LG C3 vs LG C4 OLED TV: What's Improving?
By Naila Syifa
Updated March 2024
Last year, LG C3 was chosen by many as the best OLED TV on the market, owing to its excellent image quality, incredible gaming performance, and exhaustive features, all at a reasonable price.
With the new release of LG C4 in March 2024, many are curious about what improvements to expect. Let's take a closer look at both models and see how they stack up against each other in terms of price, design, picture quality, sound quality, features, and gaming support!
Key Takeaways
Compared to C3, the C4 boasts a newer generation processor for improved imaging and clarity. It also runs on newer webOS 24 and comes with Matter support, allowing the TV to become a smart home hub to control compatible devices.
LG C3 OLED evo
2023 Version
✓ α9 AI Processor Gen6
✓ Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos
✓ 120Hz Gaming Refresh Rate
✓ webOS 23
LG C4 OLED evo
2024 Version
✓ α9 AI Processor 4K Gen7
✓ Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos
✓ 144Hz Gaming Refresh Rate
✓ webOS 24
#1 Price
LG C4
The C series, including C3 and C4, is LG's mid-tier OLED TV product line, sitting between the higher-end LG G series and the lower-end LG B OLED TV series. So, the price is in the mid-range, making it more affordable compared to premium OLED TVs.
The C3 model starts at US$1,000 for its smallest 42-inch model and goes up to US$3,800 for the largest 83-inch model. The C4, on the other hand, has a price range of US$1,500 to US$5,400 for the same sizes. A varying size option for each model means that you can choose the one that best suits your budget and needs.
Read also:
LG B4 vs C4: 6 Differences
LG C4 vs G4: 6 Key Aspects
#2 Design
LG C3
There are not many improvements made to the design of the LG C4 compared to the LG C3. Both look modern and seamless with an almost invisible bezel and the thin profile makes them blend well with any wall. When not in use, the TV screen can display a range of beautiful images, including artwork and photographs, making it look like a piece of art on your wall.
There are a total of six different sizes available for both models, including 42”, 48”, 55”, 65”, 77”, and 83”, giving you a wide range of options to choose from depending on the size of your room, budget, and your viewing preferences.
Both TVs also feature 4 HDMI and 3 USB ports built into the TV, making it easy to connect to many external devices such as gaming consoles, soundbars, and streaming devices.
#3 Picture Quality
LG C4
Among its competitors, the LG C3 is one of the best OLED TVs in terms of picture quality, boasting incredible color accuracy, deep blacks, and excellent contrast. Powered by the Alpha 9 AI Processor Gen6, the C3 doesn't only deliver ultra-realistic imaging but is also capable of upscaling picture quality for lower-resolution content.
The LG C4 improves on that with its new generation Alpha 9 AI Processor Gen7 and an improved AI Super Upscaling technology. The result is even more realistic images with improved clarity and sharpness, even for low-resolution content.
LG C3
LG also claims that the C4 has brighter OLED panels, though both models are still losing to the higher-end models like LG G4 and LG M4, two of which are known for being LG's brightest OLED TVs to date.
Read also: LG G4 vs M4: Same Except for 3 Things, Consider This!
Other than the mentioned improvements, the picture quality of both models is almost equally impressive. Especially, the LG C3 is not losing to the newer C4 when it comes to home theater-enabling features, such as Dolby Vision and Filmmaker Mode, which enable stunning color, contrast, and brightness for a more cinematic experience like the director intended.
#4 Sound Quality
LG C4
There is a little difference between the LG C3 and C4 when it comes to audio quality. With a 2.2-channel speaker system and features like Dolby Atmos, both models deliver immersive and high-quality sound, making it an ideal choice for movie and music lovers.
With the AI Sound Pro feature, the Alpha 9 Processor in both models can also up-mix 2-channel audio into virtual 9.1.2 channel surround sound right from the TV's built-in down-firing speakers, so you can enjoy cinema-like sound quality even without additional speakers in the room. Otherwise, both TVs are Bluetooth Surround Ready, so you can also easily connect your external speakers or soundbars via Bluetooth.
#5 Smart Features
LG C3
Both the LG C3 and C4 share some common smart features typically available on LG OLED TVs, such as ThinQ AI, Magic Remote, full web browser, voice control, built-in Alexa, sports alerts, MultiView, and more. Both TVs also work with a range of smart home services, including Alexa, Apple Home, Hey Google, and Apple Airplay 2.
The new C4 even adds Matter support. Matter is the future standard of smart home connectivity, designed to make it easier for smart home devices from different manufacturers to work together. With the Matter support, LG C4 TV can act as a smart home hub, allowing you to control and monitor your Matter-enabled devices right from your TV.
webOS 24 in LG C4
Some other additional features that the LG C4 offers include Room to Room Share, which allows you to wirelessly share the screen of the C4 with another compatible TV, and AI Concierge, which gives personalized recommendations based on your voice recognition search history.
LG C3 and C4 also have different operating systems. While the C3 runs on LG's webOS 23, the C4 comes with the updated webOS 24. Other than a more intuitive and user-friendly interface, the new webOS 24 supports up to 10 password-protected user-profiles and promises software updates for up to five years.
#6 Gaming Support
LG C3
Equipped with a range of gaming features like LG Game Dashboard, Game Optimizer, NVIDIA G-Sync, AMD FreeSync Premium, and VRR, both the LG C3 and C4 offer smooth, tear-free, and low-latency gaming experience. The promised response time is less than 0.1 ms, making both TVs great for gamers on any platform.
One improvement that the LG C4 offers is a maximum refresh rate of 144Hz, which is higher than the C3's maximum refresh rate of 120Hz. However, as most gaming consoles currently cannot output more than 120Hz, this improvement may not be that useful for console gamers. However, if you're a gamer who plays on a PC with a 144Hz graphic card, the LG C4 could be a better choice for you.
LG C3 vs LG C4 OLED TV
Final Thoughts
LG C4
With the new Alpha 9 AI Processor 4K Gen7, LG C4 offers improved picture quality and image upscaling, but the difference can be hardly noticeable for most average viewers. A more significant improvement perhaps can be found in the new smart features that the C4 adds, such as webOS 24, MultiView, Room to Room Share, and Matter support, which makes the TV more versatile as a smart home hub.
If you already own the C3, upgrading to the C4 may not be necessary, especially considering that both models are almost equally impressive in terms of picture quality, sound quality, design, and gaming support.
However, if you're looking to buy a new mid-range OLED TV, the C4's improvements over the C3 can be worth the extra cost, especially if you want to futureproof your TV with the latest smart home connectivity and features.
If you like to read more about Smart TVs, check out our other relevant guides here:
5 Things to Know About LG's 2024 OLED TVs Lineup
LG B3 vs B4: Entry-Level OLED TV Gets Better
LG G3 vs G4: What's New?
LG M3 vs M4: Wireless OLED TV Compared
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