LG is kicking off 2026 with a very clear message: if you’re going to buy a new TV, you might as well go big, smart and AI-heavy. The company has officially launched its 2026 QNED evo Mini LED lineup, headlined by a massive 115-inch model that is clearly aimed at sports fans, gamers and anyone trying to turn their living room into a mini stadium or theater.

At the top of the range sits the 115-inch QNED90, joined by another ultra‑large 100‑inch QNED85, plus a spread of Mini LED sets down the line under the QNED82, QNED8M, QNED80 and the more accessible QNED70 branding. The focus this year is very much on how these larger panels handle color, contrast and motion when you’re throwing fast sports, bright HDR content and high‑frame‑rate games at them. LG is clearly trying to position QNED as the “big, bright alternative” to its OLED flagships, especially for rooms where you don’t have total control over ambient light.

On the picture quality front, LG is leaning on what it calls Dynamic QNED Color Pro and Precision Dimming Ultra to justify these screen sizes. Dynamic QNED Color Pro is essentially more advanced color mapping, and LG says it’s good enough to hit 100 percent color volume relative to the DCI-P3 standard, a claim certified by testing firm Intertek. In practical terms, that means those super‑bright HDR football pitches, cricket grounds or racing circuits should keep their saturation instead of washing out when the brightness is pushed hard, something many mid‑range LED TVs still struggle with.

Precision Dimming Ultra, available on the 115‑inch QNED90, is where the Mini LED hardware really comes into play. The TV orchestrates thousands of local dimming zones, using the new AI processor to control light behind the LCD panel more precisely, so dark scenes show subtle detail in shadows without turning bright elements into halos. For a screen this large, that level of control is critical; poor dimming is usually where big LCDs fall apart, especially in a dark room with high‑contrast content like night‑time sports, gritty dramas or space movies.

Under the hood, LG is using its latest Alpha 8 AI Processor Gen 3 in the 115‑inch QNED90, QNED85 and QNED82 models, borrowing a lot of the processing expertise it has developed over 13 years of OLED TV leadership. The chip is responsible not just for basic upscaling, but for a suite of AI‑driven enhancements: AI Super Upscaling, AI Picture Pro, Dynamic Tone Mapping Pro and AI Sound Pro. The idea is simple: if you’re blowing up regular HD or lower‑bit‑rate streaming content onto a 100‑plus‑inch panel, you need very smart processing to stop everything from looking soft or noisy.

AI Super Upscaling uses deep learning algorithms to analyze objects in the frame and refine textures, edges and fine details, with the goal of producing more natural‑looking 4K visuals that hold up when you sit closer to such a big screen. AI Picture Pro goes a little further by detecting faces, bodies and other key elements, then boosting perceived depth and clarity so that people and foreground subjects pop more from the background. Dynamic Tone Mapping Pro, meanwhile, analyzes each frame in real time to fine‑tune brightness and contrast, helping maintain detail in both highlights and shadows instead of clipping either end of the spectrum.

Sound has not been left behind either. LG’s AI Sound Pro on these QNED evo models tries to create a virtual 11.1.2‑channel soundstage using just the built‑in speakers. While no one expects this to beat a dedicated soundbar or home theater setup, the processing aims to provide clearer separation between dialogue, effects and crowd noise, which is particularly important when you’re watching busy sports broadcasts or high‑octane action scenes. For many buyers, this should mean you can get away with using the TV’s own audio for a while before upgrading the sound system around it.

LG is also clearly courting sports fans with its latest version of webOS, now branded webOS 26 on these 2026 QNED evo sets. There’s a dedicated Sports Portal that acts as a central hub for live content, scores, match schedules and league standings, so you can quickly check what’s happening without bouncing through multiple apps. Sports Alert lets you subscribe to your favorite teams and leagues, then pushes notifications for score changes, match results and upcoming fixtures, even if you’re watching something else.

A neat touch for multitaskers is the on‑screen AI Concierge card, which can surface key stats like match progress and even game result predictions while you’re watching. For viewers who like to track multiple games or tournaments at once—think weekend football rounds, IPL cricket or NBA nights—this turns the TV into more of a live sports dashboard. It’s a subtle but meaningful shift from the old “just a dumb display for your cable box” model toward a more actively informative big screen.

