We're deep into the What Hi-Fi? Awards 2026 judging process, and finalising our list of the best TVs has been the point of order for this week.

As such, I've had the pleasure of testing a crop of compact OLED TVs, and this is a particular area of interest for me both inside and outside of the testing room.

While I love OLED TVs of all shapes and sizes, I've had my eye on a sub-55-inch OLED ever since I first laid eyes upon the LG C2 during my very first year on the What Hi-Fi? team.

Every year since, I've fawned over the 42- and 48-inch OLEDs that we've tested from the likes of LG, Samsung and Panasonic.

As a keen gamer with a love of competitive shooters, getting "up close and personal" with my screen is a must, and these desktop-friendly sizes are ideal monitor replacements, and they often pack in way more features that appease my AV enthusiast side too.

Four years on, however, I still haven't bitten the bullet and bought one. "The time has never been right" and "they're still quite expensive even during Black Friday" are my two favourite excuses, hence why they've sat in my browser tabs on checkout screens that I've never completed.

However, after testing the 42- and 48-inch Samsung S90H and LG C6, I now have a rather smug sense of self-satisfaction, as my patience (or commitment issues, depending on how you look at it) has paid off.

Without spoiling the upcoming reviews or the coveted Awards list, all four TVs are pretty fantastic, and they prove that you can get a large-scale cinematic experience from a TV that doesn't require loads of space.

All of them offer punchy, rich colours, excellent motion, and perfect black depths, and the smaller screen sizes give them an edge when it comes to detail and sharpness, thanks to their greater pixel density compared with their 55- and 65-inch counterparts.

Focusing directly on the LG C6, as we've reviewed the 65-inch model (we have a review of a larger Samsung S90H in the works), we find that the 48-inch version simply feels like a smaller version of that five-star TV.

We affirmed that the C6 has a "brighter, richer and more refined picture quality" than its predecessor, the C5, at this larger screen size. From experience, the 48-inch seems to have taken a very similar path, as I was instantly struck by how bright, crisp and balanced this TV looked this year.

While I've thoroughly enjoyed previous versions of this TV, such as the 48-inch C4 and C5, they've not jumped out at me in the same way this year's C6 has.

Furthermore, the 42-inch C6 and S90H are two truly exceptional TVs, and while I won't divulge who is taking home a What Hi-Fi? Award, they're practically on par when it comes to picture quality and features.

Simply put, I could happily sit and watch a movie on these TVs, despite being used to having an expansive 65-inch at home. They don't feel like compromised versions of larger TVs, but actually great alternatives in their own right.

Now, will any of these TVs make it into my upgraded gaming setup? With the likes of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 and Grand Theft Auto VI launching very soon, I could have the perfect excuse to finally pull the trigger.

MORE:

Check out our full Samsung S90F 48-inch review

As well as our LG C5 48-inch review

And read our full list of the best OLED TVs

2026 has been one of the most interesting and, if we're being brutally honest, exhausting years for TVs on record.

From the mainstream adoption of RGB Mini LED to cheaper OLED SE panels hitting the market, and the news of TCL essentially buying a majority stake in Sony's Bravia TV division, it's been a whirlwind.

And yet, there's been one manufacturer which has remained concerningly quiet up until now: Panasonic.

Rewind all the way to February (which feels like both a lifetime ago and strangely recent), when I flew to Munich to attend the Panasonic Experience 2026. At the event, the renowned Japanese consumer technology brand was showing off everything from air fryers, cameras and toothbrushes to Technics turntables, rice cookers and hair dryers.

TVs were also on show, and Panasonic made a huge announcement; just not the one I was expecting.

Now, it's an open secret that Panasonic's TV division has been struggling. At the lower end, it has struggled to keep up in a market now dominated by affordable 4K sets produced by the likes of Hisense and TCL. At the top, its prestigious OLED sets have seen tough competition from the likes of Sony, Samsung and LG: look at our recent lists of TV Award-winners, and it doesn't paint a pretty picture for the brand.

To rectify this, Panasonic announced that it was entering a strategic partnership with Shenzhen Skyworth, under its parent company Chuángwéi RGB, which would secure the future of its OLED, Mini LED and QLED sets in Europe.

The partnership was set to take effect on the 1st of April, and since the date came and went, Panasonic has been unnervingly quiet. Broadly speaking, its TVs have been out of stock at most retailers, and the one OLED TV it did announce, the Z86C, hasn't materialised.

Fast forward to IFA 2026, which took place earlier this month, and I was invited to the Panasonic TV booth to meet with Toshihiro Takagi (Product Planning, TV Business Division), Haruka Kono (TV Business Division) and Paul Williams (Press Relations) from Panasonic Corporation, as well as Paul Darch (CEO and Managing Director) and Sebastian Wegielski (General Manager Europe and Managing Director) from the newly formed SWMEU GmbH.

Reassurance, reorganising, and rebuilding

My discussion with representatives from Panasonic's new TV business centred mostly on what's happened over the past six months, and the short answer is that Panasonic has been incredibly busy behind the scenes.

It acknowledged that the April date originally planned was well behind us, but it wanted to get this partnership right, hence why it's been working hard to lay a strong foundation and hasn't rushed any TVs out to market.

The overall goal is to restore the brand's position within the European marketplace, with Panasonic eyeing up the number five spot within the pan-European market; hence why it needs to hit the ground running.

Development of the business has centred around four main pillars (which it originally shared during the Munich event): "The reference stays the reference", "Continuity you can trust", "Scaling Up" and "Innovation Pipeline". These are "the cornerstones of our strategy as we move forward", according to CEO Paul Darch.

They all seem fairly self-explanatory, but they are also key indicators as to what we can expect from Panasonic in the coming years.

The notion that Panasonic is eager to retain its position as a reference TV manufacturer is the first promising sign, and it recognises that OLED is the way to secure this legacy. It hasn't been shy in proudly proclaiming that its high-end OLED sets have been used by Hollywood editors and colourists, and it wants to keep that keep that status.

"What we mean by that is that what was once a Panasonic TV is still a Panasonic TV. The same guiding principles that govern picture, sound, design and OS continue", Darch said, which was reassuring to hear.

Doubling down on that, Darch also affirmed that "one of the key pieces of feedback that we receive is: will these Panasonic TVs really be Panasonic TVs? The answer is yes". Ultimately, based on what I've been told, the notion that future TVs will be any old set with a Panasonic badge slapped onto it can be dispelled.

Continuity is another major focus for this new partnership, hence why SWMEU GmbH has opened its head office in Wiesbaden, Germany, which is the city where Panasonic's European headquarters is located.

The innovation pipeline and scaling-up initiatives are where Panasonic really hopes to make up some ground, though. Broadening the product portfolio and bringing its TVs to market more quickly are two major priorities for the brand moving forward.

This already seems to be paying off, as Darch notes that "feedback, overwhelmingly, has been extremely positive; the market is requesting Panasonic to come back stronger as an evangelist of premium picture quality".

"OLED remains our leadership flagship"

Retaining that title means keeping the technology that Panasonic is renowned for alive. Panasonic recognises this, and that's why it's keeping OLED as a "key focus" in its lineup.

Panasonic consciously didn't replace its Z95B and Z90B OLED TVs this year, and these five-star models will continue until Panasonic launches its 2027 lineup. That said, it also recognises the importance of QD Mini LED within the current TV market, but Darch affirms that Panasonic won't be "bringing it for the sake of bringing it".

Panasonic is relying on its glare-free technology and picture processing to differentiate it from the likes of Hisense and TCL in this market, but whether it will be enough to win back market share from rival powerhouse TV manufacturers is another matter.

I quizzed Panasonic on what to expect from its 2027 TV range, but it remained tight-lipped for now, telling me it will "probably around CES time is when you'll really see the strength and the power of this new organisation".

"The objective is to ensure that both the Japanese and the overseas lineup reflect a consistent Panasonic TV identity"

What was most apparent is that Panasonic wants to remind us that this isn't a buyout, but rather a collaboration that will ensure a future for Panasonic TVs in the UK and Europe.

"This is no short-term gimmick, no short-term collaboration. We are working strongly with the partnership for 2027 and onwards," Darch affirmed, continuing "I want you to leave the room having confidence in this collaboration".

He then handed over to Mr Toshihiro Takagi to discuss how this partnership works from Panasonic Japan's perspective.

"The objective is to ensure that both the Japanese and the overseas lineup reflect a consistent Panasonic TV identity", Takagi affirmed, and he continued to explain how each component of the business will work in tandem going forward.

Particularly with the brand's premium TVs, Panasonic's established engineers will continue to take responsibility for picture tuning and the integration work required for certification programmes (Panasonic has an established partnership with the picture calibration company Calman, for example).

"As a result, Panasonic's distinctive picture quality and modes continue to be incorporated into our TVs", Takagi confirmed.

This sentiment continues with sound, as I was assured that Panasonic's microphone-assisted audio calibration system will remain, and Takagi confirmed that the team is working on a new DSP algorithm for the 2027 models, which he mentioned in relation to a new speaker configuration.

Behind the scenes, Panasonic Japan has audited the manufacturing operations against the brand's approved criteria, which essentially means that Panasonic has ensured that the scaled-up manufacturing process meets its quality standards and expectations.

Panasonic Japan is still very much involved, by the looks of things, although it seems like Panasonic's engineers will have a much more direct involvement with the brand's future premium TVs, such as the theoretical follow-ups to the Z95B and Z90B.

A few questions remain...

While I did my best to eke out some information about next year's lineup, Takagi explicitly told me that "we cannot discuss future lineups or specifications today; we look forward to sharing more when the time is right".

Therefore, my questions relating to whether we can expect to keep seeing Technics-tuned sound systems in future flagship OLED sets, or if we can expect an RGB Mini LED from the brand in the future, were shelved for now.

That said, Darch rounded out our conversation with a simple yet powerful sentiment: "Panasonic TV is back. What does back mean? Back means a stronger product offering, stronger commercial and robust distribution strategy, a stronger team and backed with real resources for what really comes next".

Ultimately, the proof is in the pudding, and we'll need to see Panasonic's 2027 TV lineup in action to see if this partnership has achieved what it set out to create; but in the short term, I get the sense that Panasonic is alive and kicking.

MORE:

Read our full Panasonic Z95B review

As well as our Panasonic Z90B 48-inch review

And check out our picks for the best OLED TVs

Roku has announced its first-ever OLED TVs: the Roku Pro Series OLED TV and Roku Pro Series LX OLED TV.

However, rather than just the panel tech, it's the aggressive pricing that has caught our attention.

Prices start at $999 (around £740/ AU$1389) for the 55-inch Pro Series OLED and $1299 (around £962/ AU$180) for the Pro Series LX OLED.

The Roku Pro Series OLED is available in 55- and 65-inch sizes, and comes with a 120Hz panel with support for Dolby Vision, HDR10+ and HLG. Gaming features include ALLM, VRR, and FreeSync Premium, and it also supports Dolby Atmos.

The step-up Roku Pro Series LX OLED TV adds a 144Hz refresh rate, a Roku Voice Remote Pro, an advanced polariser to cut reflections and "a brighter picture and even wider range of colors".

Both TVs will run on the popular Roku platform. We've found the operating system to be simple to use but a little basic, but the use of adverts, such as automatic startup ads, has proved controversial before.

“OLED technology has been locked behind premium price tags, forcing many customers to choose between the display they want or a price that works for them,” said Chris Larson, Vice President, Retail Strategy, Roku. “We see a clear opportunity to change that equation. With the new Roku Pro Series OLED and LX OLED TVs, we’re removing that cost barrier and making a top-tier viewing experience genuinely accessible.”

Cheap, good OLED TVs have long been elusive. The only other 55-inch OLED TV we've tested around this price was the three-star Toshiba XF9F at £799. If the Pro Series OLED can deliver, it could be the closest thing to an "affordable" OLED around at this size – even the aggressively priced LG B6 is sitting at £899 right now.

The Roku Pro Series OLED is available now in the US at Amazon, with the Pro Series LX releasing in October.

We've reached out to Roku about UK availability and will update this page if we hear back.

MORE:

Check out our list of the best streaming devices

As well as the best streaming services for movies and TV

And the best OLED TVs

Samsung and Canvas HiFi have announced the Samsung HiFi S99H, a new edition of the Korean giant's flagship OLED TV, married to a soundbar from the Danish audio brand.

Two versions of the Canvas soundbar are available with this particular TV model – the standard Canvas with 1000W of Class D amplification, or the larger Canvas L with a staggering 1500W.

The Samsung HiFi S99H will make its debut at IFA 2026 in Berlin this week, and will be available in 55-, 65-, 77-, and 83-inch sizes.

Prices start at $7,999 (UK and AU$ are TBC) – we tested the 55in version of this TV at £2499 / $2500 / AU$3999 back in June, so you can see this HiFi version is very much a premium product.

A fixed floor stand or wall mount is included, and there's an optional rotating floor stand available in aluminium or black.

Samsung has described the S99H HiFi as "more than simply the combination of a TV and a sound system.

The ambition is to create a new category in which true HiFi, picture quality and furniture design are developed as one integrated solution — developed for consumers who do not want to choose between performance and interior design."

We've previously tested the Canvas HiFi 65 soundbar and were very impressed by its clear, detailed sound and excellent handling of voices. We're yet to test the Canvas L, which Canvas HiFi has marketed as the "world's first audiophile soundbar".

Both Canvas soundbars are stereo, but include Baach's 3D audio processing to create a wider and more immersive soundstage.

In our Samsung S99H review, we gave the flagship OLED five stars, but noted that the audio lacked volume and bass weight. The HiFi S99H looks to rectify this shortcoming.

The Samsung HiFi S99H will be available in selected Canvas showrooms from October, with the Canvas L version available later this year.

MORE:

Read our Canvas HiFi Canvas 65 review

Our pick of the best TVs you can buy for every budget, from flagship OLEDs to budget Mini LED sets

And here are the best soundbars you can buy with your own money

Plonking a 65-inch OLED TV in my living room came with some unexpected side effects. Namely, my house is now the gathering place for match days, Grand Prix watch parties, and movie nights.

And I couldn't be happier; that's what home cinema is all about in my opinion, and I'm always keen to host so that I can preach (and more importantly show off) the benefits of OLED to my not-so-AV-savvy mates.

While I usually get met with raised eyebrows when I mention the price of OLED TVs, after demonstrating the inherent benefits of OLED, the unanimous sentiment amongst my friends is along the lines of "yeah... I need one of these".

While I have convinced a couple of friends to splurge on an OLED TV already, at the end of the day that price factor is the hardest sell, especially to a group of twenty-somethings living in cramped London house shares.

That said, I usually end up getting a message shortly after they return home to their LCD TV complaining that I've ruined every other TV for them; and no, I am not sorry.

That's why I'm almost always urging them to save up and treat themselves to an upgrade, and I now have a secret weapon to tempt my mates into joining me on team OLED.

My friends and I are all keen gamers, and there's this little game launching in November that we're all quite excited for; it's called Grand Theft Auto VI, you might have heard of it.

As such, the current buzz in our group chats is upgrading our gear to experience the game at its best, including its stunning visuals. This conversation has ramped up since Thursday night's Grand Theft Auto VI: An Extended Look, which premiered on Netflix and gave us a glimpse at the vibrant visuals of Rockstar Games' latest flagship title.

Frame rates and fidelity have now become major talking points, and the few friends of mine that don't already own a PS5 are now locked into purchasing one ahead of the 19th of November.

My advice to friends who already own a PS5 but want to upgrade a key component for GTA VI is to upgrade their TV or monitor; and of course, I'm pushing them towards OLED.

The perfect blacks, pixel-level contrast control, and superb response time of OLED make it a perfect panel technology for gaming, and I think the most anticipated game of the decade is a good excuse to take the plunge.

I've also touted the benefits of upgrading to a newer HDMI 2.1-equipped TV, too; most of my friends didn't know what VRR and ALLM were, let alone that their consoles had these features. And, of course, I've already assured them that these sets will exceed expectations when it comes to movies and sports too.

My recommendations are currently down to these three models, all of which are perfectly suited to all content:

The LG C6 is my current top pick; it comes in a range of sizes including a desktop-friendly 42-inch version, and it's one of the best-equipped TVs on the gaming market.

However, a stellar budget alternative is the Philips OLED760, which sports an impressive set of gaming specs and Ambilight, and it's under £1000 for the 55-inch model currently.

And the Samsung S99H is probably the most impressive TV I've seen this year. It happens to support up to eight full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 sockets if you purchase the wireless One Connect system, and the picture performance is simply stunning. That said, the price will put many (my friends included) off.

If you're eyeing up a home cinema upgrade in preparation for GTA VI later this year, then my advice remains: you'd be hard-pressed to go wrong with any of the OLEDs I've mentioned above.

Now, my next task is to talk them into getting Dolby Atmos sound systems, but that's a discussion for another day...

MORE:

Read our full LG C6 65-inch review

Check out our picks for the best OLED TVs

Find the best OLED TV deals here

Sony has announced the newest addition to its budget line of smartphones – enter the Sony Xperia 10 VIII.

It offers a handful of upgrades over its predecessor, the Xperia 10 VII, and follows on from the Award-winning Xperia 10 VI.

The new model boasts a claimed peak brightness that is double that of the previous smartphone to deliver “improved visibility even outdoors”, although Sony has not disclosed the exact figures.

The Japanese brand also claims that the stereo speaker system (made up of the earpiece and a bottom-firing speaker) features “revised tuning”, which will supposedly deliver “improved volume and sound quality”.

Sony says that volume is boosted by 15 per cent and these speakers can also output 30 per cent stronger bass than the previous model.

