'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean?
ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing.
When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or service, we may earn affiliate commissions. This helps support our work, but does not affect what we cover or how, and it does not affect the price you pay. Neither ZDNET nor the author are compensated for these independent reviews. Indeed, we follow strict guidelines that ensure our editorial content is never influenced by advertisers.
ZDNET's editorial team writes on behalf of you, our reader. Our goal is to deliver the most accurate information and the most knowledgeable advice possible in order to help you make smarter buying decisions on tech gear and a wide array of products and services. Our editors thoroughly review and fact-check every article to ensure that our content meets the highest standards. If we have made an error or published misleading information, we will correct or clarify the article. If you see inaccuracies in our content, please report the mistake via this form.
LG unveils a 97-inch plug-and-play wireless M3 OLED TV at CES 2023
While LG unveiled its new OLED panel lineup this week, the tech company saved the best for last. As a part of CES 2023, LG has announced the M3 OLED smart TV with Zero Connect technology. ZDNET went hands-on with the TV, and here's what we learned.
Also: This wireless TV ditches the remote and can stick to any wall without a mount
The first consumer TV to offer wireless technology, the CES 2023 Innovation Awards winner offers external ports for HDMI devices like cable, satellite, and console connections. Its claim to fame rests in the wireless connection, replacing the wiring with a wireless Zero Connect box that will transmit the picture and audio in real time. It works with compatible soundbars for a cable-free setup in any home space, offering more ways to curate a user's viewing preferences.
Also: CES 2023 tech you can actually buy now
A look at the portable control box for connecting external devices to the TV.
ZDNET Recommends
The Zero Connect box is also compatible with voice commands, so users can manage the M3 and any other connected devices without a remote.
In addition to the Zero Connect box, the M3 features LG's signature One Wall Design to create a sleeker, distraction-free TV that's flush with any wall. The model is essentially a "plug-and-play" TV, so when it's been installed, you can get to watching TV faster without the hassle of cables.
Perhaps the biggest concern with any wireless technology really is latency. How does gaming on a wireless TV fare? Will there be any noticeable delay between when you press a button and the animation follows the command? According to the LG representative at the private demo, the M3 OLED TV, along with the Zero Connect box, delivers three times the speeds of WiFi 6 -- for what that's worth.
The side is about an inch and a half thick.
As for the actual TV, it features a 97-inch 4K OLED display that will deliver pictures at 120Hz with self-lit pixels. The algorithm used will also ensure that users of the M3 will receive crisp, clear sound without any interruptions or quality cutouts. From what we saw and heard during the demo, the TV performs as well as you'd expect from a high-end model. The main reason to consider the M3 over LG's other, more reputable models is for the wireless technology.
While there's no word on when you can pre-order it -- or the price -- we expect it to drop in stores in the next couple of months. If you absolutely need a new OLED TV, you can still pick up the C2, G2, and Z2 models ahead of the new model releases, too.