Are Wireless TVs Actually Worth It?
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TV manufacturers typically announce new models at the start of each year with improvements to make watching content better. Whether it's a small improvement in contrast, color gamut, or brightness, it all adds up to a better experience when watching sports, movies, and TV shows. But one of the most interesting developments we've had in the TV space is the concept of a wireless TV. It started in 2023 when a company called Displace TV demoed a prototype of a truly wireless TV that can attach to a wall with no mount at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) held in Las Vegas.
But Displace TV wasn't the only company to showcase a wireless TV. South Korean tech giant LG also showed a new version of its 97-inch Signature OLED TV series that is wireless, aside from the power cable. Everything else is beamed to the TV from the Zero Connect Box, a wireless transmitter box. Both companies kept on developing and unveiled new iterations of their wireless TVs two years later, at CES 2025.
But wireless TVs aren't cheap. Displace TV's small-sized 27-inch model is priced at $2,499, while its 55-inch variant goes for $3,499 for the Displace Basic and $5,999 for the Pro. On the other hand, LG's 77-inch OLED M3 wireless TV has an MSRP of $4,999. There's a lot you should know before buying a new TV from Amazon, but if you can find cheap TVs on Amazon for $400 or less, is it worth it? Or should you be saving up some more and splurging on a wireless TV instead? In a nutshell, it depends.
How do wireless TVs work?
A wireless TV is one that doesn't need cables to be plugged in to work. Currently, there are two kinds of wireless TVs — those that require a power cable to work and those that don't. LG's wireless TVs fall into the first category, as you need to connect a power cable to them. The reason LG's wireless TVs need to be connected to a power cable is that they don't have any other source of power.
Displace TV, on the other hand, offers built-in batteries in its TV sets to achieve a truly wireless setup that doesn't need a single cable to work. But the secret to all wireless TVs is an external box that carries all the necessary ports (including HDMI, antenna, Ethernet, and USB) and beams audio and video signals to the TV in a wireless fashion.
LG calls its wireless transmitter box the Zero Connect Box, through which you can connect any device to the TV, whether it's your PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, or even PC. You can place the transmitter box away and still use your TV. Of course, both the TV and the transmitter box need to be powered on at the same time for the setup to work.
Should you buy a wireless TV?
The only advantage of getting a wireless TV is to have a cleaner setup. Other than that, you're not getting anything extra for going wireless. Whether it's worth getting a wireless TV or not depends on your needs. One of the downsides of wireless TVs is the price. For example, a 27-inch Displace TV Basic costs $2,499 while the same-sized variant of the Displace Pro costs $3,999. That's a lot to pay for a 27-inch TV in 2025 when you can find great TVs with bigger panels for far less.
In fact, the Samsung OLED S95F, the best TV you can buy on Amazon according to experts, starts at an MSRP of $2,300 for a 55-inch variant, and you can get it for less than $2,000 if you snag it on a deal. LG launched its 2025 4K OLED evo M5 TV featuring its wireless connection technology with a flurry of bells and whistles, including 4K 165Hz gaming support. While the M5 is not available in the U.S., LG's website lists the 77-inch version of the TV at $3,799.
A comparable 77-inch S95F has an MSRP of $4,500 and is available for about $3,500 as of this writing. Since wireless TVs can be a bit expensive depending on the manufacturer, whether you should pick one should boil down to whether you can get one at a good price comparable to traditional wired TVs with almost identical features. If you can't get a good deal, it's not worth paying a premium to use a wireless TV.