There are still a fair few similarities with its older sibling, though. Like the VII model, it runs on the Snapdragon 6 Gen 3 with 8GB of RAM, and is powered by a 5,000mAh battery that Sony claims can last for up to two days.

Resolution and size have also stayed the same, with a 6.1-inch screen with a 2340 x 1080 OLED display.

The camera set-up is familiar too, with the 10 VIII sporting a 50-megapixel main and 13-megapixel ultra-wide lens on the back, as well as an 8-megapixel selfie camera.

We are glad to see that the 3.5 mm aux jack has stuck around, and cements Sony as one of the best for audio features in the smartphone market.

You can choose from three colour finishes for the Xperia VIII: Frozen White, Frosted Grey and Misted Lilac.

The Xperia 10 VIII is launching at £549 in the UK, making it £150 more expensive than its predecessor.

That would feel more warranted if there were more hefty upgrades, but it’s a hard sell considering it has the same chipset and camera. That said, the ongoing RAM crisis is likely the cause, with smartphone prices rising across the board.

We're eager to find out if Sony has delivered another five-star budget portable AV machine, so stay tuned for our full review.

MORE:

Check out our review of the Sony Xperia 10 VI

These are the best smartphones on the market

And here are the best Sony soundbars

I recently wrote about problems I’m having with my Sony system since the latest software update, and I’ve been inundated with emails and messages from fellow sufferers ever since.

The offending software is 114.602.080.1, which was released to various Sony TV models towards the end of June.

The issues reported range from audio dropout (which is what I’m experiencing) and lip-sync issues to Dolby Vision content refusing to play, and it appears to be related to the way the TVs handle HDMI sources and passthrough.

Needless to say, affected owners are pretty frustrated, but I do have some good news – at least for some of them.

Sony has just released a new update, 114.602.170.1, and, according to some owners, including reader David Simmonds, who alerted me to the release of the new software, the Dolby Vision issue, which caused some users to see a black screen instead of their content, has seemingly been fixed.

[Edit to add: I've since been informed that a secondary Dolby Vision issue, which involves scan lines being visible in content, has not been resolved]

I wasn’t experiencing this problem, so I only have the reports of others to go on regarding the fix.

However, having now installed and done some testing of the new software, I can confirm that it unfortunately doesn’t fix the audio dropout issues for me, and David has confirmed it’s the same for him.

In fairness, this latest software update specifically mentions that it “resolves an issue where a black screen could be observed when starting playback of specific content from external HDMI devices”, but makes no mention of fixing any audio issues – it seems it was always intended to fix one problem but not the other.

I have contacted Sony with these findings and a request for information on a fix for the audio issues, and will report back with any information I get.

MORE:

Even brighter OLED TVs could be on the way thanks to a new “dream” panel technology – and super-large models might get cheaper

Here are all of the best TVs you can buy right now

Thought we had finally hit the upper limit of OLED? Think again!

LG Display, which produces the OLED panels used in all OLED TVs sold by LG Electronics and in many TVs sold by brands such as Samsung, Sony and Panasonic, has just announced a new “dream” panel technology called ‘FLiPP’.

That funky name stands for the decidedly less funky ‘FMM-Less innovative Pixel Patterning’, which actually explains how this new technology works.

For the past decade or so, OLEDs have been manufactured using fine metal masks (FMMs). These are essentially sheets covered with microscopic holes, through which the red, green and blue OLED materials are placed.

The problem with these FMMs is that they add cost and they are hard to manufacture, particularly at very large screen sizes.

Now, “after a year of concentrated R&D”, LG Display says it has managed to develop a manufacturing method that eradicates the need for these FMMs.

More affordable super-sized OLED TVs?

Why should you care? First up, LG Display claims that because FLiPP improves the aperture ratio of OLED, it can “increase display brightness by 1.6 times, extend lifespan by 2.4 times, and reduce power consumption by 13 per cent”.

But I think there is potentially a more interesting point here. FLiPP apparently reduces material costs and significantly improves the efficiency of using large OLED sheets to produce panels for different products, and that means that manufacturing costs should decrease, potentially resulting in cheaper OLED TVs.

This could be particularly beneficial where very large OLED TVs are concerned. Big OLED panels are difficult and expensive to produce, so very large OLED TVs tend to be disproportionately expensive. FLiPP could change that.

LG Display flags that FLiPP is “free from panel size and resolution constraints”, and can be used for producing panels from 1-inch in size (for AR/VR headsets, for example) right up to 100 inches.

But when will we start to see FLiPP-based OLED TVs in shops? Not for a while, it seems: the tech is being officially unveiled at the International Meeting on Information Display (IMID) this week, and LG Display says it will first be used in “IT applications such as tablets and monitors”.

Rollout for “ultra-large TVs” is explicitly promised in the press release, though.

We have contacted LG Display for more information, and have reached out to TV manufacturers for their thoughts on the announcement.

We’ll follow up with more on FLiPP as we get it. In the meantime, those who want more of an explanation of how it works should check out LG Display’s own video explainer:

MORE:

Here are the best OLED TVs you can buy right now

Check out our LG C6 review and LG G6 review

In many ways, software updates are a blessing of modern technology.

They can add features, fix bugs and even improve the performance of a product that's weeks, months or even years old. At their best, they can breathe new life into a device that you've owned for ages.

But they can also go wrong.

It's why many TV owners, particularly those who've been stung by unwanted changes or problems after previous updates, have long promoted a 'turn off automatic updates' mantra.

I wish I had listened.

My philosophy has always been that software updates do far more good than harm, and that the frequency with which they create problems is overblown. Honestly, that's probably still the case. But now that I've been stung by a dodgy update myself, I'm feeling far less philosophical about the whole thing.

For the last few weeks, I've been experiencing audio dropouts from my Sony system. After hours of research and experimentation with different settings and cables, I've finally established that the blame lies with the most recent update to my Bravia 8 II OLED TV.

The problem is frustratingly specific. When I'm watching something through an external source connected to the TV, such as my Apple TV 4K or Sky Stream puck, I can no longer use my external sound system without suffering audio dropouts.

The TV's internal apps work perfectly, but that has only reminded me how much higher the quality is from the Apple TV 4K than from Google TV.

Sony is aware of the issue, and my contacts assure me that a fix is in the works. There's no date for it yet, though, and it's already been almost two months since the problematic software was released.

That's a long time to have a significant part of an expensive home cinema system effectively out of action.

And this is where I've changed my mind about automatic updates.

I've now turned them off on my TV and several of my other devices. From now on, when one tells me that a software update is available, unless it's flagged as a critical security update, I'm going to wait a week or so before installing it.

I'll then search for the release number online, see whether other owners have reported problems, and only if all looks safe will I then download and apply it manually.

I'm not saying that software updates are bad. They're not. I've benefited from plenty of them over the years, and I'd still much rather have a TV that receives regular updates than one that's abandoned by its manufacturer.

But there's very little downside to waiting a few days before installing one. If an update is working perfectly for everyone else, I'll happily install it. If it turns out to be causing problems, I'll be very glad that I wasn't one of the first to find out.

So I'm now firmly in the 'turn automatic updates off' camp. Not because I'm suddenly convinced that every software update is a ticking time bomb, but because I've learned the hard way that there's no need to be an early adopter of firmware.

A few days of caution could save you weeks of frustration.

MORE:

Here are the best TVs you can buy right now

Sony's OLED TVs have been among the best you can buy for years, and its first QD-OLED model, the stellar A95L, knocked our socks clean off when it launched in 2023. Its successor, the Bravia 8 II, won an Award last year, too, so clearly Sony still knows how to make a great OLED TV.

It has since turned its hand to RGB Mini LED tech, in the form of the Bravia 9 II. While this nascent tech, which Sony refers to as 'True RGB ', is less proven than the granddaddy that is OLED, Sony has still managed to squeeze some pretty impressive results out of it.

So which TV should you go for: the safe bet of the Bravia 8 II, or the exciting new thing that is the Bravia 9 II? Let's find out.

Sony Bravia 9 II vs Bravia 8 II: price

As the older of the two TVs, the Bravia 8 II is inevitably cheaper. But that's also partly because it comes in a 55-inch variant, whereas the Bravia 9 II starts at 65 inches.

The Bravia 9 II starts at £3499 / $3600 / AU$5999, which is £500 more than the same size Bravia 8 II at launch. Like other sizes, that price has since dropped, in this case by around £600.

The 55-inch Bravia 8 II currently costs around £2000, which is £1500 cheaper than the entry-level Bravia 9 II. A clear win for the older model.

** Winner: Sony Bravia 8 II **

Sony Bravia 9 II vs Bravia 8 II: design

Here you have a choice to make: do you want your TV to sink into its surroundings, or stand out?

The Bravia 8 II is very much the former – its chassis looks very familiar. There's nothing wrong with that – it's smart and premium in equal measures – but it's nothing we haven't seen before.

The blade-style feet can raise to accommodate a soundbar, but have to be positioned at the extremities of the TV's screen, which means you'll need a fairly wide cabinet on which to place it.

The remote is also a step backwards – it takes AAA batteries and doesn't light up. Whereas previous models had rechargeable remotes that were backlit. Disappointing.

The Bravia 9 II, however, is a real step forward in terms of TV design.

Its crowning glory is the Mirage Stand, which makes it look as if the TV is floating above the TV cabinet. It lets you see the wall behind the stand while somehow managing to conceal the cables from view, which is very clever indeed.

But it can't be adjusted. While its sole position will fit a regular-sized soundbar, there's no option to lower the TV if you're using the built-in sound system.

The look is a lot more striking than the Bravia 8 II's and won't appeal to everyone. But we're big fans.

The Bravia 9 II also features a more advanced anti-reflective coating. While effective at minimising distractions, it does make the screen look a little greyer in a well-lit room than the Bravia 8 II, which features a less intense coating.

The remote control that comes with the Bravia 9 II is backlit, too, making it easier to operate in the optimum movie viewing conditions of a dark room.

** Winner: Sony Bravia 9 II **

Sony Bravia 9 II vs Bravia 8 II: features

The main difference between these two TVs is the screen panel technology: the Bravia 8 II uses a QD-OLED panel, while the Bravia 9 II has an RGB Mini LED display.

OLED has been around for years, and Sony certainly knows its way around it. Because it's not backlit, the tech has previously struggled with peak brightness, but great strides have been made in recent years – the Bravia 8 II goes 25 per cent brighter than its predecessor, helped in no small part by its custom heatsink.

OLEDs also have perfect blacks, which help the contrast ratio and add depth and perceived detail.

RGB Mini LED is backlit. But unlike your standard Mini LED TV, which uses a white backlight beamed through a colour filter, Sony's tech uses independently controlled red, green and blue Mini LEDs to generate colour directly. These are controlled by Sony's Backlight Master Drive system.

Sony makes some bold claims for RGB Mini LED, among them that it's akin to watching on one of its own mastering monitors used in professional studios. In other words, your viewing experience should be as the director intended. We'll see if these claims stack up in the next section.

Both TVs are powered by Sony's XR processor, complete with AI modes and Studio Calibrated Modes for the likes of Netflix, Prime Video and, of course, Sony Pictures Core. The Bravia 9 II adds a new My Cinema interface to the mix, but this has also now been added to the Bravia 8 II via a software update.

My Cinema aims to simplify the settings for picture and sound without depriving enthusiasts of control. You get three viewing profiles – Director's Cut, Daytime and Dialogue – each of which limit the available picture adjustments in order to deliver what it thinks is the best quality image.

Dolby Vision and Atmos are supported, and both sets are certified IMAX Enhanced. The HDR10 and HLG formats of HDR are also supported, but not HDR10+ (which is no surprise).

For gamers too, these TVs are tied, with 4K/120Hz, VRR and ALLM, Dolby Vision Game mode and ‘Perfect for PlayStation 5’ functionality.

But both have just two HDMI 2.1 ports, one of which serves as the eARC port and so will be taken up by a soundbar or surround sound system, should you add one. That will leave you with just one port to get the full experience from your games machine.

Both TVs run Google TV, which is slowly but surely gaining on LG's webOS, and runs all the usual apps (including UK terrestrial catch-up apps, which can be missing from the platform).

** Winner: draw **

Sony Bravia 9 II vs Bravia 8 II: picture quality

And now what we really came here for. Which TV has the better picture quality?

As an Award winner, the Bravia 8 II is the TV to beat in this regard. And it's a doddle to set up to look its best thanks to its excellent presets.

Peak highlights are, well, a highlight, but overall colours have plenty of vibrancy which they maintain even in low light. Shadow detail is excellent, and the image looks convincingly solid and three-dimensional.

In our Sony Bravia 8 II review, we concluded: "The key to the Bravia 8 II’s success is balance. The colours are so vibrant, highlights so bright and edges so sharp, but nothing feels exaggerated or incorrect, which means you never feel as though you’re getting anything other than the very best versions of your movies and TV shows."

As Sony's first foray into RGB Mini LED tech, the Bravia 9 II was very eagerly awaited. And largely, it's a success: for most of our time viewing, we stopped noticing how it was doing what it was doing, and just enjoyed the picture. Speaking as reviewers, that's a very good sign indeed.

A large part of this is down to the colours, which we described in our Sony Bravia 9 II review as "the finest colours we've ever seen from any TV."

We went on: "Richly saturated scenes burst with vibrancy, but never at the expense of authenticity. Sony has combined extraordinary colour volume with its traditional restraint, so even the boldest hues remain beautifully balanced and believable. It's a wonderfully cinematic presentation that constantly impresses without ever shouting for attention."

High praise. Brightness too is exceptional, with the Bravia 9 II proving to be one of the brightest TVs ever to grace our testing rooms. Thanks to its backlight system, whole-screen brightness is possible, whereas an OLED will have to drop it down to focus on highlights.

A perfect example of this comes during the white room scenes in The Matrix. As the bright white light fills the screen, the Bravia 8 II reduces its luminance, whereas the Bravia 9 II maintains its dazzling brightness. It makes it a very versatile TV, that's ideal for viewing in brighter conditions (like daytime viewing).

The local dimming is also excellent, with virtually no blooming around highlights, while skin tones remain natural throughout. It's the best picture we've ever seen from a backlit TV.

There's a 'but' coming.

And that 'but' is the Bravia 8 II's OLED screen, which remains better than RGB Mini LED in certain key areas, such as its pixel-level precision. The Bravia 9 II's picture looks a touch flat by comparison, and it can't reproduce small highlights against very dark backgrounds with the same brightness as the OLED, for fear of creating blooming.

And the Bravia 8 II has practically perfect viewing angles, too – another strength of OLED – whereas the Bravia 9 II, while good in this regard for a backlit TV, loses contrast and vibrancy, and reveals some blooming, when viewed off-axis.

There's also some slight smearing to fast-moving action on the Bravia 9 II – though this is only a significant issue when playing 60Hz games.

The result? A four-star picture to the Bravia 8 II's five. But we can't wait to see what a second-generation Sony RGB Mini LED panel can do.

** Winner: Sony Bravia 8 II **

Sony Bravia 9 II vs Bravia 8 II: sound quality

Sony makes some of the best-sounding TVs around, and these two are no exception. But which sounds better?

The Bravia 8 II houses Sony's Acoustic Surface Audio+ set-up, while the Bravia 9 II features a so-called Acoustic Multi-Audio+ system. The former comprises two actuators that vibrate the screen to produce most of the sound, plus two subwoofers for added bass, while the latter features two full-range drivers, twin subwoofers, two tweeters and a pair of Beam Tweeters built into the rear, top and sides of the chassis.

Because the Bravia 8 II's screen literally makes most of the sound, the audio is tied to the visuals in a way that other TVs (apart from other Sony OLEDs) can't match.

The presentation is nice and direct, but spacious at the same time. Detail is excellent, with enough dynamic nuance to do a scene justice. It copes well with bigger dynamic shifts too, though bass depth is a bit lacking.

The Bravia 9 II has plenty of scale, with those Beam Tweeters really adding a sense of height (these are rare for a TV's built-in sound system). Effects are placed with precision within the soundstage, and there's plenty of subtle detail to get your teeth – and your ears – into.

Its sound has more weight than the Bravia 8 II's, but this extra bass lacks the same tautness of its older sibling.

It also doesn't sound as refined. As we wrote in our Bravia 9 II review: "Dialogue remains consistently clear, but voices aren't projected with quite the same focus or solidity as they are by Sony's flagship OLED. There's also a slight hardness to the presentation that occasionally makes speech sound a touch brash, softening some of the subtle emotional nuances in performances."

Higher frequencies suffer from a similar problem. Which makes it not quite as refined a listen as the Bravia 8 II.

But if you're partnering your TV with a soundbar or surround sound system – which you really should – this round is by the by.

** Winner: Sony Bravia 8 II **

Sony Bravia 9 II vs Bravia 8 II: verdict

While the Bravia 9 II excels in terms of brightness and vibrancy, and delivers the best picture of any backlit TV we've ever tested, it still can't quite match its OLED sibling in certain key areas.

The Bravia 8 II is more consistent, three-dimensional and responsive in its picture delivery, and it boasts more direct and refined sound. It's more affordable, too – that's of course partly down to it having been on sale longer, but the launch pricing suggests the Bravia 9 II may never be discounted to quite the same level.

There are circumstances in which the Bravia 9 II will make more sense, most notably if you want a TV larger than 65 inches, or one for a super-bright room, but for most people and most settings, the Bravia 8 II is the better buy.

We can't wait to see what Sony can achieve with its second-generation RGB Mini LED TVs, though...

** Overall winner: Sony Bravia 8 II **

MORE:

Read our Sony Bravia 9 II review

And our Sony Bravia 8 II review

Sony 2026 TV lineup: everything you need to know about the new Bravia range

We would always recommend going for the biggest TV your space and budget allows – but for some of us, that will only be a 42-inch TV. If that’s the case for you, then we have found a great deal for you – £120 off the Samsung S90F.

