RTINGS found edge rot in 14 of 16 WOLED TVs from 2020 to 2023 after running them through an 18,000-hour accelerated longevity test. The sets are mostly LG models, with two Sony A90 sets among them.
Edge rot isn’t burn-in. It’s dead pixels, small clusters of failed pixels, and other defects that appear along a panel’s outer edges and work their way in. Since it has nothing to do with what’s on screen, mixing up your viewing won’t prevent it. Two RTINGS employees found significant edge rot on their own 2020 LG GX and 2021 LG C1, both used in ordinary homes.
The 18,000 hours equal roughly a decade of use in a typical US home, and the damage tracked the panel generation. Nine of the ten sets with LG Display’s older WBC panels (released from 2020 to 2022) showed edge rot: five severe, three significant, and one mild. Only the 2022 LG A2 escaped. Five of the six sets with newer WBE panels were also affected, with the Sony A90J severe and the LG G1 and G2 significant. The 2023 LG G3 came out clean.
The three QD-OLED sets (Samsung S95B, Samsung S95C, and Sony A95K) showed no edge rot, only burn-in from a static news channel. RTINGS doesn’t claim that three units prove QD-OLED is immune, but Samsung Display credits its Thin Film Encapsulation, which it says helps keep moisture out at panel edges.
LG Electronics and LG Display told Tom’s Hardware the problem is uncommon. They said it “may occur in a very small number of OLED products under prolonged exposure to high-temperature, high-humidity, or other harsh environmental conditions.”
RTINGS hasn’t confirmed a cause. RTINGS lists contamination during manufacturing, encapsulation defects, or encapsulation wearing down over time as possible causes, and confirming one would take failure analysis.
A test of 16 sets can’t show how common the fault is in homes.
Note that our results aren’t a prediction of whether your current or future WOLED will develop the same problem.
RTINGS
To check a set, RTINGS suggests running a full-screen solid colour with pixel shift turned off, then looking closely along the edges and corners. That’s worth doing before buying a used LG OLED from these years.
RTINGS now rates WOLED reliability marginally below QD-OLED, though it still calls both a top pick for durability. Its test included no TV from 2024 onward, though panels from that year reportedly improved. Its next run, Longevity 3.0, covers 2025 and 2026 models, including LG Display’s Tandem WOLED panels in sets like the LG G5 and G6.
