 uses WebOS 26 as its smart TV platform which is the latest version of LG's own smart TV software. While there aren't as many new headline grabbing features this time around AI features such as the AI search and AI concierge have been refined. Menus have been streamlined this year including the rearranging and removal of some picture and sound modes while some new quick card categories have been added to make it easy to access different apps and options. Let's start with the brightness measurements of the C6 because they're more impressive than we expected in filmmaker mode. We measured 1438 nits of peak HDR brightness in a 10% window in this mode which is a sizable boost over last year's C5 which clocked in at 1180 nits in the same test. The standard picture mode has received a milder boost measuring at 1291 nits of peak HDR in a 10% window compared to the C5's 1191 nits. Full screen HDR brightness has also received a healthy boost with the C6 hitting 245 nits in filmmaker mode which is up 25% from the C5 which registered 195 nits in the same test. In standard mode the C6 measured 232 nits compared to the C5's 200 nits so again a milder change but still positive. In practice these improvements not only add a level up in brightness where shows or movies ask for it but also create a stronger range between dark and light tones in high contrast scenes. White tones in particular such as scenes of snow or white clouds and any scenes with high peak brightness with the sun as a central feature for example get a really solid boost to make the C6's picture more impactful over last year's C5. The C6 does a great job with lower resolution and SDR sources as well. HD streaming benefits from upscale textures and refined contrast with darker scenes in particular looking great. DVDs don't quite look like they've had the full 4k treatment but textures are very neatly cleaned up and there's an injection of brightness to make the picture much more appealing overall. We tried out the Precision Master HDR Pro setting which is aimed at upscaling SDR to HDR quality. While it did add more brightness and sharpened up textures at the same time we found it to be too aggressive. It created harsh edges around people and objects so we would recommend keeping that off. Color reproduction is superb on the LG C6 especially with Dolby Vision sources. Vibrant tones and things like animation come across as rich and punchy with the extra brightness adding even more shine to the picture. Real world hues also appear more natural when compared to last year's C5 while still looking lush. Colors actually look a little less saturated in areas compared to the C5 and this is largely to the benefit of image accuracy. The C6 measured 99.7% coverage of the DCI-P3 color gamut used for HDR and filmmaker mode which basically matches what flagship OLED TVs get. It also registered a which again is absolutely fantastic given there was no calibration involved and means it is effectively impossible to tell it apart from perfect color reproduction. Contrast is also excellent on the C6. In high contrast scenes bright highlights and near black areas all have their own nuance creating a really strong sense of range with tons of depth. The C6's shadow detail is generally excellent maintaining accuracy in the darkness while still being able to pick out all the subtle elements you should be able to see. That said, watching dark scenes in a pitch black room we did notice black tones could look slightly raised in places. By changing a few simple settings though we were able to fix this without any like super in-depth calibration or anything. We dropped the near black detail option to minus one, we dropped adjust contrast from 100 to 95 and finally we dropped black level from 50 to 49. This didn't dim the picture much at all or anything negative like that but clearly improved the black levels and contrast overall. When watching black and white movies the C6 also delivers truer white tones than the LG C5 which had a slight green tint relative to the new model. The color temperature here is truer. The C6 also delivers refined detail throughout whatever you're viewing with crisp textures that look 3D like but also natural and true to life. Motion handling can be excellent too but we think you should tweak the settings for the best results. We found that in standard mode with the natural motion setting on that's perfect for sports and we use the cinematic movement motion setting for movies including in filmmaker mode. This option has been our go-to for LG for the last couple of years. Without any processing on there can be some judder noticeable in slow moving movie shots but cinematic motion stops all the judder while staying completely natural looking. The potential pitfall of the LG C6 in some rooms is that its reflection handling is merely average and there are strong mirror-like reflections when watching darker scenes in brightly lit rooms. While this is expected we were so impressed by the step-up LG G6's anti-glare panel when we tested that while we know that LG's glossy OLEDs can crush reflections when given the tools it's such a shame that the C6 doesn't receive