This TV has dropped to just £629 at Richer Sounds. That’s £20 cheaper than at Amazon. Bargain.

Samsung S90F 42-inch deal

Cards on the table: we haven’t reviewed this exact model. But the 48-inch S90F earned five stars, so we have high expectations of the 42-incher.

True, it has feet rather than a pedestal stand like its bigger brother. And smaller screens tend to have a lower HDR brightness than their larger equivalents. On the plus side, the smaller panel size should mean a higher pixel density, and hence a slightly sharper image.

The 42-inch model is as well equipped for gamers as the 48-incher, with four HDMI 2.1 ports, and a host of gaming features such as AMD FreeSync Premium, HGiG, AI Auto Game Mode, Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM), Game Motion Plus and Variable Refresh Rate (VRR).

We found the 48-inch S90F’s picture a bit red at first, and the motion a bit too smooth, but tweaking the settings helps. Overall, picture quality is superb, with realistic skin tones and solid detail levels across both the light and dark parts of the image.

Contrast might be a touch heavy-handed, leading to some black crush, but “the overall image is wonderfully three-dimensional and immersive”, we concluded.

The 42-incher has only 40W of sound output, compared with the 48-incher’s 60W. We found the latter’s speakers weak and plagued by distortion at higher volumes – hardly surprising, given that most small TVs sound terrible. So we wouldn’t expect much of the 42-incher’s audio.

But if you can put that £120 saving towards one of the best budget soundbars, you should be richly rewarded.

MORE:

Read our Samsung S90F review (48 inch)

I test OLED TVs for a living – and trust me, different sizes perform differently

We rate the best small TVs around

A good, cheap OLED TV has been top of many cinephiles' wish list for over a decade. This makes the S85H a big-ticket item despite it sitting at the bottom of Samsung’s new OLED TV range.

It’s looking set to be one of the cheapest options for serious movie fans who want a new OLED that sits in the same family as the S99H, a set we recently declared to be the finest Samsung OLED we’d ever tested. Big shoes to fill, then.

Price

The Samsung S85H is available in sizes from 48 to 83 inches. The cheapest 48-inch size launched carrying a £1199 ($1199) price tag, while the giant 83-inch model retails for £3699 ($4499).

We have the middle-child 55-inch model in our review rooms, which launched at £1499 ($1499 / AU$2499).

Initially, that meant it cost slightly less than its closest rival, the LG B6, which cost £1599 (AU$2500) when it first came out.

However, rapid price drops mean it’s now more expensive than its LG rival. The 55-inch B6 is now available for as little as £899 in some places.

However, the S85H puts is still cheaper than most of this year’s mid-tier OLEDs, including its big brother, the 55-inch S90H, which now floats around the £1699 mark.

Design

You won’t find any flourishes like the fancy metal bezel sported by the flagship S99H; instead the S85H has a rather utilitarian look, with a basic, plastic design that is nevertheless mostly solid.

The TV has feet, rather than a pedestal stand design and includes two placement options, central and wide, which puts them on the furthest right and left edges. This is a nice touch that lets you adjust the position to fit on your cabinet and place a soundbar underneath it as required.

Our only minor quibble with the design is that, as well as feeling distinctly plasticy, the feet wobble. Not so much that we’re worried it will break, but enough that you’ll want to place it with care.

The SolarCell remote seen on Samsung’s previous step-down and entry-level OLEDs also makes a return. It is pleasingly compact and intuitive, and features solar and USB-C charging, something that isn’t guaranteed at this price. The only real negative is the ongoing lack of a backlight, which makes using it in the dark a bit tricky.

Features

The set's specifications sheet is nearly identical to the outgoing S85F, with only three big upgrades to mention.

It has been upgraded to Wi-Fi 6E, which will improve connectivity if you have a compatible router using the standard. It also has a new AI football mode, which Samsung claims will “make you feel like you’re in the stadium” using the set’s processing smarts.

Finally, there is a smattering of what Samsung claims to be "performance improvements" – the biggest, apparently, is to its peak and operating brightness. Samsung hasn’t given a definite nit count, however, so we can't be sure how big the alleged brightness upgrades are.

Samsung also hasn’t specified what panel is being used, but the fact that the S85H is powered by the same NQ4 AI Gen2 processor as its predecessor suggests it may be using one of the new OLED SE panels LG Display unveiled at CES in January, which aim to boost brightness while simultaneously bringing prices down.

We had hoped the Q85H would get the newer Gen3 silicon, which brings more accurate tone mapping and better upscaling, among other things, but that remains reserved for the more expensive S99H and S90H models.

The same is true for Samsung’s vibrancy-boosting Quantum Dot tech, which once again is reserved for its flagship offering. A shame, yes, but unsurprising given the S85H’s price. You also, once again, won’t find the firm’s Glare Free screen coating included, which will be an annoyance if you use the TV in a room with lots of ambient light.

Despite the lack of big changes, the S85’s specifications remain very competitive at this price.

The set offers four full-speed HDMI 2.1 inputs, capable of carrying a 4K/120Hz signal for next-generation gamers. ALLM and VRR are also on board, so gamers are fully covered.

The only big omission is the set’s lack of support for Dolby Vision Gaming, or any version of Dolby’s HDR standard, for that matter. The S85H continues Samsung’s HDR grudge match, with it only supporting the HDR10+, HDR10 and HLG standards.

The set also doesn’t support FlexConnect, a bit of audio tech that the LG B6 does. This is a clever technology designed to let you create surround sound systems using compatible speakers on the fly. It includes the power to use the TV’s speakers as the central channel. Samsung, instead, pushes its own Q-Symphony solution, which aims to make the TV’s sound system work with compatible soundbars to improve audio quality and create a wider soundstage.

The latest-gen version of Tizen featured on the S85H is easy to navigate and includes a content bar at the top that splits your apps into categories, curated and arranged to automatically match your usage habits. All the major apps and services are present and running correctly, including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Apple TV and more.

Picture

In its out-of-the-box Eco mode, the S85H comes off a little strong. Playing our F1: The Movie 4K Blu-ray, the picture is a little sharp, oversmoothed and colours, particularly reds, are overcooked.

Switching to Filmmaker mode, things rapidly improve. Now, the cars’ movements become precise and rapid, losing the artificial floaty feel of its default setting.

Colours are also much more reined in, but reds still look a little overcooked, which leads to a series of quick tweaks before we finally settle on Filmmaker Mode, with the Warm 1 colour profile and Active Dynamic Tone Mapping on for the best results.

The TV’s colours are still a little bombastic compared to the more subdued B6, but the picture’s solidity and three-dimensionality ensure our eyes still favour the Samsung during the heated F1 race.

Switching to Pan, our standard peak brightness stress test due to its atypical 4000 nits mastering, it’s immediately clear that the S85H burns brighter than previous entry-level OLEDs we’ve tested and its main rival, the LG B6. The setting sun offers a wider range of reds and oranges that show up as pure white on its rival.

The only slight issue is that, once again, colours are pushed a touch too hard, with blues looking a smidge too vibrant and the picture a little too warm in general.

(Editor’s note – for our sanity, if a filmmaker is reading this, please master your next film in 4000 nits and shoot an incredibly bright scene we can use for testing. If our reviewers are forced to hear Pan’s butchered version of Smells Like Teen Spirit for much longer, there may be a mutiny.)

Switching to our 4K Blu-ray Sinners test disc, minor black crush creeps in. Although the scene oozes menace and has a wonderful sense of dread, thanks to the perfect blacks, parts of the gangsters’ faces lose definition and fade into the black background.

The S85H also has a tendency to try too hard. In a bid to show how bright it can go, the set artificially raises the brightest sections of the picture, but doesn’t always have the finesse to do it naturally.

Highlights on characters’ skin come up as pure white, losing some detail and adding a distracting artificiality, making it look like they’re in the spotlight on a Broadway stage, rather than drinking and dancing in a dingy Prohibition-era speakeasy.

The aggressive push then flattens faces completely by overbrightening them, losing shadow detail and some of the picture’s otherwise impressive three-dimensionality. The flaw isn’t uniform either, rearing its head at specific moments, which is distracting and breaks our immersion in its otherwise solid performance.

Switching gears to our 4K Blu-ray of Civil War and tagging in step-up OLEDs, including its big brother/sister the S90H, the S85H puts up an admirable fight, but there are obvious benefits if you can afford to go up a price tier.

The S90H delivers a series of modest improvements that add up to make a big difference. On the S85H, greens in a military camp’s grass fields look a little too vibrant, taking on an almost cartoony look. Skin tones lose their warmth and colour volume, coming across as slightly jaundiced during low-light scenes compared to the more lifelike, immersive S90H.

The flames in a burning forest flicker a little brighter on the step-up model, offering more detail, with a wider range of reds and oranges dancing in the brightest parts of the flames. Overall, we get a little more nuance, a sprinkle more finesse, and a generally more natural picture with the S90H.

The S85H does a decent, but not front-of-the-pack, job of upscaling our SDR True Grit Blu-ray. The picture retains the grainy, spaghetti western feel, but the picture is dimmer and a bit flatter than those we've seen on rival sets. Though it retains the intentional grain, some sharpness and detail are lost. The stitches in the characters’ woollen clothes look a bit softer than we’d like, too.

Sound

“Where’s the bass?” is the immediate question we ask, testing the S85H’s 2.0 channel, 20W, Dolby Atmos system with our F1: The Movie test disc.

Engine noise, the sound of the crowd, the boom of cars crashing and skidding across the track; all of it lacks the bite and impact needed to do justice to the scene. The entire sound feels weak, even by TV speaker standards, sounding more like a Scalextric race than a deafening, international F1 event.

And this issue is the sound system’s undoing. Moving to a night-time battle scene in Civil War, explosions are occasionally entirely lost as vocals and the higher-frequency sound of gunfire, bizarrely, overpowers them.

This is a particular shame as, while the speakers never come close to matching a moderately capable soundbar, such as the entry-level Sonos Beam (Gen 2), they do get some things right.

During the musical medley in Sinners, Sammie’s blues vocals don’t have the power or vibrato required to do them justice, but they’re suitably separated from the guitar part.

As the scene develops, adding more and more layers and modern music genres to the song, that decent separation continues, with each part remaining distinct, albeit underpowered. And the set does a reasonable job of offering a sense of direction as the camera swoops through the barn.

The S85H’s speakers are ultimately fine for watching the news or a casual series, but not quite good enough for even basic movie watching. You will need to invest in a soundbar or speaker system for that.

Verdict

If you want an OLED TV but can’t afford to step up into the mid-tier, it’s one of the top options currently available, the Samsung S85H is a very competent option at the price.

Its punchy, immersive and nicely three-dimensional picture is a cut above most of its entry-level rivals. There are undoubtedly palpable gains to be had in paying more for a mid-range OLED, however – ones we think are worth paying for.

SCORES

• Picture 4
• Sound 3
• Features 5

MORE:

Read our review of the Sony Bravia 7 II

Also consider the LG C6

Read our Samsung S90F review

Best TVs: flagship OLEDs and budget Mini LED sets tried and tested

Are you after some personalised buying advice? Or is there a burning question you've always wanted to ask the What Hi-Fi? team? Well, now is your chance!

This Friday, 31st July, we're going to be hosting a live Q&A right here on whathifi.com.

Ketan Bharadia (Technical Editor), Kashfia Kabir (Hi-Fi & Audio Editor) and I (TV & AV Editor) will be on hand between 1pm and 3pm to answer any hi-fi, home cinema and TV questions you might have.

Whether it's which turntable you should buy, a question of whether an OLED or Mini LED TV is right for your room, or which speakers will perfectly complement your amp, we're poised and ready to help.

We can also offer opinions on new and upcoming formats, let you know whether a deal you've found is really as great as it seems, and answer questions about our reviewing process.

Aside from diagnosing faults with your kit (which the manufacturer is better placed to handle), if your question relates to hi-fi or AV (we're not great at relationship advice), we can almost certainly help.

The Q&A page will be live on Friday morning, so you won't have to wait until 1pm to get your questions in.

If you can't wait until then, though, you can ask them in the comments below or email them to whathifi@futurenet.com, and we'll do our best to answer as many as possible in Friday's 'Sound Advice' section.

So, whether you've got a buying dilemma, a technical question or you're simply curious about the world of hi-fi and home cinema, we'd love to hear from you. Join us on Friday – and feel free to get your questions in nice and early!

MORE:

Want immediate buying advice? Here are the best turntables, best headphones, best speakers, best TVs and best soundbars you can buy right now

And here's the lowdown on how we test products at What Hi-Fi?

Premium TV brand Loewe has released its latest range of Antares 4K OLED TVs, boasting that the new premium sets combine "timeless design with genuine engineering innovation."

Loewe's Antares TV features OLED modules that the brand claims are individually calibrated before leaving the Loewe factory in Germany to deliver a "viewing experience that remains faithful to the filmmaker's intent."

The calibration comes instead of a next-gen panel, such as the Primary RGB Tandem OLED tech seen in the LG G6 or the QD-OLED in Samsung's S99H TV. These are rival next-gen OLED panel technologies that aim to boost picture quality in key metrics including peak brightness and colour accuracy.

Gamers will be pleased to hear that there is HDMI 2.1 connectivity with up to 144Hz VRR and ALLM. We're waiting for confirmation of exactly how many, however.

The TV features Loewe's os9 platform, which gives users access to most mainstream streaming services, including Disney+, Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV. There's also voice control included with the set, so in theory, you can navigate to what you are looking for without flicking through the menus.

There's an optional Antares 80W soundbar you can add to the system as well, which delivers "greater depth and immersion". That will cost you an extra £300, though. You can also use the TV's built-in speakers or hook up a separate sound system.

You can customise the TV with the optional aluminium onlays, which come in Silver or Black. Plus, you can choose to mount the TV on the wall, a rotating floor stand or even a motorised rotation system that is controlled with a remote. That gives you a fair bit of flexibility, although you will have to factor in the extra costs.

There is a range of sizes from 42 to 65 inches. The cheapest option comes in at £2500 ($3370 / AU$4815) for the 42-inch model, and the largest size will cost a hefty £4000 (around $5390 / AU$7705).

That's certainly the high end of the OLED market, and even the flagship 65-inch LG C6 TV comes in at a more palatable £3000 / $3399 / AU$4999. Still, it might be a more appealing option for the premium buyer looking for ways to customise the screen to their space.

The Antares star is the brightest in the Scorpius constellation, so we are curious to see whether the TV will live up to its namesake and deliver a dazzling picture performance.

MORE:

Loewe's new premium LCD TVs save on space – but cost as much as an OLED

Check out the best TVs

And here is our review of the LG C6

When Sony officially unveiled its 2026 TV range, there was plenty of disappointment that it didn’t include a new OLED model – much of it from me.

These days, Sony tends to work on two-year lifecycles for its TVs, so I wasn’t expecting a successor to last year’s Bravia 8 II; but a replacement for 2024’s Bravia 8 seemed a fairly safe bet – as did a successor to the A90K, which is now an incredible four years old.

The omission prompted some (again, mostly me) to theorise that Sony had in fact turned its back on OLED entirely, and that the Bravia 8 II could be the brand’s last OLED model.

Last month, though, we reported on rumours that Sony was bracing to launch a brand-new OLED TV. And now, those rumours have been all but confirmed by the appearance of this new OLED set on several of Sony’s own websites.

The listings, first spotted by High Def News (thanks, The Walkman Blog), confirm that the new OLED is indeed the Bravia 6. And, if the name wasn’t a big enough hint, the TV’s tagline – “OLED essentials, now within reach” – also confirms that this is indeed an entry-level OLED TV.

Naturally, I’m disappointed that Sony isn’t launching a new flagship OLED at this stage, but if the Bravia 6 is indeed Sony’s most affordable OLED TV yet, as the tagline suggests, that’s rather exciting news in its own right.

Full tech specs are currently absent from the live pages (another suggestion that they have gone live earlier than planned), but there are some nuggets of information to be gleaned.

First, the TV is listed in sizes ranging from 48 inches to 83 inches. That’s a broader range than Sony typically offers for its OLED TVs, but it’s also highly suggestive of the Bravia 6 using LG Display’s new OLED SE panel, which is available in exactly those sizes and notably not in 42 inches.

While it’s not confirmed, we believe this is the panel that is already found in the LG B6, a set we will be reviewing very soon.

Another encouraging detail is that the Bravia 6 sports four HDMI 2.1 sockets. Gamers (myself included) have long lamented Sony’s models being limited to just two HDMI 2.1 sockets, with that limitation even being true of the new flagship Bravia 9 II, so this is very good news.

The listing also confirms that Dolby Vision is supported on the video side, and that Dolby Atmos and DTS:X are present on the audio side.

Unsurprisingly, like every other modern Bravia TV, the Bravia 6 also features the Google TV platform, which can be operated via voice control (though it’s not clear whether this is via a microphone built into the remote control or the TV itself).

We do know the TV includes ambient sensors, with the listing promising automatic picture adjustments based on room conditions.

None of the leaked listings includes pricing, so we don’t yet have any indication of where the Bravia 6 will sit in Sony’s range.

We don’t even know, in fact, whether the Bravia 6 will even come to the UK. Sony has a recent habit of releasing some models in certain regions but not others.

If it does launch the new model in the UK, there’s no guarantee that it will do so in all sizes: I note that Sony Hong Kong is listing the Bravia 6 in 48-, 55- and 65-inch sizes, while Sony Gabon is listing the 55-, 65-, 77- and 83-inch sizes.

We have approached Sony UK for comment. We don’t expect the company to confirm the Bravia 6 ahead of an official announcement, but with multiple regional Sony websites now listing the TV, that announcement surely can’t be far away.

