LG has unveiled its next OLED TV model, which includes its second 42-inch OLED TV option, and it is a welcome departure from the company’s usual minimalist approach to its sets. The LG Posé series, also known as the LG LX1, features a thicker, fabric-covered design with a built in stand, and is designed to be more of a centerpiece to a room than just some piece of tech stored on the wall, or angled apologetically in the corner.
Covered in the Kvadrat fabric that’s commonly used on speakers (due to its premium feel, but without impairing acoustic performance – useful for the set’s audio hopes), the LG Posé design focuses on the screen from the front, but with a hint of the fabric and the frame at the bottom, which wraps in a U-shape around the bottom, and then rises up the back about two third of the way.
Our favorite touch is that this then forms a shelf, so you can use the back of the TV as a little magazine rack, a ‘now playing’ station for your vinyl or Blu-ray boxes, or just to place some pictures that you love.
It drives home that the Posé (pronounced ‘pose-ay’, also a movement in ballet where the dancer steps confidently and gracefully onto one straight leg) is designed to stand in the middle of a room, seen from all angles. From the back and sides, it looks like a piece of furniture designed with aesthetics in mind; from the front it’s a stylish TV, and you can use LG’s Gallery Mode to fill it with art when it’s not showing movies.
The legs also include a cable management system, so it’s easy to discreetly run over the power and a connection to one of the best AV receivers.
The TV section itself is a 4K OLED Evo panel, which means it includes the LG Alpha 9 Gen 5 processor, along with Dolby Atmos, Dolby Vision and HDMI 2.1 support. It’s available in 42-inch, 48-inch and 55-inch sizes – think of it as a super-stylish LG C2, but likely with a higher price tag.
The LG Posé (along with the 65-inch LG Easel, which had already been revealed late last year) will be full revealed at Milan Fashion Show, starting June 7 2022, where we’ll hopefully hear about a price and release date.
Opinion: stop trying to hide TVs, start making them worth looking at
For a long time, the approach to designing TVs has been to try to pretend they’re not there: make them as slim as possible, with bezels as tiny as possible. And with the ultra-thin tech of the best OLED TVs and new mini-LED TVs becoming more and more popular, the best TVs are thinner than ever! Which is… nice? We guess?
The massive popularity of Samsung’s The Frame TV shows that perhaps not every TV should be heading down this particular evolutionary alley though. No matter how much you try to pretend that a TV doesn’t exist when it’s turned off, it very much does. It’s a big rectangle! So if physical and aesthetic space is going to be taken up, why not make some use of that?
The Frame TVs have a thick border with a prominent lip to mimic a picture frame – an object we’re all familiar with in the living room, so the TV fits nicely in way by actually drawing attention to itself.
The likes of the Sky Glass or new TVs from Loewe actually come with prominent, vibrant colors visible in their design, so that they can become part of a modern tonal look, complementing the room.
So it’s great to see LG leaning into this too. The Posé combines the legs of a mid-century sideboard with the modern Scandi-fashion of fabric-covered speakers. And it’s the first TV we can think of in a long time to have a practical purpose outside of viewing – the shelf on the back might be a small touch, but it’s rare for TV designs to take into account the idea that your room contains… well, anything else. Here’s hoping it’s just the start.