the same treatment as the G6. The C6 has a built-in 2.2 channel speaker array that supports Dolby Atmos decoding but like last year's LG C5 there is no support for DTS. LG has removed some of the traditional sound modes such as cinema and sports in favour of AI powered sound modes such as the returning AI Sound Pro and the new Precision Sound Master Pro. Using the AI Sound Pro mode for Dolby Atmos scenes the C6 delivered great accuracy and detail with a strong link between the action on screen and the sound. The AI Sound Pro profile focuses more on the mid-range this year which we personally prefer. The changes also mean the bass feels more solid and while it doesn't beat the likes of Sony and Panasonic's TVs for dynamic range it was still meaty in places. Now trying out the Precision Sound Master Pro setting the soundstage did feel wider and there was more overall volume to the sound but it was personally too bright for our tastes. Still, despite the C6's solid sound in its best mode you will want to hook up a soundbar or speakers if you want the sound quality to match the picture because even at its best it's still a relatively narrow soundstage with limited dynamic range. The LG C6's design feels broadly premium. It's far more lightweight than the hefty LG G6 but the silver metallic trim and bass makes the TV feel its value. The screen has a near bezel-less design with no real meaningful border giving the picture the full real estate of the front. The rear panel has a nice marbled look like last year that adds a really nice design touch and the ports of the TV are easily accessible on the rear side panel with all four HDMI ports in plain view there. The LG C6 uses WebOS26 as its smart TV platform and it's still one of the best options on the market. The quick menu continues to be one of the most useful tools for adjusting common settings such as picture mode with no fuss or hassle. You just hit a button and it pops up at the side of the screen with instant access to the most used settings without totally interrupting what you're watching. The quick cards feature within the WebOS home screen gives you instant access to collections of apps and tools that cover certain themes such as sports and gaming. LG has streamlined some of the settings menus moving options such as network and energy saving higher up in their respective categories for easier access. Couple this with the new faster Alpha 11 processor and navigation just feels easier overall. There's better visibility with snappier performance. AI features such as AI concierge are more refined this year with better recommendations coming from them and there are new AI features such as the generative AI tools that can be used to plan activities or even create images. WebOS26 does still have large banner ads at the top of the screen that take up just over a third of the homepage at first look and we also noted that whenever the C6 went into screensaver mode it wouldn't take long before sponsored ads started appearing there as well. Still these are the only negatives we really had with what has consistently been one of the top smart TV platforms and these things are increasingly common across all TV platforms sadly. The C6 continues the LG series lineage of best in class gaming performance and features. It supports 4k at 165 hertz, variable refresh rate over HDMI spec FreeSync and G-Sync, auto low latency mode and Dolby Vision gaming across all four of its HDMI 2.1 ports. Activating its boost mode in the game optimizer menu to reduce input lag yields a measured latency of 9.2 milliseconds at 60 hertz and 4.6 milliseconds at 120 hertz which is basically as good as TVs get. In games performance not only feels incredibly smooth but looks excellent as well. There's not much extra to specifically note here it just delivers everywhere it needs to for gaming. The LG C6 is great value for the performance and features it delivers. It carries across all the elements that made the LG C5 one of last year's best TVs but it offers higher brightness, more refined contrast in color and has an upgraded processor for snappier performance. However if you are looking to buy at the time we are publishing this right at the start of 2026 the LG C5 is better bang for your buck. You can find a 65 inch C5 for nearly half the price of the C6's price at launch and even though we think the C6 is a clear step up over the last model that kind of saving is really hard to argue with. In the UK we'd also recommend the Philips OLED 910 as an especially strong competitor to the C6. It's available now and it has a flagship level primary RGB tandem OLED panel plus a best-in-class Bowers & Wilkins built-in speaker array and is available for less than the LG C6 at launch but that has limited HDMI 2.1 ports so won't be the first choice for gamers. As the LG C6's prices drop over the rest of the year it will become fantastic value for money though. As far as new 2026 release TVs go we don't expect much to match this on the combination of features and image quality for the price. So that is our run-through of the LG C6 OLED TV. If you have any questions about it please ask them in the comments below.