Stay tuned for more on the Sony Bravia 6 as we get it.

MORE:

These are the best TVs you can buy right now

Will the Bravia 6 be good enough and cheap enough to hit our list of the best cheap TVs?

Buying a new TV is a major investment.

As a massive home cinema fan, I know I'm in a privileged position; I’m constantly surrounded by the latest flagship OLEDs, and it’s easy to become desensitised to the huge prices that are attached.

That is why I always try to stay grounded when offering buying advice – especially during massive sales events like Black Friday and Prime Day.

Take the LG C5, for example. This Award-winning set was an absolute steal during recent sales, with the 55-inch model plummeting to £989; a massive £910 saving. But even at a heavy discount, it's still a serious chunk of change.

It's easy to get swept up in the hype, but if a new screen isn't in your budget right now, the endless onslaught of deals can be frustrating.

Fear not. If you're craving an upgrade but need to eke out the lifespan of your current display, I’ve got a few tips to tide you over. These simple, free adjustments – ranging from a bit of late Spring cleaning to a deep dive into your picture settings – can make your old TV feel almost brand new.

1. Update your software

First and foremost, you should head to the settings menu within your TV's operating system. Under "about", "system", or "support" (depending on your model of TV), you should see an option to initiate a software update.

There may also be an option to switch auto-updates on, which I would recommend doing to ensure your TV is always up to date.

While it's not always a miracle cure, a software update can help to fix sluggish software, and you might find that your TV suddenly has new features and an updated look, and apps may run smoother too.

2. Clear your apps cache

Another software-related tip that can help speed up a chugging operating system is to clear your TV's applications cache.

Usually found within the apps section of your TV's settings menu (I recommend consulting your TV's manual or searching the model number online to find the setting), clearing your apps cache will declutter unnecessary stored files, which should result in quicker loading times, prevent crashes, and even free up space in your TV's internal storage.

The best part is that you shouldn't be logged out of your apps, and any settings you've changed will also remain.

This is a quick, easy trick that not many people will think to do, but it can help fix those annoying app niggles.

3. Clean that screen

Here's one I'm guilty of not doing enough.

It's simple science: your TV generates static electricity during use, which attracts dust and fibre in the air. That dust build-up becomes more visible over time, which, unsurprisingly, can impact the picture performance of your TV.

Now, if you're anything like me, you'll only have noticed that your TV has gradually been building up dust when the light hits it just right, and then you'll be immediately horrified at how you haven't noticed this sooner.

But fret not! Simply turn off your TV, let it cool down for a short while if you've been using it (especially if it's an OLED, which tends to run especially hot), and then gently wipe the screen with a clean microfibre cloth to clean it, without damaging the screen.

If you want to take things further and wish to give your TV screen more of a deep clean, then you can invest in a screen cleaning kit. We're partial to this Screen Mom set in the TV testing room. Just be sure to spray the cleaner onto the cloth to avoid streaks.

4. Take another look at your picture settings

Diving back into the picture settings can make the TV you've been using for years feel brand new.

Trying out a new picture mode, or tweaking simple settings such as motion, can unearth improvements that you may not have known your TV is capable of.

If you've left your TV in the standard picture mode after unboxing it years ago, then now is the time to try out the movie mode, or delve into Filmmaker Mode (or, if you're using a Sony TV, the professional picture mode) for a more cinematic experience.

Tweaking the motion settings can help to smooth out judder, but if you have it turned up to the maximum setting, then you might find that turning it down will make your TV look much more natural.

Feel free to take a trial-and-error approach here to find the best settings to suit you; most, if not all, TVs we've tested feature an option in the settings menu to reset the picture settings to default if you get a little bit too creative.

MORE:

Check out our picks for the best OLED TV

As well as the best cheap TVs

And read our full LG C6 65-inch OLED TV review

I've been totally open about my love for the Sony Bravia 8 II. Not only is it the current What Hi-Fi? Awards TV of the year, it's also the TV I use at home.

Seeing as I've been reviewing TVs for almost 20 years, that hopefully says a lot.

The Bravia 8 II is also on sale right now, with the 65-inch version available for £2099 at Richer Sounds.

That's not the cheapest it's ever been (that would be £1979), but it's still a good price for what is an absolutely awesome TV.

If I were looking to buy a premium TV right now, though, it's the 65-inch LG C5 I would go for.

It's a step-down OLED rather than a flagship like the Bravia 8 II, but it's still an absolutely cracking all-rounder of a TV, and it's currently available for £1299 at Amazon.

That price difference is just too big to ignore.

In our review, we awarded the C5 five stars, praising it for delivering "excellent all-round performance" that punches well above its price.

It's one of those rare TVs that doesn't have any glaring weaknesses, making it an easy recommendation whether you're a movie buff, sports fan or gamer.

Picture quality is the obvious highlight. The C5 produces rich, vibrant colours without sacrificing authenticity, while its contrast is superb, delivering the deep blacks and bright highlights that OLED TVs are famous for.

It's also wonderfully sharp and detailed, with excellent motion handling that keeps everything from fast-paced football to blockbuster action films looking smooth and natural.

Gaming is another area where the LG excels. All four HDMI sockets support the full HDMI 2.1 specification, including 4K/165Hz, VRR and ALLM, making it one of the most comprehensively equipped gaming TVs around.

Now, let's be clear: the Sony Bravia 8 II is still the better TV. It's brighter, more vibrant and more refined, producing an even more cinematic and authentic picture. Its built-in sound system is also leagues ahead of the LG's, delivering audio that's fuller, weightier and more immersive than almost any other TV.

If money were no object, I'd still tell you to buy the Bravia 8 II.

But money almost always is an object. And when you're looking at an £800 price difference, the LG C5 becomes the smarter buy.

MORE:

Here are all of the best TVs and best TV deals available right now

And here are the best soundbars

Within the world of technology, there is often a misguided notion that newer always means better.

That is certainly true in the world of TV, especially with OLED sets. And OLED is a key tech on which readers, friends, family and random passers by often ask us for advice.

That has been especially true during this year’s Prime Day, when more than a couple of people have asked if there are any decent deals going on the two big-name flagship sets we recently reviewed – the five-star LG G6 and Samsung S99H.

If you’re dead to rights hellbent on one of them being your next TV, then I am pleased to report that, yes, there are deals running on both.

The best I have spotted is Richer Sounds’ deal on the 55-inch S99H. You can grab the 55-inch Samsung S99H for £2149 right now, if you use the TRADE250 code at checkout. You can then save a further £250 by claiming cashback from Samsung after purchase, letting you grab the cutting-edge set for £1899.

For the LG G6, numerous retailers, including Peter Tyson and Richer Sounds, have lopped £400 off the set’s original asking price, letting you grab one for £2099.

Both, in isolation, are pretty good deals, considering how recently the two TVs launched. But they’re not the TVs I, or any of the home cinema reviews team, would recommend right now.

Yes, they are top performers. The Samsung S99H in particular is a brilliant set that we describe as “the best Samsung has ever made”. We don’t give praise like that lightly.

The problem is that, even discounted, the S99H and G6 are expensive luxuries that are considerably pricier than a key rival, the Sony Bravia 8 II.

Our current Product of the Award winner, the Sony Bravia 8 II, is on sale at Richer Sounds for £1699, when you use the discount code, RSTV100, at checkout. That makes it £200 cheaper than the Samsung and £300 less than the LG.

Despite being older, the Bravia 8 II is still extremely competitive – we ran it against the G6 and S99H when we reviewed the new sets.

The upgrades offered by the S99H and G6 are limited to a smidge more peak-brightness here, a tad more colour-volume there. Even then, the Sony occasionally beats its newer rivals, offering a touch more dark detail and bit more finesse with its contrast in certain scenes. And that’s before we start talking about its better audio.

All of which helps to explain why we don’t tend to recommend buying the latest OLED TVs so soon after launch.

Year-on-year upgrades tend to be incremental (though there are exceptions to this rule). Still, TV makers launch new sets with incredibly high starting RRPs, just as the older models are plummeting in price.

And that’s the point we’re at with the S99H and G6. If you really want one of these sets rather than the older Bravia 8 II, we recommend waiting until later in the year, when the newer sets’ prices will almost certainly have dropped a little deeper. This usually happens in November, around Black Friday.

Until then, I strongly suggest looking at the much cheaper Sony Bravia 8 II. It represents significantly better value right now.

MORE:

These are the best OLED TVs we have tested

We rank the best 55-inch TVs

Check out our Prime Day 2026 home cinema deals live hub

If you’re looking for a new OLED TV over Prime Day, you will be pleased to learn that the five-star LG C6 we christened “the firm’s finest step-down model to date” mere weeks ago has had its price slashed.

Right now you can grab a 55-inch LG C6 for £1427.98 at Amazon. That is a solid £371.02 saving on the TV’s launch price.

But, before you go rushing to grab one, I’d urge you to check out the even better deal I have spotted on the older LG C5. You can pick one up on Amazon for £906.09. That’s a solid £993.91 saving on its launch RRP and the best price we have seen for it.

Why pick the LG C5 when the C6 offers a performance upgrade? It’s a good question, especially when our reviewers reported:

“[The LG C6] is a big upgrade by C-series standards. We don’t typically get too excited about processor upgrades, but the Alpha 11 Gen 3 has forced a brighter and richer performance out of the same OLED EX panel technology, and improved upscaling and shading subtlety. The extra brightness and richness have benefits across the picture, resulting in a more enticing, dynamic and three-dimensional delivery.”

The answer comes down to another key metric we always factor into our buying advice: value for money.

Yes, the C6 offers improvements on the C5. But, having run the two head to head in our test rooms, we don’t think they currently justify the difference in price. £423 is a lot of money, especially during a cost of living crisis. Even if you do have the spare cash, we can think of a better investment that will fix both TVs’ biggest weakness: their middling audio.

Neither set offers good enough audio quality for a truly immersive home cinema experience. So, even if you do have the cash to buy the C6 right now, we still recommend investing in the LG C5 and then using the money you have saved to buy a decent Dolby Atmos soundbar.

If you pull the trigger now, the five-star Sony Bravia Theatre System 6 featured in our best Dolby Atmos soundbars guide is selling for £399 at Amazon (save £150) right now. It will match wonderfully with the LG C5.

That price will even leave you with enough cash to invest in a cold pint, or iced coffee, to help get through the heatwave…

MORE:

These are the best OLED TVs we have reviewed

Check out our Prime Day 2026 home cinema deals live hub

Our picks of the best 55-inch TVs

On Monday, I wrote about how tempted I was to buy the 42-inch LG C5, which had dropped to a record-low £649.

I already own what I consider to be the best OLED TV available – the awesome Sony Bravia 8 II – but, at that price, the C5 was well worth buying for use in my spare room, where it could perform gaming and work monitor duties, as well as the odd streaming binge.

But yesterday, I updated that story to point out that the price for the 42-inch had dropped to £623. The previous price that I had thought was unbeatable had been beaten.

And now, would you believe, it's been beaten again: the 42-inch LG C5 is down to just £611 at Amazon.

That's a nuts price for a TV this good.

At £611 from Amazon, the 42-inch LG C5 is one of those deals that feels almost too good to be true.

In our five-star review, we praised its wonderfully balanced OLED picture, excellent motion handling, natural colours and superb contrast, all of which combine to deliver a brilliantly engaging and authentic viewing experience.

It's also among the most comprehensively specified gaming TVs available, with four full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 sockets supporting 4K/144Hz, VRR, ALLM and Dolby Vision gaming.

The sound is fairly ordinary, but that's a common weakness among TVs at any price and one that's easily fixed with one of the best budget soundbars.

Everything else about the C5 feels premium, making this deal particularly impressive. At £611, you're getting a TV that performs like a flagship for little more than the price of many mid-range rivals.

MORE:

Here are all the best TVs you can buy right now

And here are all of the best Amazon Prime Day TV deals

TVs are getting bigger, and bigger… and bigger.

Hisense and TCL have been selling 116-inch and 115-inch TVs for quite some time now – and both of those look fairly modest compa red with Samsung’s behemoth 130-inch RGB Micro LED TV, which was unveiled at CES 2026.

The sensibly sized living rooms of many British homes are simply not built for a TV of that size – and many will find a proper surround sound package to be a squeeze as well. So does that mean you simply can’t fit a home cinema system into your house?

Of course it doesn’t!

We have tested plenty of smaller TVs and soundbars with modest footprints; and what they lack in size, they make up for in performance.

In fact, I have built a complete system, which includes a 42-inch OLED TV from LG, a superb scaled-down Hisense soundbar package (which even supports Dolby Atmos), and a five-star Amazon streamer that is no bigger than your average chocolate bar.

All of these products are Award-winners and, thanks to Amazon Prime Day, they are now all hugely discounted. At launch, this set-up would have cost you £1418; thanks to some pretty astonishing Prime Day discounts, it can now be yours for just £862.

This trio of petite home-cinema gadgets strikes the three core pillars of any good home cinema setup: picture, sound, and content.

And if you are happy to use LG’s webOS software platform and don’t mind a slight decrease in picture and sound performance, you could ditch the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max entirely, saving you a further £40.

The 42-inch LG C5, a compact OLED TV, is the definition of small yet mighty. Sporting a panel that delivers inky blacks and perfect contrast with ease, the C5 is a superb choice for movies – it’s and our pick for the best gaming TV, too.

We applauded its sharp, warm and rich picture, which we felt was hugely cinematic despite the comparatively small screen size from the 55- and 65-inch sets we usually test.

Furthermore, its gaming features are second to none. With a maximum refresh rate of 144Hz – ideal for PC gamers and more than enough for console gamers – and four full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 sockets. The smaller display also makes this a solid choice for dedicated gaming rooms, and it can even be used as an oversized desktop monitor.

The only area that the C5 stumbles in is sound. OLED TVs, in our experience, often disappoint when it comes to their built-in sound systems, and it’s no surprise that a TV this small doesn’t break the mould.

That’s where the Hisense AX5125H comes in. Tongue twister of a name aside, this soundbar system delivers proper surround sound at a price as modest as its footprint. The package includes a soundbar, subwoofer and two surround speakers, all of which pair wirelessly and with very little fuss out of the box.

We were surprised by its weight, scale, and spaciousness, which (much like the C5) far exceed its size. Dolby Atmos is supported with two dedicated upward-firing drivers on the main soundbar unit, and there’s even an HDMI 2.0 passthrough socket. (Maybe Sonos could learn a thing or two.)

The LG and Hisense make a great cinematic space-saving duo – and, in truth, you could leave it there. But by adding the heavily discounted, Award-winning Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max, you get a pretty big streaming upgrade.

Amazon’s top-tier Fire TV Stick delivers 4K streams with oodles of detail and natural colours, and with an extremely comprehensive selection of apps, you’re spoiled for choice when it comes to content.

If you’re looking longingly at our best TV deals and best soundbar deals pages, but think that you can’t get involved with the Prime Day sales due to a lack of space, then hopefully this petite (and massively discounted) home cinema setup has changed your mind.

MORE:

Check out the best Amazon Prime Day AV deals live

As well as the best Amazon Prime Day hi-fi deals

And find the best OLED TV deals here

If you’re looking to upgrade your lounge AV setup holistically during Prime Day, then we have two bits of advice.

First, don’t go for the new stuff, especially when shopping for an OLED TV or Dolby Atmos soundbar. Most of the new hardware has just arrived and is still full price, or at best has had a tiny amount shaved off its RRP.

Second, ignore Amazon, at least for now, as the best deal combination we've found for a new setup is actually at Richer Sounds.

The deal requires you to use a combination of discount codes to get the best result, but once done, it nabs you a 55-inch Samsung S95F QD-OLED TV with the firm’s Award-winning Q990F Dolby Atmos soundbar system for £1836.50 – pretty impressive considering the two products would have cost £4198 mere months ago.

All you have to do is add the 55-inch S95H and Q990F to your basket at Richer Sounds and apply the “599Q990F”, “SAMS10PERCENT” and ”RSTV200” discount codes at checkout.

As an added perk, you will even get a Samsung SP-LFF3C projector thrown in for free with the deal. We haven't reviewed that specific model, so we can't comment on performance, but free is free, right?

What about the brand new Samsung S99H and Q990H? Yes, they have also both been discounted. Richer Sounds is currently offering the 55-inch Samsung S99H for £2149 (or an even better £1899 if you apply for cashback with Samsung after purchase), which is a decent saving on its £2499 regular price.

We’ve also spotted the Q990H retailing for £1299 (save £100) on Amazon. But that still adds up to a combined cost of £3198 for the two together.

While the newer models do offer noticeable performance gains according to our testing, they still don’t quite justify an extra £1371.50 investment, in our mind.

Especially as the S95F and Q990F are still very competent performers and among the best you will find at their current, discounted price.

As we said in our Samsung S95F review: “Sound aside, the Samsung S95F is every bit the five-star stunner. Vibrant, punchy and more crisp than a lifetime’s supply of Walkers Max, it’s a thrilling TV to live with and use, yet it also continues Samsung’s trajectory in producing more balanced and cinematically authentic TVs.”

And on the topic of sound, here’s our verdict on the Q990F: “The Samsung HW-Q990F nails it with a crisp and engaging sound and a whole new level of bass performance.”

So, all in all, a match made in heaven – perfect for watching the World Cup, then.

MORE:

These are the best OLED TVs we’ve reviewed

We rank the best Dolby Atmos soundbars

Check out our Prime Day 2026 home cinema deals live hub

We all love a bargain, which is why many of you may be looking for a stellar Prime Day deal on an LG C5.

And why not? The 42-inch LG C5, 48-inch LG C5 and 55-inch LG C5 all earned five-star ratings. The range also picked up not one, but three trophies during our latest What Hi-Fi? Awards.

