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- Punchy, bright colours
- Impressive accuracy in Filmmaker mode
- Great gaming support
- No HDR10+
- Disappointing sound quality
- Occasional backlight control issues
It’s fair to say the LG QNED93 has its work cut out to convince us that the company’s eggs are not entirely in the OLED basket. Despite consistently delivering some of the best TVs we’ve tested, LG’s recent Mini LED models have fallen well short of the high bar set by their more exotic stablemates.
We described last year’s flagship – the LG QNED91 – as “Mini LED in name only”, but its successor makes enough improvements to demonstrate that LG is taking the technology seriously. The result is a bright, vibrant TV with plenty going for it.
Whether it can compete with more aggressively priced models from Hisense and TCL or impressive performers from fellow TV giants Samsung and Sony is another matter. But credit where credit is due: the LG QNED93 gets more right than it gets wrong.
| Key specifications | |
|---|---|
| Screen sizes available: | 55in 55QNED93A6A, 65in 65QNED93A6A, 75in 75QNED93A6A and 85in 85QNED93A6A |
| Panel type: | LCD with Mini LED backlighting |
| Resolution: | 4K/UHD (3,840 x 2,160) |
| Refresh rate: | 120Hz native (up to 144Hz VRR) |
| HDR formats: | HDR10, HLG, Dolby Vision |
| Audio enhancement: | 2.2-channel speaker system (40W), Dolby Atmos, AI Sound Pro, AI Sound Wizard, Clear Voice Pro, WOW Orchestra |
| HDMI inputs: | 4 x HDMI 2.1 (1 x eARC) |
| Freeview Play: | No |
| Tuners: | Terrestrial, cable, satellite |
| Gaming features: | 4K@120Hz, ALLM, VRR, Dolby Vision for Gaming, AMD FreeSync Premium, Game Optimiser mode |
| Wireless connectivity: | Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3, Chromecast, Apple AirPlay 2 |
| Smart assistant: | Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa |
| Smart platform: | LG webOS 25 |
What you need to know
The LG QNED93 is LG’s flagship 4K Mini LED TV for 2025 and is available in four screen sizes: 55in, 65in, 75in and 85in. Processing duties are handled by the company’s Alpha 8 AI 4K Gen 2 – the same chip found in the entry-level option in LG’s OLED lineup, the LG B5.
It’s also one of only two QNED TVs in the brand’s lineup to receive LG’s “evo” classification, the other being the 8K QNED99. This label has been attached to various OLED models in recent years and reflects enhanced panel performance compared with non-evo variants.
Central to that enhanced performance are the TV’s Mini LED backlight and new Dynamic QNED Colour Pro colour system. The latter replaces the quantum dot tech found on the QNED91 and incorporates fluorescent elements in the TV panel to absorb and “purify” light waves.
LG says this boosts coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut compared with conventional LCD panels. The TV also supports LG’s Precision Dimming Pro technology for controlling its Mini LED backlight to enhance contrast performance.
Price and competition
Given this is the most advanced non-OLED 4K TV in LG’s lineup, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the QNED93 is relatively pricey. You can pick up the 55in QNED93 for £1,299, the 65in model I’m reviewing here will set you back £1,799, the 75in variant costs £2,699 and the 85in screen size is priced at £3,799.
Compared with Samsung’s flagship Mini LED model for 2025, the QN90F, those prices look rather reasonable. That TV costs £2,599 for the 65in model but has a few advantages over the LG. It supports a higher refresh rate of 165Hz, has a beefier sound system and comes with Samsung’s One Connect Box for neat cable management. It also benefits from an anti-glare panel, which reduces reflections extremely effectively.
Sony has a couple of similarly priced Mini LED options in its roster. The Sony Bravia 7 has been carried over from last year and comes in the same four screen sizes: 55in (£1,149), 65in (£1,699), 75in (£2,099) and 85in (£2,699). As is always the case in the TV world, buying older models results in significant savings.
New to the Sony range in 2025 is the Bravia 5. Like the Bravia 7, it’s powered by the XR Processor and runs Google TV. Prices for that model are as follows: 55in (£1,499), 65in (£1,799), 75in (£2,199), 85in (£2,799) and 98in (£6,999).
