The TV you are supposed to be receiving may not be the TV you get.

One of the most anticipated OLED TV’s announced at CES 2022 is now available for purchase but right now you are better to wait as there are reports that the first set of TV’s being shipped do not have the latest and greatest panel known as WBE and instead have the older WBC panel.

LG confirmed this by issuing a statement to Korean site KBENCH after the discovery was made by HDTVtest.

“LG explained that it is true that WBC and WBE are mixed in the 42-inch OLED TV Evo and that it is an unavoidable situation depending on LG Display’s panel supply situation,” reads the report. “WBE panels will be applied sequentially after Q2.”

The WBE panel, often now referred to as OLED.EX, is claimed by panel manufacturer LG Display (which, it’s important to note, is distinct from TV manufacturer LG Electronics) to offer a claimed 30 per cent brightness over conventional displays, as well as a slimmer design, improved energy efficiency and fewer dead pixels.

That might make it sound as if you should definitely seek out an OLED42C2 with the WBE, but LG Electronics actually claims that “there is no visual difference between WBE and WBC panels and both will give the same consumer experience”. That may be at least in part because, as LG has already stated, the 42-inch and 48-inch C2 OLEDs – despite being branded as ‘OLED Evo’ models – won’t offer a major boost in brightness compared to non-Evo models. This is apparently because the high pixel density of the smaller OLED panels prevents them from benefiting from the ‘Brightness Booster’ tech that’s in the larger C2 models.

Working out whether your 42-inch C2 has a WBC or WBE panel sounds as if it could be a tricky affair. On 2021’s C1 it was possible to find the information by accessing a secret Service Menu using a third-party remote control, but LG tells us that the panel information is no longer displayed here.