And, while it has since been replaced by the five-star LG C6, having tested the two head-to-head in our viewing rooms, we can confirm the older C5 remains a very competitive performer and a valid option for any movie fan – especially when discounted.

At first glance, this is especially true right now, with pretty much every size of the LG C5 currently discounted. You can see a quick Cliff Notes of the best early Prime Day deals we’ve spotted on each below.

• Get the 42-inch LG C5 for £649 at Richer Sounds (save £750).
• Get the 48-inch LG C5 down to £759 at Richer Sounds (save £650)
• Get the 55-inch LG C5 down to £989 at Richer Sounds (save £910)
• Get the 65-inch LG C5 down to £1299 at Richer Sounds (save £1400)
• Get the 83-inch LG C5 down to £3052 at Richer Sounds (save £2480)

So, it’s a no-brainer, right? Time to click that magic checkout button and treat yourself to a shiny new OLED?

It would be all too easy to say yes, as those are solid prices on very good TVs. In fact, the 83-inch LG C5 deal is the best price we’ve seen on the giant OLED.

But, if you want my advice, I’d not pull the trigger yet, as I think the C5 will go down in price even further during Prime Day.

There are two simple reasons why. First, because while those are very good prices, outside of the 83-inch deal, we’ve seen all the other sizes slightly cheaper in the past. Not always by much, but £50 saved is a big deal for a lot of us right now, given the current cost of living crisis.

Second, because Prime Day tends to bring particularly impressive deals on C-series sets. Last year, we saw prices for the older C4 hit record lows across multiple sizes during Prime Day, and my instincts tell me the same will happen for the C5 this year.

Which is why, with Prime Day not even officially started, my advice right now is to wait and see what the actual event brings to the table. After all, you only have a few more hours to wait…

MORE:

Check out our Prime Day Home Cinema Deals Live Hub

We rank the best OLED TVs

Our picks of the best TVs money can buy

Prime Day 2026 doesn’t technically start until midnight, but that hasn’t stopped retailers from dropping a load of awesome early OLED TV deals.

And of that list, one in particular stands out; the first significant saving we’ve spotted on the five-star Samsung S99H.

That’s right, despite it just launching and receiving a glowing review from our experts mere weeks ago, Richer Sounds has already cut a significant wedge off the 55-inch S99H’s asking price.

You can grab the 55-inch Samsung S99H for £2149 right now, if you use the TRADE250 code at checkout.

But the savings don't stop there. You can then save a further £250 by claiming cashback from Samsung. That lets you get a latest generation, flagship QD-OLED for £1899, which is undoubtedly a tempting proposition.

If you’ve read our S99H review, then you’ll likely at the very least be tempted to snap one up – and we get why. As our experts said in our review:

“With a stunning, contrast-rich picture, improved sound system and a feature set that blows most other TVs out of the water, the S99H is the flagship OLED to beat for 2026.”

And if you want the best new OLED TV currently available, and don’t mind paying for it, then this deal is easy to recommend.

But, for those not 100 per cent committed to buying the latest hardware, there is one minor fly in the ointment. Specifically, the Award-winning, 55-inch Sony Bravia 8 II is also currently discounted.

Head to Richer Sounds and you can grab our 2025 Product of the Year winner for £1699. Yes, that’s not the best price ever on the set, but it’s a solid saving on its £2499 launch price. It also makes it slightly cheaper than the Samsung.

Samsung’s latest flagship OLED TV is better in some ways. Running the two sets head-to-head this year, the S99H is a smidgeon brighter and offers minor upgrades in some of the areas we are about. But it is still a very close race between the two.

Which is why we currently think the Bravia 8 II is better value for most people. Only serious performance chasers who insist on only buying the latest hardware will be better off spending that much extra for the S99H.

MORE:

Get all of our experts' recommendations in real-time with our Prime Day 2026 home cinema deals live hub!

These are the best OLED TVs we've reviewed

We rank the best TVs money can buy

I am a very lucky guy: the best TV I've ever tested (and I've been reviewing TVs for 19 years) is also now the TV I use at home.

That TV is the Sony Bravia 8 II, and it really is as awesome to live with as I had expected.

• View all the Prime Day deals

Why, then, am I eyeing up another TV in the Amazon Prime Day sales?

Two reasons: I'd love to add an OLED to my spare room for gaming, and this deal is just too exceptional to pass up.

£623 at Amazon is just unbelievable for a TV this good, and it takes it from a super-premium option that would have to be your main TV, to a good price to pay for a second room TV.

My plan for this 42-inch OLED is to use it as a gaming TV and a monitor for work.

Its gaming specs are impeccable: four HDMI 2.1 sockets that all fully support 4K/144Hz, 4K/120Hz, VRR and ALLM; a superbly implemented HGIG mode for super-accurate HDR in games; and a Dolby Vision gaming mode.

It's great as a monitor, too, with neat, user-created software available that enables monitor-style features such as auto-wake.

Even if you've no interest in gaming or productivity, though, the 42-inch C5 is awesome for TV shows and movies, with a really balanced and authentic performance that makes full use of OLED's perfect blacks and pixel-level contrast control.

Other than the limp sound (which I recommend solving with one of the best budget soundbars), this TV is great at everything it does, and I think it's just irresistible at this price.

MORE:

Here are all the best TVs you can buy right now

And here are all of the best Amazon Prime Day TV deals

I’m obsessed with broadcast delays (no, I’m not much fun at parties).

It all stems from Euro 2020, when my insistence on watching every match in 4K via BBC iPlayer resulted in several goals being spoiled by cheers from my neighbours and the revellers at a pub down the road.

Since then, I've prioritised low latency over outright picture quality when choosing how to watch major sporting events.

But I'd never actually tested the accepted wisdom around broadcast delays. So, with Sky launching its new Real Time feature for Sky Glass and Sky Stream, I decided it was time to find out which viewing method is actually fastest.

So, there I was, on a sweaty Thursday evening, setting up a second TV in my living room so that I could compare different broadcast options during the Czechia v South Africa match.

I needed to remove as many variables as possible, of course, so my two TVs needed to be identical. I therefore borrowed a 65-inch Sony Bravia 8 II OLED to match the one currently in situ in my lounge.

After ensuring that both TVs were running the same software and had the same picture settings, I plugged my now rarely used aerial into the ‘new’ TV (the one on the right in all of the photos sprinkled throughout this piece) and set about comparing that with the alternatives at my disposal.

This is what I discovered.

Freeview (aerial) vs BBC iPlayer

Before I get started, it’s worth noting that everything is delayed.

It simply takes time for anything that's filmed live to make it through all of the broadcast equipment, be encoded and transmitted, travel to and from satellites in space or through underground fibre-optic cables, and finally be decoded and displayed by your TV.

It’s commonly accepted, though, that watching the signals received by your aerial via a Freeview tuner is the least delayed option available. The BBC itself says that it takes 7-8 seconds for something happening live to reach your TV via this method.

So, how much slower was iPlayer than the TV playing Freeview? A hefty 23 seconds. That’s plenty of time for a goal to be spoiled by cheers from the neighbours.

Interestingly, I found no meaningful difference between BBC iPlayer's HD and UHD streams. If you're watching via iPlayer anyway, choosing the 4K feed doesn't appear to add any extra delay.

I also tested the iPlayer app on several devices – the Bravia 8 II itself, a Sky Stream box, and an Apple TV 4K – and the result was always 23 seconds, there or thereabouts.

It’s worth remembering that BBC iPlayer is the only way to watch the World Cup in 4K, and the feeds look terrific, but when immediacy matters, such as when England are playing, foregoing pixels for promptness is the sensible way to go.

Sky Stream/Glass

Time for Sky Stream, and the good news is that this was indeed quicker than BBC iPlayer. The bad news? It was still around 18 seconds behind Freeview.

That’s better, of course, but still more than enough time for a goal to be spoiled.

But, as I mentioned earlier, Sky has a special feature up its sleeve for dealing with this…

Sky Real Time

That feature is Real Time, which is designed to massively reduce the amount of lag experienced during big sporting events.

Sky has rolled Real Time out just in time for the World Cup, and it’s available on the BBC HD, ITV1 HD and ITV4 HD.

It’s worth noting that it’s not turned on by default. Once you tune in to one of the channels mentioned above during a World Cup match, you then need to click the ‘Real Time’ button that appears on the screen. Do that, and you’ll be switched to a special ‘RT’ version of the channel.

So, how much faster is Real Time? A whopping 13 seconds faster than standard Sky Stream, which makes it just five seconds slower than the Freeview tuner.

That’s close enough, I think, to rarely be an issue.

Conclusions, caveats and Sky Q

You’ve probably spotted that there’s a significant absentee from my testing, Sky Q, and there’s an easy explanation for that – I no longer have a satellite dish.

However, Sky has previously told me that Real Time brings Sky Stream/Glass to within three seconds of Sky Q, and the results of my testing certainly suggest that's plausible.

It’s also worth noting that there are plenty of variables that mean your results might vary slightly from mine. Aerial connections and Freeview tuners are remarkably consistent, but network conditions are not. Broadband speeds, router performance, wi-fi quality and even the streaming device itself can all affect how quickly a live stream reaches your screen.

Still, if you want to see how all of these various viewing methods compared, delay-wise, for me, here’s a little graph I whipped up:

Broadcast / reception delay

Here's how long, in seconds, it takes each broadcast type to show you a goal that's just been scored

Delay

Live

0

Freeview (aerial)

8

Sky Q (satellite)

10

Sky Glass/Stream with Real Time

13

Sky Glass/Stream without Real Time

26

BBC iPlayer

31

010203040

Delay Data

Product	Value
Live	0
Freeview (aerial)	8
Sky Q (satellite)	10
Sky Glass/Stream with Real Time	13
Sky Glass/Stream without Real Time	26
BBC iPlayer	31

This is according to my testing – bear in mind that your mileage may vary.

So, is Sky Real Time the saviour of sports fans tired of hearing celebrations before they see the goal?

Not quite. My tests suggest that a good old-fashioned aerial is still the quickest way to watch live TV, and Sky Q via satellite probably remains a touch faster too.

But Sky's new mode narrows the gap dramatically. Instead of lagging tens of seconds behind the live action, Sky Stream and Sky Glass are now close enough to traditional broadcast TV that, in most homes, they're unlikely to be the reason a goal gets spoiled.

For years, choosing streaming TV meant accepting that everyone else would see the goal first. Thanks to Real Time, that trade-off is finally starting to disappear.

Watch the World Cup from anywhere

If you're abroad during the World Cup and struggling to access your usual streaming services, you can always use a VPN (where terms allow).

MORE:

Here are all of the best TVs you can buy right now

And don't forget the audio! Here are all of the best soundbars

Can you believe that there was a time when Samsung didn’t feature a single OLED TV in its range? That all changed in 2022, when it put its spin on OLED by adding a layer of Quantum Dots and launched the excellent S95B QD-OLED TV.

Five years later, the brand is now reaping the benefits of the self-emissive panel technology. It now makes some of the finest OLED TVs around – take the five-star S95F and S90F duo from last year – and its 2026 lineup features more OLED TVs than ever before.

Of course, Samsung was never going to celebrate half a decade of OLED success without taking things up a notch, which is why it has introduced a new, rather unusual flagship model that takes inspiration from one of the brand's other most successful models.

That new flagship OLED is the S99H, a premium QD-OLED TV that oozes style and sophistication, thanks at least in part to its aesthetic similarities to the wildly successful, design-led The Frame LCD range.

Here, though, those smart good looks have been blended with the core abilities of the excellent S95F – with a generous helping of performance upgrades for good measure.

The result? A showstopping OLED TV that blends style and substance, and one that we think could dethrone the current reigning champion of our best OLED TV list: the Sony Bravia 8 II.

Price

We have the 55-inch Samsung S99H before us today, and it’s officially priced at £2499, though in true Samsung fashion, that launch pricing hasn’t stuck around for long. We’re already seeing a £100 decrease across all sizes, which puts the 65-inch version at £3199, the 77-inch model at £4199, and the 83-inch size at £5999.

Now, we need to clear something up regarding model numbers for different regions.

In the US and Australia, Samsung is calling this model the S95H. Despite the different name, it is an identical TV. In these regions, you’ll find the 55-inch S95H for $2500 / AU$3999, the 65-inch S95H for $3400 / AU$5299, the 77-inch S95H for $4500 / AU$7999, and the 83-inch S95H for $6500 / AU$9995.

That's not the end of the story, though. To confuse things even more, Samsung is selling a model under the S95H name here in the UK, too, but it’s a different TV. From what we gather, it is the same TV as the S99H, but without the metal frame-style design. In fact, it looks identical to last year’s S95F.

So, to reiterate, the S99H we're testing here is known as the S95H in the US and Australia, but that is not the same as the UK's S95H TV. Yes, we have given some constructive feedback to Samsung on all of this.

Got all that? Then let's consider the S99H's competition, which primarily comes in the form of Sony’s awesome, Award-winning Bravia 8 II, the 55-inch version of which, after around a year on sale, now costs around £1799 / $2600 / AU$3995. That makes it significantly cheaper than the S99H in the UK, but there's rough pricing parity between the two TVs in the US and Australia.

There’s also the 55-inch LG G6 to consider, which appears to be widely discounted to £1840 here in the UK, but is so far sticking to its $2500 / AU$3995 launch price in the US and Australia, respectively.

Design

We’re confident in saying that this is one of the most unusual-looking TVs to enter our AV testing room.

Samsung clearly took inspiration from its hugely popular The Frame TV when it came to designing the S99H, and while this television’s looks won’t be to everyone’s taste, we’re just pleased to see a TV company that’s willing to push the boat out when it comes to design.

The S99H features a two-layer design, with an OLED screen section mounted onto a slightly larger metal backplate, with a roughly 2cm gap between. Samsung calls this its “FloatLayer” design.

It’s hard to describe, but the effect it gives is essentially a floating OLED panel surrounded by a premium metal frame. Much like LG’s G-series, this TV is designed to be wall-mounted, and while we can’t do that in our testing room, we have seen it wall-mounted at various hands-on events leading up to launch.

In short, the S99H looks like a work of art when it's fixed to a wall, as the floating design becomes really quite striking and effective. Despite the two-layer design, the overall depth is just 2.8cm, which also helps to sell the futuristic look that Samsung is going for.

Unfortunately, the TV doesn’t look quite as suave when it’s set up in its tabletop configuration. Samsung includes two quite cheap-feeling plastic feet with the TV that feel somewhat at odds with the rest of the premium design, and the metal bezel and floating design look less convincing when it's not attached to a wall.

Samsung also includes two remotes in the box: a “traditional” button-heavy number, and a sleeker “smart” remote. The latter includes both a USB-C socket and a small solar panel on the back for easy recharging, though it’s frustratingly not backlit. Then again, neither are the remotes included with the aforementioned Sony or LG TVs, so we can’t knock Samsung too much here.

Features

Samsung’s penchant for cramming (almost) every imaginable feature into its TVs is, once again, evident with the S99H.

We’ll start with the QD-OLED display, which Samsung has managed to squeeze even more brightness out of since we last saw it on the S95F. It can now reportedly reach a whopping 2700 nits in the Movie picture mode, and as you’ll come to find out in the picture section of this review, there are plenty of instances in which we find ourselves being taken aback by how bright this TV can get.

Samsung has also improved its Glare Free coating this year, making it more effective at combating reflections and glare from ambient light. The matte display also makes artwork from Samsung’s Art Mode feature look more realistic for those who want a TV that blends into its surroundings.

In usual Samsung fashion, HDR support comes in the form of HDR10+ (including the Adaptive and Gaming versions), HDR10 and HLG, but not Dolby Vision.

Samsung's answer to Dolby Vision 2, HDR10+ Advanced, is also supported by the S99H. Unfortunately, no content is available in the new format yet, and we don't have a date for its arrival. Amazon is said to be working on adding it to Prime Video in the not too distant future, though.

Hardcore PC gamers will be pleased to learn that the S99H can handle signals right up to 4K/165Hz, as well as the console-friendly 4K/120Hz format, across all four of its HDMI 2.1 sockets. VRR, ALLM and HDR10+ Gaming are also all supported.

All of the connections are built into a side-facing nook in the rear of the TV, which is a departure from the One Connect box that has come with Samsung’s previous flagship OLED TVs.

One Connect does live on, though, and in a quite remarkable way: Samsung is offering an optional Wireless One Connect accessory, which is set to launch in July for £299 / $350 (AU price TBC).

This features four HDMI sockets, and because it connects to the S99H wirelessly, it takes the total HDMI 2.1 socket count to a staggering eight. That’s enough to support all three of the current-generation consoles, a gaming PC, a 4K Blu-ray player, a soundbar or AVR, and a streaming device, and you’d still have one spare.

The S99H also supports Dolby Atmos, both via HDMI eARC and through its built-in 4.2.2-channel 70W sound system.

Samsung offers two simplistic sound modes, Standard and Amplify, but there is also a range of Samsung-specific sound processing features based on its Vision AI platform, including Object Tracking Sound Plus, Active Voice Amplifier Pro, Adaptive Sound Pro, and AI Sound Controller Pro; all of which are fairly self-explanatory.

Q Symphony also returns. This allows you to use the TV’s speakers in unison with those of a connected Samsung soundbar, but it should be approached with caution – we generally find that a good soundbar performs best when the less capable speakers of a TV don't get involved.

AI also steps in to help with picture processing, as Samsung has implemented its 4K AI Upscaling Pro, AI Motion Enhancer Pro and Auto HDR Remastering Pro features, alongside a Real Depth Enhancer contrast enhancement system and Colour Booster Pro.