Those looking for a cheaper Mini LED option may want to consider the TCL C855K, Hisense U8N or the Amazon Fire TV Omni Mini LED. The former is a particularly great choice for those in search of huge screen sizes (the 85in model can be picked up for £1,999), while the 65in variant of the Amazon Mini LED TV was just £899 at the time of writing.
Design, connections and controls
The LG QNED93 may not be as svelte as some flagship OLEDs, but the 65in I was sent for review should prove a reasonably attractive centrepiece in your living room. The main body of the TV isn’t egregiously thick, the bezel around the screen is pleasantly minimalist, and the central stand the TV lives on allows you to position it on relatively narrow surfaces. You can wall mount the QNED93 using a 400 x 300 VESA bracket, but at just shy of 20kg, you’ll need to make sure the surface you’re hanging it on can bear its load.
The LG QNED93 possesses all the connection options you’d expect of a premium flagship TV. The four sideways-facing inputs are all HDMI 2.1 and support 4K@120Hz, ALLM and VRR; one of them supports eARC. Also facing sideways are a Common Interface slot, a USB-A port and an optical port. Just below this selection, you’ll find down-facing Ethernet, antenna, satellite connectors and a second USB-A port. Wireless connectivity comes in the form of Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.3, while Chromecast and Apple AirPlay 2 give you ways to play content conveniently from other devices.
As is now standard for modern TVs, you’re spoilt for choice in terms of ways to control your viewing experience. The most obvious of these is the Magic AI Remote Control supplied in the box. While most territories get a remote without number keys, we still get them in the UK, along with volume and channel control keys, quick access buttons for key streaming platforms and a scroll wheel, which nestles at the centre of the remote’s four-way D-pad.
New this year are the LG AI button, which replaces the microphone button, and the Home Hub button, which replaces the Sources key found on last year’s model. Voice controls can be quickly accessed via the LG AI button, and the LG QNED93 supports both Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa, so you can take your pick of voice assistants. If you’d rather control the TV with your smartphone than a remote, LG’s ThinQ app enables just that as well.
Smart platform
Like all LG TVs, the QNED93 runs the brand’s webOS smart platform, which is widely considered the gold standard in TV operating systems. The 2025 iteration does nothing to tarnish this reputation, offering a smooth, responsive user experience, access to a comprehensive range of streaming services and countless personalisation options. Multiple user profiles are supported, and the homescreen is personalised for each user, which is very welcome in family households.
Quick Cards below the top banner ad provide rapid access to hubs for categories, including Sports, Games and Music, and further down the page, you have a list of installed apps running horizontally across the screen. The content provision of webOS is second to none. All the major streaming platforms are present and correct, including the full suite of UK TV catch-up apps. This is important as the LG QNED93 doesn’t support Freeview Play or Freely.
Your most recent input is readily available on the homescreen, as is access to Live TV and a “Now Streaming” list, which populates with trending titles on streaming apps you have installed. I found content recommendations sensible, with the TV offering me further viewing material that was closely aligned with my viewing habits.
External source management is a doddle using the Home Hub, which also serves as the place to quickly connect mobile devices via AirPlay 2 and Google Cast, connect and manage ThinQ smart devices and set up the LG Hub for Matter devices.
Image quality
LG’s Mini LED flagship in 2024 delivered some solid numbers in terms of contrast and colour accuracy but was let down but its backlight and local dimming. To address this, LG has increased the number of dimming zones in the QNED93’s backlight significantly and equipped it with a more advanced dimming algorithm.
These changes go a long way to tackling the patchy uniformity and obvious banding on the QNED91 and makes the QNED93 a much more watchable TV. Reflections are still an issue, particularly during dark scenes, and the TV’s performance drops off if viewed from an angle, but it’s less noticeable and contrast is better than last year at an excellent 12,000:1.
You have numerous picture modes at your disposal, and there are some pretty big discrepancies between them. The Standard, Basic and Vivid modes all exhibit an excess of blue in the greyscale and returned average Delta E scores of 12.2, 12.7 and 16.1, respectively. This is well above the visible threshold, and a blue tinge to the picture is obvious.
