According to The Verge, LG has officially announced its entry into the art TV category with the LG Gallery TV. This follows the growth of a market dominated by Samsung’s The Frame, which has recently seen competition from TCL and Hisense. The TV will leverage LG’s Gallery+ service, launched earlier this year, which offers thousands of display visuals, from art to gaming scenes, with a limited free tier and a full subscription option. The Gallery TV is a mini-LED model, not an OLED, and comes in 55 and 65-inch sizes. It includes a default white frame, with a wood-colored frame available as an additional purchase. LG has not yet released pricing for the new sets.
LG Plays Catch-Up
Here’s the thing: LG is pretty late to this party. Samsung’s The Frame has had the “TV as art” idea on lock for years, building a whole ecosystem and brand around it. TCL and Hisense saw the opportunity and jumped in. Now LG shows up. It’s not a bad move, but it feels reactive. The big question is, what does LG bring that’s different? Basically, they’re leaning on their existing Gallery+ service and throwing in a free frame, which is a nice touch. Hisense also includes a frame, but Samsung makes you pay extra for theirs. So that’s a small win for LG out of the gate.
The Tech Trade-Off
Now, the choice to use mini-LED instead of OLED is fascinating, and frankly, a bit of a concession. LG itself is the king of OLED TVs! But as the report notes, OLED has that pesky burn-in risk when displaying a static image for days on end. For an art TV, that’s a dealbreaker. So they went with mini-LED, which almost certainly means edge lighting. That’s fine, but it’s not going to deliver the perfect black levels and infinite contrast of an OLED. It’s a classic case of the right tech for the specific job, even if it’s not their best overall tech. The matte, anti-glare screen coating is a must-have for this category, though, so good on them for including that.
The Real Battle Is The Service
But let’s be real. The hardware is almost secondary at this point. The real fight is in the software and content subscription. Samsung’s Art Store is the established player. LG’s Gallery+ is the new kid. They both follow the same freemium model: a little free art, then you pay a monthly fee for the good stuff. Can LG build a library and curation that competes? And will consumers want to manage yet another subscription for their TV? I’m skeptical. For a company that’s trying to break into an established niche, locking the best features behind a paywall might not be the best strategy to win people over from Samsung.
A Crowded Wall
So where does this leave us? The art TV wall is getting crowded. It’s a smart segment—it solves the “big black rectangle” problem in a living room. But with four major brands now in the ring, differentiation gets tough. LG’s move feels safe, maybe too safe. They’re checking the boxes: the right screen type, a frame in the box, a content service. But where’s the “wow”? Without a killer feature or a seriously aggressive price, this feels like LG just making sure they have a horse in the race. The pricing announcement will be telling. If they come in cheaper than The Frame, they might have a shot. If not, why would someone not just buy the original?