On the subject of AI, Samsung has applied its “AI for All” mantra in swathes here, as the S99H is positively dripping in artificial intelligence, right down to the AI button on the remote.

A click of this button brings up Samsung’s Vision AI interface, which can recognise on-screen content and provide extra contextual information. This includes related content, cast information and prompts to find out more detailed information about the show or movie.

Scrolling from this page brings us to a more generalised AI interface, from which Samsung allows you to pick your preferred system. Here you can ask for recipes, generate AI wallpapers, or ask general questions. The sky is, hypothetically, the limit.

This is all made possible by the same NQ4 AI Gen3 Processor found in last year’s S95F, as well as Samsung’s Tizen OS platform. The operating system has had a fairly comprehensive refresh for 2026, with a new content bar at the top that splits your apps into categories including entertainment, gaming and art, and the operation feels generally slicker.

App coverage is mostly excellent, with a wide range of international and domestic streaming applications. Samsung has added BBC iPlayer support since launch, and it joins the likes of Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV, ITVX and Amazon Prime Video.

Samsung TV Plus, which features hundreds of free over-the-internet streaming channels, is also included, and gamers are well looked after thanks to the presence of apps for services such as Xbox, Amazon Luna, and Nvidia GeForce Now.

Picture quality

It’s clear that Samsung has been working to tweak and adjust its picture processing over the years in the pursuit of achieving that final pinch of picture quality excellence, and the S99H is evidence that its work has paid off. This is Samsung’s most mature TV yet, and it’s all the better for that.

We opt for Filmmaker Mode as our preferred picture preset, albeit with a couple of tweaks to get the best performance possible: we switch Colour Temperature from its Warm 2 default to Warm 1, and turn the judder and blur reduction settings up to 1.

The resulting picture is extraordinary, and it makes any content we throw at it – from Blade Runner 2049, Civil War, Pan and Drive, to No Time To Die and The Batman – shine. We have the S99H set up next to the Award-winning Sony Bravia 8 II, and despite the tough competition, the Samsung delivers an unflinching visual feast.

Starting with the opening scene of Blade Runner 2049, we find that the S99H serves up oodles of contrast, which results in a deeply three-dimensional picture with superb highlights.

The overhead shot of the solar farm instantly draws us in, thanks to the superb detail levels mixed with the excellent sense of depth. We also approve of how the S99H handles the gloomy, bluish-grey sky, as well as the skin tones of Officer K and Sapper Morton.

In fact, the S99H makes the Sony Bravia 8 II look a bit green in our head-to-head comparison, and skin tones start to look a bit pasty, too. Sony TVs have traditionally leaned towards the cooler side when it comes to colour reproduction, even in Filmmaker Mode, but it’s interesting to see these TVs take a different approach, particularly as they use the same panel technology.

This is most evident in the scene from Pan in which the floating pirate ship enters a cavern; the Samsung runs rings around the Sony when it comes to maintaining low-light colour volume. Skin tones are noticeably warmer and more vibrant on the Samsung in this instance. That being said, the Sony is evidently better at maintaining shadow detail.

In fact, some shadow detail is lost entirely on the S99H, especially during dark sequences in moodier flicks such as Drive and The Batman. In both films, we find facial features and clothing textures occasionally succumb to darkness, while the Sony has no trouble keeping them visible.

At the other end of the spectrum, the Samsung takes the crown when it comes to delivering dazzlingly bright highlights; in fact, we’re adding the S99H to the list of TVs that we’ve had to shield our eyes from physically.

Reverting to the exceptionally bright (and critically dismal) Pan, we find the mix of punchy, concentrated highlights and rich colours stealing our attention away from the Sony entirely.

However, the more conventional-looking Civil War is the perfect test disc to highlight exactly what this TV does well. Everything from the night-time forest fire sequence to a helicopter gliding over a lake and the Charlottesville military camp looks fantastic.

There’s a real sense of nuance here that previous Samsung TVs haven’t always been able to capture. Foliage, for example, is wonderfully textured and detailed without looking over-etched, and while the colours do seem a smidge over-saturated compared with those from the Bravia 8 II, it's not to an extent that looks instinctively wrong.

The sequence that shows the journalists driving through a forest fire seals the deal here. The mix of detail, depth and contrast served up by the S99H is remarkable – the striking, bright flames contrast wonderfully with the dark background, and there is a real sense of intensity and warmth derived from how Samsung's OLED handles highlights.

We fire up the standard Blu-ray of Logan to assess the S99H’s upscaling capabilities, and it's a similar story here, too. Detail levels are superb, and if we weren’t so eagle-eyed, the S99H could almost have fooled us into thinking we were watching a 4K disc.

Colours are also nicely balanced, and motion remains solid, too. This TV excels regardless of what you throw at it.

Sound

It’s not just the picture performance that Samsung has improved. Sound has also been upgraded, which is a good sign after the S95F’s middling delivery.

We stick with Civil War, which highlights everything from dialogue to explosions, and even Dolby Atmos height effects. The rhythmic swooping of helicopter blades is delivered with a strong leading edge, underpinned by a pleasingly controlled dose of bass.

Moving on to the scene in which Lee and Jessie have a heart-to-heart conversation in a wooded area, we approve of how the S99H captures the subtle characteristics of their voices well, and overall, the dialogue is crisp and well-defined. The atmospheric effects, including birds chirping and leaves rustling in the wind, sound pleasingly spacious, too.

There is plenty of height and width to the sound, which is also evident in Blade Runner 2049. The sequence in which Officer K returns to his home from the police precinct is another example of how the S99H captures atmospheric sounds to great effect.

The booming audio adverts are placed with impressive precision and plenty of height, while the S99H somehow manages to beam the sound of the bustling street in a way that creates a fairly convincing sense of immersion.

While we’re on the subject of Blade Runner, we put the S99H through our usual chapter two stress test and find that Samsung has changed its approach. Where many of the brand's previous models have been quite bassy but a little prone to distortion, the S99H digs less deep but proves to be almost entirely distortion-free.

Sony takes a similar approach with the Bravia 8 II (and many other of its TVs), and we ultimately find it to be a sensible compromise. We would of course like more bass weight, but if that has to be sacrificed somewhat to reduce distracting distortion, then so be it.

It’s not all good news on the sonic front, though: like the S95F, the S99H simply doesn't go very loud. Even close to its maximum volume levels, this is an easy TV to talk over. The Amplify setting helps to negate this somewhat, but it does result in some dynamic compression.

The Sony Bravia 8 II also does a better job of organising the sound during scenes with lots of competing effects. The ending battle of Civil War is a perfect example, as the Sony balances dialogue, explosions, and vehicle sounds with care to create a more impactful and immersive soundscape.

With all that said, the S99H is still a big improvement over the S95F where sound is concerned, and it's ultimately a very usable (and even enjoyable) built-in sound system.

Verdict

There’s no other way of putting it; Samsung has knocked it out of the park with the S99H.

With a refined approach to picture tuning, a feature set that (with one key caveat) many TVs can only dream of, and a greatly improved sound system compared with last year’s model, the company’s latest flagship OLED TV takes the title from the S95F as the best TV the company has made to date.

The bold new design might not suit all tastes, and die-hard Dolby Vision fans may be disappointed, but we’re struggling to find reasons not to recommend the Samsung S99H to anyone considering splashing some serious cash on a flagship OLED TV.

SCORES

• Picture 5
• Sound 4
• Features 4

MORE:

Read our review of the Sony Bravia 8 II

Also consider the LG G6

Read our Philips OLED910 review

Best TVs: flagship OLEDs and budget Mini LED sets tried and tested

There’s a war going on for your living room. The premium TV technology of choice of the last few years – OLED – is under attack from a new, stunningly bright and vibrant foe – RGB Mini LED.

Every major brand has either launched its first RGB Mini LED TVs or is about to. Hisense launched its first RGB Mini LED models last year, in fact, but those were gigantic, 100+ inch sets, so a long way from a serious proposition for most people.

Hisense is also the first brand to submit to us a proper, mainstream RGB Mini LED TV to review, though – the UR9.

RGB Mini LED TVs are pitched at different levels by different brands, but Hisense is absolutely pitching the UR9 as a rival to flagship OLEDs. The price confirms as much.

So, what better way to benchmark it than against our current favourite flagship OLED, the Sony Bravia 8 II.

That, then, is what we’ve done. Over several days, we’ve tested the Hisense UR9 and Sony Bravia 8 II side by side, feeding all of our favourite discs and streams into both simultaneously, and judging them on picture quality, sound quality, features, usability, design and price.

This might not be a full RGB Mini LED vs OLED battle – the Hisense UR9 doesn’t represent all RGB Mini LED TVs, after all – but it is the opening skirmish in the broader TV tech war. And it's an eye-opening one at that.

Hisense UR9 vs Sony Bravia 8 II: price

The Hisense UR9’s pricing is interesting to say the least. In the UK, the 65-inch model we tested is priced at £2999, which places it in the same price category as brand-new flagship OLEDs.

In Australia, meanwhile, the UR9’s price of AU$3999 makes it slightly more affordable by local standards.

In the US, though, the pre-launch price of $3500 had dropped vastly to just $2000 by the time the TV actually hit stores.

Things are much more straightforward with the Sony Bravia 8 II, the 65-inch version of which launched at £2999 / $4000 / AU$5295, but can now be bought for £2299 / $2798 / AU$4995.

The inconsistent international pricing of the Hisense UR9 makes it a little tricky to judge this round, but seeing as we’re a primarily UK publication, and that we reviewed a UK sample, we’re going to prioritise the UK pricing and call this it in favour of the Bravia 8 II.

WINNER: Sony Bravia 8 II

Hisense UR9 vs Sony Bravia 8 II: design

The Sony Bravia 8 II and Hisense UR9 are both smart-looking TVs, but they take rather different approaches to design.

Sony has essentially carried over the styling of the A95L, resulting in a TV that looks purposeful, premium and monolithic. While it lacks the ultra-thin glamour of some rival OLEDs, the Bravia 8 II still feels like a flagship product, with its clean lines and understated aesthetic giving it a suitably high-end appearance.

The feet can be installed in either a low-profile position that leaves the bottom edge of the screen sitting just millimetres above your furniture, or a raised position that creates space for a soundbar. The downside is that those feet can only be positioned at the furthest extremes of the chassis, meaning you'll need furniture that's at least as wide as the TV itself.

The Hisense UR9 is a more practical proposition. At 4.5cm thick, it's chunkier than the Sony and doesn't have quite the same premium flair, but it is solidly built and neatly finished, with slim bezels and a restrained dark metallic finish.

Hisense has also made a couple of sensible usability-focused decisions. The centrally mounted pedestal stand occupies a footprint of only around 42cm, making the TV much easier to place on narrower furniture, and it too offers two height positions so that a soundbar can be accommodated beneath the screen.

The UR9's integrated Devialet sound system is more visually obvious than Sony's Acoustic Surface Audio+ setup, with perforations running down the sides of the chassis and across the top edge to house the side- and up-firing speakers. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it does contribute to the TV's more functional, engineering-led appearance.

Ultimately, neither of these TVs is likely to be bought primarily for its styling, but the Bravia 8 II's cleaner, more premium design gives it the edge. The UR9 is practical and perfectly attractive in its own right, but it lacks the sense of sophistication that Sony's flagship delivers.

WINNER: Sony Bravia 8 II

Hisense UR9 vs Sony Bravia 8 II: features

The biggest difference between these two TVs is, of course, their panel technologies.

The Sony Bravia 8 II uses Samsung Display's latest QD-OLED panel, paired with Sony's XR processor and a custom heatsink. Because OLED technology is self-emissive, every pixel can be controlled independently, with no need for local dimming zones.

Sony doesn't publish specific brightness figures for its TVs, but the Bravia 8 II is estimated to hit around 1900 nits in small highlights, making it one of the brightest OLED TVs currently available.

The Hisense UR9, meanwhile, uses an RGB Mini LED backlight with 980 local dimming zones. Rather than relying on a conventional white backlight shining through colour filters, it uses separate red, green and blue Mini LEDs to generate colour directly. Hisense claims a peak brightness of up to 3500 nits for the 65-inch model we tested.

On paper, then, these TVs take radically different approaches to creating their images. We're not going to award points for one technology over the other here, though, because what ultimately matters is how those technologies perform in practice. We'll get to that in the picture quality section.

There are other differences in the feature sets of the two TVs worth highlighting, though.

Hardcore gamers are generally better served by the Hisense. All three of its HDMI sockets are full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 ports, with support for 4K/170Hz, 4K/120Hz, VRR and ALLM. It also features a DisplayPort connection, which remains extremely rare on TVs and could prove useful for committed PC gamers.

The Sony supports 4K/120Hz, VRR and ALLM, too, but still offers only two HDMI 2.1 sockets, one of which doubles as the eARC connection. That limitation remains one of our biggest frustrations with Sony's flagship TVs.

That said, we'd probably take the Sony's two HDMI 2.1 sockets and two additional standard HDMI inputs over the Hisense's three HDMI sockets and DisplayPort arrangement. The latter will be useful to a niche audience, but many buyers are more likely to benefit from having an extra ‘standard’ HDMI connection available.

HDR support favours the Hisense, though. The UR9 supports every major HDR format currently in use, including HLG, HDR10, HDR10+ and Dolby Vision. The Bravia 8 II supports Dolby Vision, HDR10 and HLG, but, as is customary for Sony TVs, HDR10+ is absent.

The Bravia 8 II fights back with Google TV, which remains one of the stronger smart TV platforms available and features excellent app support. The UR9's VIDAA operating system is fast and responsive, but there are some notable omissions.

Most significantly, while the Apple TV app is present, it lacks access to the Apple TV Store and users' purchased libraries. That's a genuine disappointment, as Apple's movie store remains the best pay-as-you-go film streaming service available, particularly for 4K HDR movies.

Sony also offers IMAX Enhanced certification, its Studio Calibrated Modes for services such as Netflix and Prime Video, and Sony Pictures Core integration.

Ultimately, neither TV completely dominates on features, but the Hisense's broader HDR support, extra HDMI 2.1 socket and more advanced gaming specification give it the edge overall.

WINNER: Hisense UR9

Hisense UR9 vs Sony Bravia 8 II: picture quality

This is, of course, the section that really matters.

The Hisense UR9 makes an immediately strong impression. Once switched into either Filmmaker Mode or IMAX Cinema, it produces a rich, vibrant and remarkably composed image that rarely behaves like a traditional backlit TV.

Perhaps the most impressive thing about the UR9 is how well controlled its RGB Mini LED backlight is. Throughout our testing, blooming is kept impressively in check, black levels are consistently strong and the TV almost entirely avoids the brightness pumping, flickering and shifting backlight behaviour that often gives Mini LED technology away.

Extra-bright HDR content is a particular strength. Movies such as Pan look spectacular on the UR9, with dazzling highlights and bold colours that comfortably outgun the Bravia 8 II for outright brightness. Sunlight bursting through clouds and glinting off fantasy scenery is delivered with real punch and intensity.

The UR9 is also a very accomplished motion performer, and it combines its brightness with rich colours, excellent shadow detail and a pleasingly cinematic warmth that stops the image from ever becoming gaudy or overblown.

In isolation, it's one of the best backlit TVs we have ever tested.

Direct comparison with the Bravia 8 II reveals why OLED remains the reference technology, though – at least for now.

Despite its impressive brightness and excellent local dimming, the Hisense simply can't match the Sony's pixel-level contrast control. Counterintuitively, some of the brightest highlights against the darkest backgrounds actually appear more impactful on the Bravia 8 II than on the much brighter Hisense, because the OLED can render them without any concern about blooming.

More significantly, the Sony produces a more solid and perceptually three-dimensional image. Objects and characters stand out from their surroundings with greater depth and dynamism, while subtle gradations within shadows, clouds and highlights appear more convincing and refined.

We've observed this extra solidity from OLED many times before, but the side-by-side comparison between these two TVs demonstrates it particularly clearly. Next to the Bravia 8 II, the UR9 simply looks a little flatter and less immersive.

The Sony also has the advantage when it comes to viewing angles. While the Hisense holds up better than many LCD-based rivals, the sweet spot in which it performs at its very best is still relatively narrow. Thanks to its OLED panel, the Bravia 8 II performs consistently from almost any angle.

And while blooming is rare on the UR9, it isn't entirely absent. Difficult scenes such as the bomb-test sequence in Oppenheimer or the opening starfield of Alien: Romulus reveal imperfections that even this highly accomplished RGB Mini LED set cannot completely escape.

The Bravia 8 II, meanwhile, is simply sensational. Its combination of dazzling brightness by OLED standards, vibrant colours, exceptional shadow detail and razor-sharp definition creates an image of astonishing depth and realism.

What impresses most isn't any single strength, but how naturally all of its strengths come together. The Bravia 8 II consistently delivers a picture that feels balanced, authentic and effortlessly cinematic, whether you're watching a pristine 4K Dolby Vision disc or a much more humble SDR stream.

The Hisense UR9 proves that RGB Mini LED can get surprisingly close to flagship OLED performance, and many viewers will adore its combination of brightness, richness and stability. But when viewed side by side, the Bravia 8 II remains the more complete and convincing picture performer.

WINNER: Sony Bravia 8 II

Hisense UR9 vs Sony Bravia 8 II: sound quality

Both the Sony Bravia 8 II and Hisense UR9 are unusually sonically accomplished by modern TV standards.

That's important, because while we always recommend pairing a premium TV with a dedicated sound system, for many buyers that’s either impractical or unpalatable.

The Hisense UR9 certainly doesn't disappoint. Its Devialet-tuned 4.1.2-channel sound system delivers a presentation that is impressively spacious and full-bodied, with particularly convincing width and height effects.