On the gaming side, LG is pushing specs normally associated with high‑end PC monitors into the big‑screen living room. The flagship 115‑inch QNED90 supports variable refresh rate (VRR) up to 165Hz, along with AMD FreeSync Premium and Auto Low Latency Mode. For players, that means smooth, tear‑free motion and faster response times when you hook up a gaming PC or compatible console, especially in fast shooters and racers where stutter and lag are most noticeable.

The headline gaming trick, however, is Motion Booster, which can drive the refresh rate to a blistering 330Hz on the 115‑inch QNED90. While real‑world content that actually runs at such extreme frame rates is limited, the feature is aimed at significantly reducing motion blur to make fast camera pans, quick turns and on‑screen action look cleaner. Paired with the huge screen, this is LG’s way of arguing that your TV can now double as an ultra‑large, responsive display for both cloud gaming and powerful rigs.

Gaming Portal, LG’s all‑in‑one hub for players, is also built in, providing access to “thousands of cloud gaming services and native web games,” according to the company. Availability will vary by region and model, but the idea is that you can jump into gaming even without a console or PC connected, as long as your network and country support the relevant cloud platforms. For more casual gamers or for families, that means your big‑screen TV becomes an instant plug‑and‑play gaming device.

Beyond sports and gaming, LG is leaning harder into AI‑based personalization through webOS 26. A new Voice ID feature lets the TV recognize individual users, then automatically load a personalized “My Page” home screen for each person in the household. AI Concierge complements that by offering context‑aware content suggestions and shortcuts, depending on what you’re currently watching or doing.

There’s also a multi‑AI story here: LG is integrating capabilities powered by Google Gemini and Microsoft Copilot so users can ask questions, check information or search for related content while watching, all through the TV interface. This could mean everything from pulling up player stats while watching a match to asking for film recommendations similar to the movie you’ve just finished. To address privacy concerns around all this personalization and data, LG is bundling its LG Shield security platform, which recently picked up a CES 2026 Innovation Award and uses advanced encryption to protect user data.

In terms of lineup structure, LG’s 2026 QNED evo family covers a fairly wide spread of needs and budgets, though full pricing by region hasn’t been detailed yet. At the top, the 115‑inch QNED90 is the hero product for sports bars, big living rooms and home theater enthusiasts who want Mini LED brightness and AI processing without going all‑in on a projection setup. Just below it, the 100‑inch QNED85 is pitched as an immersive home cinema option, bringing a theater‑like experience into more conventional spaces.

The QNED82, QNED8M and QNED80 models are positioned as more mainstream Mini LED sets, still benefitting from the improved picture processing and color work while scaling down in size and (presumably) price. The popular QNED70, which also uses Mini LED, is described as the balance point between size, performance and accessibility, likely appealing to buyers who want LG’s newer platform and some of the AI features without going ultra‑premium. Across the range, availability, specific feature sets and gaming capabilities will vary by model and market, as is typical for LG’s TV portfolio.

LG says the 2026 QNED evo TVs will hit shelves starting this month in Korea, the United States and key European countries, with additional markets to follow throughout the year. That means early adopters in those regions won’t have to wait long to see how the new 115‑inch giant stacks up against rival premium LCD and Mini LED offerings from other brands in 2026. Park Hyoung‑sei, president of LG’s Media Entertainment Solution Company, frames the push to 115 inches as part of a broader goal to create “shared, immersive viewing experiences” that bring people together in front of a truly large screen.

For anyone considering a big‑screen upgrade this year, LG’s 2026 QNED evo lineup is clearly designed to sit at the crossroads of three trends: ultra‑large sizes, aggressive AI processing and deeper integration of live sports and gaming experiences. It’s not just about raw inches anymore; it’s about how smart the TV can be about what you’re watching and how you want to watch it. As prices, hands‑on reviews and regional lineups become clearer over the coming weeks, the real question for buyers will be whether QNED’s mix of brightness, color volume and AI features is enough to tempt them away from OLED, or to finally make the jump to a triple‑digit screen size.