LG’s 2024 webOS update has some useful improvements but you’ll have to wait a year
webOS upgrades are going to take their time reaching older LG TVs
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
LGhas mixed news for owners of 2022 and 2023OLEDand LCD TVs: webOS 24 is coming and it’ll include Chromecast support… but you’ll have to wait for it. While 2022, 2023 and 2024 LG TVs are all included in LG’s “webOS ReNew program”, there’s going to be a significant gap between the arrival of webOS versions in new LG TVs and the availability of upgrades to the same software for existing televisions.
The news comes viaFlatpanelsHD, which attended a recent LG event in Frankfurt where the upgrade plans for thebest LG TVswere explained. The short version is that for existing TVs, webOS upgrades will arrive roughly one year after the software is made available in brand new LG TVs – so the latest LG TVs will always be a year ahead of existing ones.
What is the LG webOS ReNew program?
As we previously reported, LG’s webOS ReNew program brings the latest webOS to existing TVs including every single model in LG’s 2022 OLED TV series, including theOLED Flex, the OLED Objet Collection Posé and the QNED Mini-Led8K.
In LG’s presentation this week, it outlined its plans in more detail. All 2022 models are planned to get webOS versions up to webOS 26; 2023 LG TVs will get versions up to webOS 27; and 2024 models will get webOS versions up to webOS 28.
The timings of those updates have been detailed too, which you can see below:
While LG says that the timings are subject to change and that there “may be more” supported models than the TVs already announced – a lot of which have made up thebest TVswe’ve tested at some point or another – the pattern is clear enough.
I can’t help thinking that this is a marketing decision rather than a technological one, although LG says that it needs the extra year to ensure stability and performance on older sets. But if it is a marketing move it’s an odd one. It seems strange to promise four webOS updates on a TV and then add the caveat “but of course, they’ll be a year out of date when you get each one of them”.
Get the best Black Friday deals direct to your inbox, plus news, reviews, and more.
Sign up to be the first to know about unmissable Black Friday deals on top tech, plus get all your favorite TechRadar content.
When webOS 24 does arrive, it’ll add Chromecast support to 2022 and 2023 LG TVs as well as an updated user interface – and more visible advertising too, which ispart of a wider business strategyfor the company for the past few months.
You might also like
Writer, broadcaster, musician and kitchen gadget obsessive Carrie Marshall has been writing about tech since 1998, contributing sage advice and odd opinions to all kinds of magazines and websites as well as writing more than a dozen books. Her memoir,Carrie Kills A Man, is on sale now and her next book, about pop music, is out in 2025. She is the singer in Glaswegian rock bandUnquiet Mind.
Black Friday has arrived: LG’s 65-inch C4 OLED TV gets a staggering $1,300 discount
The Apple TV 4K just got even more interesting for projectors in tvOS 18.2
Target kicks off its Black Friday sale with deals on TVs, toys, iPads, air fryers and more