Dolby Atmos soundtracks benefit from a strong sense of scale, while bass is deeper and more substantial than most flatscreen TVs can manage. The overall character is smooth, rich and easy to listen to over extended viewing sessions.

The UR9's audio system isn't flawless, though. Dynamics can feel a little restrained during big action sequences, and dialogue doesn't always have the clarity and expressiveness we'd ideally like.

We also found ourselves preferring the Standard sound mode over the more expansive Theatre setting. While Theatre mode undoubtedly sounds bigger, it can introduce a slightly diffuse and faintly echoey quality to voices that makes dialogue seem less natural than it should.

The Sony Bravia 8 II takes a very different approach. Rather than relying on conventional speaker placement, its Acoustic Surface Audio+ system uses actuators to vibrate the screen itself, effectively turning the display into a speaker.

The result is one of the most cohesive and convincing audio performances we've heard from a TV.

Dialogue and effects are tied directly to the action on screen in a way that traditional TV speaker systems struggle to replicate, creating a stronger sense that sound is genuinely coming from the people and objects you're watching.

Like the Hisense, the Sony also sounds surprisingly spacious, with effects extending well beyond the edges of the screen. Detail levels are excellent, too, and the Bravia 8 II combines subtle dynamic nuance with enough punch to make action scenes engaging and exciting.

Bass depth isn't as generous as it is from the Hisense, but it's impressively controlled, and the overall tonal balance is exceptionally well judged.

Ultimately, these are two of the best-sounding TVs you can currently buy. The Hisense delivers scale, warmth and impressive Atmos effects, but the Sony's superior detail, greater dynamic expression and uniquely direct delivery give it the edge.

WINNER: Sony Bravia 8 II

Hisense UR9 vs Sony Bravia 8 II: verdict

The Hisense UR9 is a hugely important TV.

Not only is it the first mainstream RGB Mini LED TV we've fully reviewed, it's also the first serious attempt to take on flagship OLEDs with a fundamentally different display technology.

And the good news for RGB Mini LED fans is that, in some ways at least, it succeeds.

The UR9 is bright, vibrant and impressively refined. More importantly, it avoids many of the traditional pitfalls of backlit TVs, with excellent black levels, impressively restrained blooming and a consistency that often feels surprisingly OLED-like.

In several respects, it's one of the best backlit TVs we've ever tested.

But while the UR9 proves that RGB Mini LED is a genuinely exciting technology with enormous potential, it also demonstrates just how high the bar currently is at the top end of the OLED market.

Ultimately, picture quality remains the most important factor in any TV buying decision, and it's here that the Sony Bravia 8 II retains a clear advantage. The Hisense has the stronger gaming specification, broader HDR support and spectacular brightness, but the Sony's superior contrast control, greater three-dimensionality and more natural, cinematic image make it the more accomplished performer overall.

This isn't a verdict on RGB Mini LED versus OLED as technologies, and it certainly isn't the last battle in what is shaping up to be one of the most interesting periods in TV tech for years.

Instead, it’s the verdict on the very best OLED TV currently available versus the first mainstream RGB Mini LED model. And while the Hisense UR9 proves that RGB Mini LED is ready to compete with the very best, the Sony Bravia 8 II remains the TV to beat.

OVERALL WINNER: Sony Bravia 8 II

Since news broke that TCL is taking a stake in Sony’s home entertainment business, there have been a lot of questions about the Japanese giant’s plans for OLED.

After all, TCL has famously championed Mini LED as a superior technology, even at the top end of the market, so it may not be keen on Sony continuing to push its rival format.

The Bravia 9 II and Bravia 7 II, which Sony unveiled mere weeks ago, are both set to use new True RGB panel technology, not OLED.

So there is some evidence that Sony may partially agree with TCL and doesn’t see OLED as its future.

We, however, don’t fully agree that Mini LED is always the better option. For us, OLED is still the top dog – at least when it comes to picture quality – based on our testing.

There is something about OLED’s pixel-level light control and the resulting perfect blacks that no LED set, Mini, RGB, or otherwise, has been able to beat.

Sony is a key reason we continue to push OLED sets in our recommendations, with our TV and AV editor, Tom Parsons, openly describing our current Product of the Year, the Sony Bravia 8 II OLED, as the best TV he has ever tested, period.

Which is why the team and I were delighted when FlatPanelsHD spotted a new leak, suggesting Sony is not only about to unveil new sets with the panel tech, but that they will also serve a currently underserved part of the market: small, affordable OLEDs.

The leak occurred when a (now removed) listing on Sony’s website for a new Bravia 6 OLED TV appeared.

This hasn’t been confirmed yet, so we are still firmly in rumour territory (we have contacted Sony for comment), but the details in the listing paint a pretty picture.

First, because the listing shows the range will feature a 48-inch size option.

Second, because the alleged use of MediaTek's Pentonic 800 chipset means it will have four HDMI 2.1 ports. That’s great news for people with multiple current-generation consoles and a Dolby Atmos soundbar, all of which require the advanced HDMI connectivity to run at full speed.

Third and finally, because the report suggests the Bravia 6 will feature one of LG’s new OLED SE panels, which are designed for cheaper OLEDs.

We haven’t yet reviewed any TVs sporting that particular panel technology, so we can’t speculate on screen quality, but the potential is certainly exciting.

Regular readers know that we have long lamented the ongoing lack of good, cheap, smaller OLED TVs on the market.

Only a select few companies offer 48- and 42-inch OLED sets. And those we have reviewed and recommend tend to sit in the mid-tier, so can’t really be described as cheap. Even on sale, you’re looking at around £850 / $850.

Right now, with Panasonic’s Award-winning 48-inch Z90B out of stock, there are only two real options to choose from: the 48-inch LG C5 and the 48-inch Samsung S90F.

Editor's note: There are 48- and 42-inch options in the cheaper LG B-series and Samsung S85-series, but we haven’t been able to review them, so we can't recommend them.

Having another contender appear from a known OLED maker, then – and one that offers all three of the things we want – is undeniably positive.

If it does appear and delivers the Award-winning, balanced performance for which Sony OLEDs have become famous in recent years, it could well be the cheap OLED we’ve been waiting for.

So, here’s hoping it’s true, and we get a 48-inch Bravia 6 into our review rooms in the not too distant future.

MORE:

These are the best OLED TVs we have tested

We rank the best Dolby Atmos soundbars

Our picks of the best Mini LED TVs

If you thought Sony was done revealing new TVs after its latest Bravia 9 II and Bravia 7 II announcements, then think again.

After an OLED-less lineup left us wondering if we'll ever see a new OLED from the company again, there is a glimmer of hope thanks to a leaked listing that mentions a new model – but it's not what we were expecting.

According to a post on AVS Forum (via FlatPanelsHD), Sony will launch the Bravia 6 later this year, and it is a step-down OLED that's set to compete with the LG B6 and Samsung S85H.

The Award-winning duo of OLEDs in Sony's current TV lineup, the Bravia 8 and Bravia 8 II, will remain on sale for the foreseeable future, with the Bravia 6 expected to sit lower in the lineup. In fact, it is looking like Sony will position this below its new Bravia 7 II and Bravia 9 II RGB Mini LED models.

Screen sizes are rumoured to range from 48 to 83 inches. Sony is also expected to use the A60 model number for this set.

Specific model numbers have leaked with corresponding screen size indicators, such as K-48A60 for the 48-inch model.

The post on AVS Forum also claims that Sony will use MediaTek Pentonic 800 chipset, which is the same one found on the new Bravia 3 II.

This should delight gaming fans, as the Bravia 6 will reportedly be the first Sony OLED TV to feature four full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 sockets.

The mid-range chipset and the name of this TV suggest the TV will sit in the middle of Sony's current range, which gives us a hint towards the panel technology it could use.

We expect it to feature LG Display's OLED SE panel, which has been specifically designed and tailored to entry-level OLED TVs, such as the Samsung and LG we've mentioned above.

The launch of a new "small" OLED TV could also signal the end for one of the longest-running TVs on the market.

The Sony A90K, which launched in 42-inch and 48-inch screen size options back in 2022, might finally be replaced by this supposed Bravia 6. Is this the end of an era?

For those wondering where this leak originated, we'll have to direct you to Sony itself. The Bravia 6 was explicitly mentioned on a wall-mounting compatibility page from Sony's very own website; you can find the webpage here, but all traces of the Bravia 6 have been completely scrubbed from existence.

Ultimately, we have to take all leaks with a pinch of salt, and nothing is set in stone until Sony confirms the Bravia 6's existence.

We've reached out to Sony for official comment...

MORE:

Read our full Sony Bravia 8 review

As well as our LG C6 review

And check out our picks for the best OLED TVs

Sony has finally announced its full 2026 TV range, and guess what’s missing? That’s right – OLED.

It was long suspected that the brand’s new flagship model would be an RGB Mini LED set to replace the Bravia 9 ‘standard’ LED model. And, sure enough, that’s precisely what we’ve got, in the form of the technically formidable Bravia 9 II.

What I wasn’t expecting, though, was no new OLED in the range at all.

No replacement for the Bravia 8 II is no surprise: Sony works on two-year lifecycles for most of its models, and the company’s awesome QD-OLED set is only a year old.

And I’m beyond expecting a replacement to the A90K, which launched way back in 2022 but appears to have been sentenced to lifetime imprisonment in the warehouses of Amazon, Currys and John Lewis.

I was, though, expecting the Bravia 8 to get a replacement. Now two years old, Sony’s W-OLED model is struggling to justify itself against last year’s LG C5 and the newer C6. Surely a nip-and-tuck upgrade would be worth it, both for Sony and consumers who want meaningful choice when buying a step-down/mainstream OLED TV.

Alas, though, there’s not a single new OLED in Sony’s new range, with all three of its existing models expected to run for at least another year.

And that’s prompted in me a dreadful thought: what if Sony plans never to launch another OLED TV? Sadly, the more I think about it, the more I feel that’s a very realistic possibility.

It’s all about profit, of course, which is understandable; it’s saddening nonetheless.

You see, Sony buys all of the panels for its OLED TVs from its rivals: it buys the W-OLED panels for the A90K and Bravia 8 from LG, and the QD-OLED panels for the Bravia 8 II from Samsung.

This, inevitably, eats into the money the brand can make from these OLED TVs, especially while it tries to compete on price with those brands that both make the panels and sell the TVs.

Meanwhile, Sony’s Home Entertainment division, which is responsible for the design, development and manufacture of its TVs (and home theatre products), is about to become a joint venture between Sony itself and TCL, the latter of which will hold a 51 per cent share.

TCL is, of course, the biggest manufacturer of LCD TV panels in the world. It’s famously uninterested in OLED where TVs are concerned, and while it is in the process of building a huge factory where it will produce OLED panels via inkjet printing, these will be for smartphones, tablets and laptops, at least in the first place.

So, once the Sony/TCL joint venture begins operations at the start of 2027, will it have any interest in buying expensive OLED panels from its rivals so that it can produce Sony OLED TVs from which it receives very little profit? Or will it entirely focus on producing TVs using the in-house panel technology supplied by the TCL side of the merger?

Sadly, it’s not hard to imagine the answer to that one.

Of course, Sony says it is very much not done with OLED, and I sincerely hope that’s true, as I’m yet to test a backlit TV that beats an OLED overall. But Sony also needs to operate as a business, which means making profits. And that, I suspect, means saying goodbye to OLED.

With any luck, I’m wrong, but if the Bravia 8 II really does turn out to be Sony’s last OLED TV, at least it’s an awesome one.

MORE:

Check out our Sony Bravia 9 II hands-on and Sony Bravia 8 II review

Here are all of the best TVs you can buy right now

The Sony Bravia 9 II is perhaps the most impressive backlit TV I’ve ever seen. And yet, after spending time with it in Tokyo a couple of months ago (here’s my Bravia 9 II hands-on), I still don’t think I would swap my OLED for it.

That might sound odd, considering the Bravia 9 II is in many ways exactly what the TV industry has been promising us for years. It’s dazzlingly bright, remarkably controlled, deeply cinematic and, in terms of colour reproduction, genuinely closer to a studio mastering monitor than maybe any other TV I have tested.

In lots of ways, Sony’s new RGB Mini LED flagship feels like a glimpse of the future.

But my time testing it also reinforced something I have long suspected: no matter how sophisticated backlight technology becomes, there may still be certain image qualities that only self-emissive pixels can truly deliver.

To be clear, I’m not writing off RGB Mini LED. Far from it. In fact, I think the Bravia 9 II has every chance of proving to be the best LCD-based TV ever made once we get a final production sample in for a full review.

Nor am I claiming that OLED is objectively ‘better’ in every regard. The Bravia 9 II can hit 4000 nits in its most accurate mode, which is an astonishing achievement, and Sony’s new RGB backlight system appears capable of delivering exceptionally rich, accurate colours at brightness levels that OLED simply can’t currently match.

But the more impressive RGB Mini LED becomes technically, the more I find myself frustrated by the ways in which it still can’t match OLED.

The big one, for me, is solidity.

OLED TVs tend to produce images with a density and three-dimensionality that’s difficult to quantify but immediately obvious when you see it. Objects appear more tangible and more firmly placed within the image. Dark scenes, in particular, have a kind of depth and stability that even the best backlit TVs rarely fully replicate.

My theory – and it is just a theory – is that this comes from OLED’s pixel-level contrast control. Every pixel is independently and precisely responsible for its own luminance, with no need for a backlight system working behind the scenes to decide how bright different areas of the screen should be.

Even the most advanced Mini LED TVs are still, ultimately, trying to approximate that behaviour using clusters of controllable lights behind an LCD layer. Sony’s latest system is probably the closest I’ve seen any manufacturer get, but I’m not yet convinced that any amount of dimming-zone sophistication can entirely reproduce the same perceptual solidity as self-emissive pixels.

Even the most intelligent of backlighting systems can also be caught out in a way that an OLED doesn’t have to worry about, too.

During my testing of the Bravia 9 II, I used the opening text sequence from Blade Runner 2049, which is notoriously difficult for backlit TVs. Here, the Bravia 9 II’s otherwise superb backlight controls visibly faltered, introducing uneven colouring and reducing the intensity of text that should have appeared vividly red.

Now, this was a pre-production sample, and Sony may well improve this before launch. I certainly wouldn’t judge the TV too harshly based on one particularly brutal torture test, anyway.

But the moment still felt telling.

One of OLED’s greatest strengths is consistency. There is very little sense of the TV ‘working’ to create the image. Highlights, shadows and colours simply appear exactly where they should, without drawing attention to the mechanicals behind the picture.

With even the very best backlit TVs, there are still moments when you become aware of the processing and dimming systems juggling competing priorities in real time. And once you notice that, even briefly, you are no longer completely immersed in what you’re watching.

That’s not to say OLED is flawless, of course. OLED TVs are dimmer than the very brightest Mini LED models, and RGB Mini LED’s advocates are absolutely right that the technology can produce more saturated colours at extremely high brightness levels.

I’m just not yet convinced how transformative that advantage is with real-world content.

Most movies and TV shows still aren’t mastered anywhere near 4000 nits, and while extra brightness headroom is undeniably useful in bright viewing environments, the best modern OLEDs are already more than bright enough for most people’s living rooms.

Similarly, greater colour volume is technically impressive, but much of that benefit stems from the ability to maintain colour saturation at very high luminance levels. If content rarely reaches those levels in the first place, the practical gains can feel somewhat pointless outside of demos.

That may change over time, of course. TV manufacturers clearly believe brighter HDR content is coming, and perhaps it eventually will.

But there’s another reason why I think RGB Mini LED matters, and this one is more immediate and convincing to me: screen size.

At 65 and 77 inches, OLED has become relatively attainable. But once you move into truly enormous sizes – 83 inches, 97 inches – OLED remains prohibitively expensive; and models larger than 100 inches don’t even exist.

RGB Mini LED could be the answer to that.

Sony is launching the Bravia 9 II in sizes up to 115 inches, and other brands are going similarly massive with their RGB Mini LED sets (that’s the Hisense 116UX in the photo above). I suspect technologies such as this will eventually make truly gigantic premium TVs far more accessible than OLED ever can. In that sense, RGB Mini LED may end up becoming the spiritual successor to projectors.

And maybe that’s where this all ends up.

For years, the TV industry has searched for a single technology that combines OLED’s contrast and pixel precision with LCD’s brightness and scalability. RGB Mini LED is clearly the closest anyone has yet come to achieving that.

But after seeing Sony’s awesome-looking Bravia 9 II, I’m not sure I believe there will ever be one universal winner.

Perhaps the future of premium TVs isn’t about one technology replacing another entirely. Perhaps it’s about different technologies excelling in different ways, for different people, at different sizes.

At least for now, OLED still feels like the most complete and convincing option for me personally – but I can see why RGB Mini LED might be the better option for others.

MORE:

Read our Sony Bravia 9 II hands-on

Here’s our Hisense UR9 RGB Mini LED TV review

These are all of the best TVs you can buy right now

After months of teasers and snippets of information, Sony’s first line of RGB Mini LED TVs is finally here.

The Sony Bravia 9 II and the step-down Sony Bravia 7 II use ‘True RGB’ technology, which the company claims can offer “up to four times the colour volume of OLED” – and outdo the brightness of Mini LED.

Sony follows a host of other brands that have thrown their hat into the RGB Mini LED ring, with Hisense, Samsung and TCL all delivering their own take on the technology.

Some brands use two-diode LEDs for their RGB models. These employ green and blue diodes that shine light through a phosphor layer to generate colours.

But Sony is using independently controlled red, green and blue diodes, which the brand claims will deliver a more accurate image.

The TVs are also powered by Sony’s proprietary RGB Backlight Master Drive Pro, which the company says, “drives each LED with high precision, improving brightness, reducing blooming, and producing purer colour than conventional Mini LED displays”.