Colours are reproduced more accurately, however. Saturation sweeps of the Standard and Basic modes returned average Delta E scores below 10, and I measured the Vivid mode at around 15. These scores are still well above the visible threshold and the modes look rather unnatural as a result, so TV purists will want to avoid them. More casual viewers may enjoy their punchiness and visually arresting nature, though.
Switching to Cinema or Filmmaker Mode changes the TV’s complexion immediately. Greyscale and saturation sweep measurements recorded using a colorimeter, pattern generator and Portrait Displays’ Calman Ultimate software, registered average Delta E figures of 4 and 3.42 in Cinema mode and 1.2 and 2.57 in Filmmaker Mode. The latter are very impressive numbers – well below the visible threshold of 3 – and ensure artistic intent is successfully communicated.
The QNED93 is a capable upscaler, too. The first season of Death in Paradise on BBC iPlayer looked impressively sharp for an HD broadcast first released 13 years ago, and I was pleasantly surprised by the natural skin tones of the titular trio while watching Josie and the Pussycats (2001) on Prime Video.
There’s only so much the QNED93 can do on the upscaling front, though. A low-quality recording of the World Cup 2002 game between South Korea and the USA on FIFA+ (via LG Channels) was borderline unwatchable when the camera panned out.
Motion handling during sports is nice and smooth, particularly if you engage the dedicated Sports picture mode. I was unable to pick up on any signs of judder, although I found the colours looked overblown, so I recommend watching one of the more accurate picture modes and adjusting the TruMotion setting to enhance the image transition rate.
HDR performance
The QNED93 is a bright TV, but it isn’t as bright as last year’s QNED91. I measured peak luminance at a range of window sizes across each of its HDR picture modes, and Game Optimiser mode hit the highest peak at 1,527cd/m2 on a 25% window. That figure fell to a respectable 1,452cd/m2 on a 10% window, with the QNED93 able to put out 769cd/m2 on a full-field pattern.
The Cinema Home, Cinema and Filmmaker Mode are, unsurprisingly, not as bright. On a 10% window, I measured peaks at 1,229cd/m2, 1,295cd/m2 and 1,326cd/m2, respectively, while full-field patterns returned luminance readings of 707cd/m2, 681cd/m2 and 692cd/m2. Those numbers are lower than the QNED91, which hit a peak of 1,400cd/m2 on a 10% window in Standard mode and 1,300cd/m2 in the Filmmaker Mode.
Brightness is only part of the story, of course. The QNED93’s coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut backed up the manufacturer’s claims by reproducing 97% of the colour space. And, in the Cinema and Filmmaker Modes, it does so with great accuracy. Multipoint greyscale measurements returned an average error value of below 2 in the latter mode, while a P3 saturation sweep within the BT.2020 colour gamut produced average errors of just 1.8.
For the most part, that accuracy translated to a highly satisfying viewing experience across a range of content and the QNED93 controls its backlight pretty well. The snowy scenes at the opening of the demo on the Spears & Munsil Ultra HD Benchmark Blu-ray that I used to kick off my TV testing were free of clipping at 1,000 nits. The clouds during a scene dominated by white could have been slightly better defined, but there was little else to grumble about.
During a scene in The Revenant when Leonardo DiCaprio stalks his prey through the woods, I was impressed by the nuanced and balanced look to the environment. The bright sun pierced the trees in a natural manner, and the gun muzzle burst with striking colour as a shot was fired. The QNED93’s expansive colour palette brought a visceral and stomach-churning vividness to chunks of animal flesh back at camp, and the glowing fires burnt a warming orange. Skin tones were naturally reproduced and packed with detail, bringing to life that sense of hardship attached to life in the wilderness.
Scene-by-scene comparisons starkly highlighted an over-emphasis of blue in the less accurate Basic, Standard and Vivid modes. The latter smacks you in the face with colour, which works well for some scenes but not for others. The red and blue laser fire during an intense battle in deep space really grabbed my attention, but it left characters looking a little cartoonish during scenes inside.
While I generally enjoyed the way the QNED93 handles HDR content, it has a couple of weaknesses. The black level isn’t the purest you’re going to see on a TV this year and shadow detail is found wanting at times as well. As a group of men sat around a dwindling fire in The Revenant, I was able to make out the outlines of trees at the edges of the shot, and vague lines of bark, but super-fine details were lost in the murk.
It’s also not completely free of the blooming issues that held back its predecessor. These aren’t as egregious as they were on the QNED91 but I did pick up on some haloing around the moon as Leo looked up at it in a dark night sky. Blooming is also apparent around bright menus on dark backgrounds but I didn’t find these particularly disruptive.
To test the LG QNED93 we used Portrait Displays Calman colour calibration software.
Gaming
The QNED93 is a very capable gaming TV. Not only do all four of its HDMI ports support 4K at the panel’s native 120Hz refresh rate, but they can handle 144Hz VRR. There’s support for Dolby Vision for Gaming, AMD FreeSync Premium and ALLM, and I measured input lag in LG’s Game Optimiser mode at a very impressive 9.6ms with a 4K signal at 60Hz. Dropping the resolution down to 1080p resulted in input lag of under 2ms at 120Hz.
All of this contributed to a thoroughly enjoyable 4K experience while playing The First Berserker: Khazan on PlayStation 5. The anime-style graphics were rendered in lovely detail, and the colour palette was a visual feast. The reds of Khazan’s cape and enemy blood splatters were vivid and deep, while the purples and dark blues of the in-game hub looked gorgeous. Finer details, like those on intricate armour sets, wisps of dust and burning fires, had nuance, and the clouds and stars were well-defined against the pale blue sky.
The fast-paced action was handled very smoothly; I didn’t notice any tearing, and the panel’s rapid response time meant my deaths were solely down to a lack of parrying skill rather than panel performance issues.
It was a similar story with Monster Hunter Wilds. While not necessarily the most impressive game for graphics or HDR implementation, the varied environments looked great. The fiery oranges and reds in the Oilwell Basin smouldered with warmth, and the contrast with the cool whites, greys and blues of the Iceshard Cliffs neatly demonstrated the QNED93’s impressive colour range.
Gaming customisation options have long been a strength of LG TVs, and the QNED93 offers plenty on this front. You can choose specific game genre modes via the Game Dashboard, disable features like VRR and ALLM and tweak sound and picture settings. All in all, there’s very little not to like about the LG QNED93 where gaming is concerned.
Sound quality
Audio output is often the Achilles Heel of flat panel TVs, and it’s the least impressive aspect of the LG QNED93’s performance. The 2.2-channel system has 40W of amplification, and there are plenty of sound modes to choose from, but none of them delivered particularly well-balanced sound.
The Standard mode sounded constrained and boxy, while the AI Sound Pro mode, which virtually upmixes audio to 9.1.2 channels, lacked clarity. It did, however, provide a broader soundstage and increase the overall volume, which some viewers will appreciate, but I found it unrefined. The Clear Voice Pro mode will appeal to those who struggle to pick up on dialogue as it puts speech front and centre of the audio mix, but it does so at the cost of other elements of the presentation and sounds unnatural.
The QNED93 supports Dolby Atmos, and you do get a bit of benefit from this object-based format when watching compatible content. However, without dedicated upfiring speakers, there’s no clear or convincing sense of height to the presentation.
A new audio option I did rather like is the Personalised Sound Wizard. This presents you with various tunings of audio clips and asks you to select your favourite one or two. After a few rounds of this, you’re presented with a profile tuned to your preferences. Using this, I achieved what I deemed the most satisfying audio output the QNED93 had to offer.
However, if you want an immersive audio experience to match the QNED93’s vibrant pictures, I recommend investing in a decent soundbar. It’s worth considering one of LG’s WOW Orchestra-compatible options; these sync with the TV and optimise audio across both devices making the most of both device’s output simultaneously.
Should you buy the LG QNED93?
The LG QNED93 may not be as bright as the flagship Mini LED TV that preceded it, but its increased number of dimming zones, punchy, accurate colour reproduction and improved backlight control make it a more watchable TV.
Picture performance still isn’t perfect, however. Occasional blooming, imperfect black level response and occasionally muddy details in shadowy scenes hold it back somewhat, while audio quality is lacklustre for the money. But it’s a step in the right direction for LG’s Mini LED range, and with great gaming credentials and the superb webOS platform, the LG QNED93 has a fighting chance.