The Sony Bravia 9 II is the brand’s flagship ‘True RGB’ model.

It claims to reach the same peak brightness levels as the BVM-HX3110 mastering monitor, which goes up to 4000 nits. No official figure has been given for either new TV model, but if it goes as high as the monitor, we could be in for a very bright picture.

The flagship model is also powered by "RGB Triluminos Max and Luminance Booster Pro", which Sony claims delivers "smoother gradation, and accurate hues at higher brightness levels".

You can see the pricing of both the Bravia 7 II and Bravia 9 II below.

The TVs should launch in late spring with pre-orders available now. And we should have US and Australian pricing soon.

Both TVs offer Dolby Atmos and DTS:X support, which gives a comprehensive set of surround sound options.

While Sony says both models offer a three-dimensional audio experience, the Bravia 9 II has the edge with the inclusion of up-firing beam tweeters. The company says this delivers more cinematic surround sound with "powerful depth and true immersion".

You will find Dolby Vision support with both models but, like all Sony TVs, there is no HDR10+ on the cards.

They both also employ X-Wide Angle Pro technology, which Sony says means “colours stay consistent even at wide viewing angles”.

Only available with the Bravia 9 II is the Immersive Black Screen Pro feature, which aims to reduce screen reflections.

Both TVs have a central ‘mirage stand’ which uses a layer of clever transparent material to conceal wires under the base of your screen. This isn't available with the biggest screen sizes, however.

RGB LED TVs have already been dubbed as a possible “OLED killer” by many because of the higher colour volume and brightness claims.

We’ll have to wait until we get both models into our test room to see if the proof is in the pudding – but you can read our first impressions in our Bravia 7 II and Bravia 9 II hands-on reviews.

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All you need to know about RGB Mini LED

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“Four stars! For an LG OLED!?” That was the reaction from many people when we published our original LG G6 review just over a month ago.

As reviewers, we are always unbiased, but we do get why the star rating caused such a kerfuffle.

LG’s OLEDs have been among the best of the best for many years, as the number of What Hi-Fi? Awards they've won demonstrates. So we've all become accustomed to them being awesome, almost by default.

Seeing a four-star LG OLED, especially this year, when Sony isn’t expected to unveil a new flagship OLED and Panasonic is only set to launch one, more affordable OLED, isn't ideal for anyone in the market for a new OLED TV.

In fact, I’d go so far as to argue there’s never been a worse time for the G-series to stumble. Especially, when the issues we encountered around its slightly grey black level and over-aggressive peaks made it hard to recommend, over the now cheaper LG G5, let alone the Product of the Year-winning, Sony Bravia 8 II from last year.

As we said in our review: “LG seems to have dug its heels in on the idea that brighter (and more colourful) is better with the G6 [...] But this new focus brings fresh weaknesses, most notably to black depth and cinematic authenticity.

“The raw materials are clearly here and, with some more considered tuning, the G6 could be among the best in class. As it stands, though, this feels like one step forward and another step back for LG’s flagship OLED range.”

No one likes being the bearer of bad news, but that was the reality, which is why we couldn't recommend it to anyone after an "as the director intended" TV experience.

And while we’re yet to test the Samsung S95H or Philips OLED911, based on our experience with previous sets, which have shown the engineers have a vivid flair when it comes to tuning, this LG fumble could leave a big hole in the market.

Thankfully, there is a silver lining.

Since our review was published, LG has been in touch, promising that the problems we encountered were due to issues with the software – issues that have supposedly been fixed in a newer version. So, understandably, LG wants us to test it out.

This is why, right now, we have a new LG G6 sitting in our test rooms, next to our reference LG G5 and Bravia 8 II, complete with the new software, ready for testing.

Next week, myself and TV and AV editor Tom Parsons will be doing a Groundhog Day (or a Palm Springs, if you prefer), re-testing the G6, to see if the new software does indeed fix the issues we found.

So watch this space. And if you’re thinking about buying a new flagship OLED, wait a little longer to see if LG’s flagship series can regain its five-star lustre.

We’ll be updating our review with our latest findings once we’ve finished running the new review unit through our rigorous comparative testing process. It's far from guaranteed that we will see any improvement but we're always willing to check and be sure.

If you have any questions ahead of us re-testing the G6, drop a comment on this page, and we’ll do our best to get you an answer.

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Ok, I'll admit it, I'm usually a bit of a sucker when it comes to buying new video game consoles.

I'll stand my ground for a couple of months, maybe a year or two if I'm feeling particularly stubborn. But after seeing the latest games available with shiny new graphics – not to mention some, ahem, *gentle* encouragement from friends, I'll usually cave and purchase the latest offering from the world of gaming.

So when Nintendo finally announced a sequel to the Switch, the second-highest-selling console of all time, this seemed right up my street. Nintendo is a brand I have a high amount of childhood nostalgia for, and for the first time, all of their iconic series would be playable in 4K HDR – starting with Mario Kart, no less, which hadn't had a fully-fledged sequel in over a decade.

So why am I holding out on the Switch 2, even though the price has been confirmed to rise in the future? Well, it's partly Nintendo's fault.

Ever since the Japanese gaming giant launched the revolutionary but underpowered Nintendo Wii, the latest in audio-visual technology has never been their main concern. The original Switch was a fine console, but it capped out at 1080p HD at a time when its rivals were making the move to 4K.

So it was a nice surprise when Nintendo announced the Switch OLED, an updated model with the premium panel technology available in handheld mode. As someone who already owned the original Switch, I initially felt little reason to pay full price once again just for a screen upgrade, but it seemed like a shrewd move from Nintendo.

But then I saw it in action. Catching my eye by chance at a family Christmas, I was immediately drawn in by the vivid colours, sharp contrast and overall premium look of the new OLED screen. Every time I went back to play my regular Switch, the LCD screen couldn't help but look dull, washed out and a tad lifeless.

So I took the OLED plunge – and never looked back. Despite the Switch's technological limitations, games always looked slick, bright and punchy. It was often preferable to playing on my much bigger, but admittedly non-OLED TV, even if handheld mode was capped to 720p.

When the long-awaited Nintendo Switch 2 was announced, however, Nintendo surprised some by making big strides in terms of power and performance. Resolution was bumped up to 4K in docked mode and 1080p in handheld, with support for HDR and 120 fps support in both. But there was one notable downgrade – the handheld screen was LCD, likely in a bid to keep costs down.

And during a recent gaming session with a friend, I was finally able to compare the two screens side by side. What was immediately noticeable was that the Switch 2's screen was notably bigger – 7.9 inches compared to my Switch OLED's 7 inches, making the OLED model look rather diminutive. The swathe of other improvements – 1080p resolution, VRR and HDR10 support – also played their part, with Switch 2 games in particular looking incredibly detailed, smooth and crisp.

But, especially when playing two Switch 1 games side by side – the majority of the library at this point – there was a slight lack of pop on the Switch 2. When it came to contrast and colour, the self-emitting pixels of the Switch OLED won out, with colours jumping off the screen and no backlight leaking brightness into black scenes. Perhaps I'm in the minority, but I preferred my Switch OLED – it felt like more of an immersive experience, rather than just looking at a screen.

As with most consoles, the Switch 2 will eventually get a mid-generation refresh, most likely with an OLED screen (or maybe a rival format like RGB Mini LED). Perhaps then I'll finally make the switch – but for now, it's a dim prospect.

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Sony's latest AV-focused flagship smartphone is here: meet the Sony Xperia 1 VIII.

It’s good news for audio fans as, like the brand's previous offering, the Sony Xperia 1 VIII includes a 3.5mm headphone jack, which is quite a rarity in smartphones and claims to "support high-quality audio using wired headphones."

It has enlisted the help of the firm's Walkman division once again to boost audio quality on this new handset.

Sony has also improved the full-stage stereo speakers, which the brand says will produce deeper bass and extended high frequencies.

The new smartphone's 6.5-inch, Full HD+ (1080 x 2340) OLED display has been tuned by Bravia, and it features a 120Hz dynamic refresh rate too.

It can also automatically adjust the brightness and colour of the display according to the environment, with Sony claiming it delivers a “bright display even under sunlight”.

If you are looking at the VIII and VII editions side by side, then the immediate difference is in the camera design. Instead of having the camera lenses in a vertical line as with its predecessor, the new Xperia model features a raised camera square containing three lenses.

There are plenty of AI features packed into Sony’s latest release, including an AI camera assistant which “suggests creative expressions based on the scene recognised”. If you don’t want artificial intelligence poking around with your photography, however, there is the option to switch it off.

The brand is also implementing a new ORE-inspired design, which has a textured feel like rough stone. This comes in Graphite Black, Iolite Silver, Garnet Red and Native Gold colour finishes.

In terms of chipset, owners of the Xperia VIII will be looking at the Snapdragon 8 Elite processor (backed up by 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage). If you choose the Gold edition, which is available in select countries in-store, then you have the option of upgrading to 16GB RAM and up to 1TB of storage.

Sony also claims you can get two days of battery life from the phone, thanks to the 5000mAh battery.

The new model is launching at the same price as its predecessor in the UK, setting you back £1399 for the 256GB version and £1849 for the 1TB Gold version. When we had the Sony Xperia 1 VII in our test room, we were impressed by its detailed audio and balanced picture. Its limited HDR format and frustrating operating system quirks held it back from true greatness, but it still received a four-star rating overall.

The previous Sony phone was outshone by the five-star Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, so it will be intriguing to see how the new model compares.

MORE:

Here is our review of the Sony Xperia 1 VII

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I will keep playing music through my phone's speakers for this very simple reason

Here it is, folks: our first full review of an RGB Mini LED TV.

We have previously run extensive hands-on tests of a couple of RGB Mini LED TVs – most notably the huge Hisense 116UX – but, due to their astonishing sizes and prices, we’ve had to do the testing outside our own facilities. In our world, that’s not a full review, so those TVs haven’t received star ratings.

The 65-inch Hisense UR9 we have before us today is designed to address the size and price issues that have until now prevented more people from hopping on the RGB Mini LED bandwagon.

This set, then, is leading the mainstream RGB Mini LED charge. And, while it’s a fair way short of perfect, particularly next to a flagship OLED TV, the UR9 is an impressive TV in its own right and a tantalising glimpse at the technology’s long-term potential.

Price

Price is always a hugely important factor whenever we test a product, but it’s particularly crucial to how the Hisense UR9 will be viewed.

In the UK, the launch price of £2999 places the 65-inch UR9 in the same category as flagship OLED TVs such as the new LG G6 and last year’s Award-winning Sony Bravia 8 II.

In Australia, though, the AU$3999 price puts the Hisense UR9 up against step-down OLEDs such as the LG C6.

Most interestingly (and confusingly), while the announced launch price in the US was a super high-end $3500, when the TV actually arrived in shops, the tag was a vastly cheaper $2000, placing the UR9 in an entirely different category, below even step-down OLED models.

Essentially, then, this Hisense is a rather different proposition in each of those three regions. Seeing as we are UK-based and it’s a UK sample we’re reviewing, though, it’s the UK price that we are primarily working with here. And that means the UR9 is going to have to face off against the mighty Bravia 8 II QD-OLED.

Design

The Hisense UR9 is not one of those modern flagship TVs that disappears into your living room.

At 4.5cm thick, it’s decidedly chunky by current premium TV standards, particularly next to the impossibly slim OLED models with which it competes on price.

The rear panel is completely flat, though, which makes the UR9 fairly tidy for wall-mounting, and the overall build feels solid and substantial.

The TV’s general styling is perfectly pleasant, too, though it stops short of being genuinely luxurious. Bezels are slim enough, the dark metallic finish is smart, and the overall aesthetic is clean and restrained, but the UR9 lacks the slick elegance and premium flair of rivals such as the Sony Bravia 8 II and Samsung S99H/S95H.

Hisense has made some nice, practical decisions, though.

The centrally mounted pedestal stand has a relatively narrow footprint of around 42cm, making the UR9 easier to place on narrower furniture than many similarly sized rivals. It also offers two height positions, allowing you either to keep the screen sitting low and tidy or raise it slightly to create extra clearance for a soundbar.

Rows of tiny perforations run down both sides of the set, while larger openings line the top edge. These house the UR9’s side- and up-firing speakers, which form part of its integrated Devialet sound system.

Overall, then, the UR9 is more functional than fashionable – a practical, purposeful TV rather than a particularly glamorous one.

Features and specs

The headline feature here is, of course, the UR9’s RGB Mini LED backlight.

Unlike a conventional Mini LED TV, which uses a white backlight shining through a colour filter layer, the UR9 instead uses separate red, green and blue Mini LEDs to generate colour directly. In theory, this approach allows for both greater brightness and more precise colour reproduction.

Hisense claims peak brightness of up to 3500 nits for the 65-inch model we’re testing here, alongside 980 local dimming zones and a native 170Hz panel, all driven by the company’s Hi-View AI Engine RGB processor.

Gamers are generally very well served – with one unusual caveat. Unlike most premium TVs, which have four HDMI sockets, the UR9 has just three. These are accompanied by a PC-gaming-friendly DisplayPort connection – something that remains extremely rare on TVs.

Is a DisplayPort connection more valuable than a fourth HDMI socket? We have our doubts, but to a small number of very committed PC gamers, it may be very useful.

All three of the HDMI sockets are 2.1-specified, though, with support for 4K/170Hz (and the console-friendly 4K/120Hz), VRR and ALLM. Some brands, including Sony, still offer just two HDMI 2.1 sockets on their TVs.

The UR9’s input lag is decent rather than exceptional. We measured 32.5ms at 60Hz in the standard Game mode, though enabling the Refresh Rate setting reduces that figure to a more respectable, though far from groundbreaking, 24.6ms.

The UR9 supports every significant HDR format currently in use – HLG, HDR10, HDR10+ and Dolby Vision – plus the intelligent Dolby Vision IQ and HDR10+ Adaptive variants that respond to ambient room lighting conditions.

It is also IMAX Enhanced certified, and the UK version of the TV features an anti-reflective, anti-glare screen coating that proves fairly effective at combating bright-room reflections.

Audio specifications are unusually ambitious by TV standards, too. The UR9 features a Devialet-tuned 4.1.2-channel speaker system with dedicated up-firing drivers, plus support for both Dolby Atmos and DTS:X soundtracks.

In the UK and Australia, the UR9 runs Hisense’s own VIDAA smart platform, while the US version instead uses Google TV.

VIDAA still isn’t the prettiest smart system around, but it’s fast, responsive and logically laid out. App support is broadly very good, too, with all of the major streaming services and UK catch-up apps present and correctly supporting the relevant picture and sound formats.

There are, however, a few frustrating omissions. Most notably, the Apple TV app lacks access to the Apple TV store and users’ purchased libraries, so it can’t be used for movie purchases and rentals. That’s a real disappointment, as Apple’s pay-as-you-go store is the best around.

While far less important for a TV, it’s worth noting that music streaming support is sparse, too, with Spotify, Tidal, Apple Music and Qobuz all absent. There are no cloud gaming apps, either.

The inclusion of Freely is welcome, though, as it allows live TV channels to be streamed over the internet without an aerial connection.

Picture quality

The Hisense UR9 makes a superb first impression. In fact, perhaps the most impressive thing about it is just how rarely it behaves like a traditional backlit TV.

Before getting into that, though, some setup advice is required, because the TV’s default HDR settings do it few favours.

When first fed HDR10 content, the UR9 automatically switches into its HDR Energy Saving mode which, despite its name, is surprisingly aggressive. Colours skew cool and bluish, motion processing is overly intrusive, and the overall image looks unnatural and overcooked.

HDR Standard and HDR Dynamic are similarly best avoided, both pushing sharpness, brightness and processing much too hard.

Thankfully, Filmmaker Mode proves far more successful. It delivers the most accurate and balanced picture of the available presets, and it quickly becomes our preferred overall option.

Interestingly, though, IMAX Cinema is also unusually compelling. While its underlying settings appear almost identical to those of Filmmaker Mode, it consistently produces a noticeably brighter and punchier image without obviously compromising balance or naturalism.

As a result, we would stick with Filmmaker Mode for dark-room and purist viewing, but happily switch to IMAX Cinema during the daytime or whenever we fancy a little extra visual intensity.

Once properly configured, the UR9 is an extremely accomplished performer.

Play 1917 on 4K Blu-ray, and the opening logos immediately demonstrate just how well controlled the TV’s backlight system is. Blooming around the bright white text is minimal, black depth is strong, and colours look rich, warm and nicely cinematic.

More importantly, the local-dimming system generally goes about its business without drawing attention to itself. Throughout our testing, the UR9 almost never exhibits the flickering, brightness pumping or visibly shifting backlight behaviour that can make many Mini LED TVs distracting.

That consistency quickly emerges as the UR9’s defining strength. While many bright Mini LED TVs constantly remind you that they are dynamically manipulating a backlight behind the scenes, the Hisense instead achieves a broadly very composed, stable and natural delivery that often feels surprisingly OLED-like.

Blade Runner 2049 showcases this particularly well. Black depth is consistently strong, shadow detail is excellent and subtle blooming is tightly controlled. There’s also impressive richness and stability to colours, especially reds, which look wonderfully pure and saturated without drifting into pink or magenta tones.

Extra-bright HDR material suits the UR9 especially well, too. Pan looks spectacular here, with dazzling highlights and bold, vibrant colours that comfortably outgun the Sony Bravia 8 II for outright brightness in many scenes. Sunlight bursting through clouds and glinting off the fantasy scenery of Neverland is delivered with real punch and intensity.

Crucially, though, the UR9 generally achieves this brightness without sacrificing balance. Skin tones remain natural, and there’s a pleasing cinematic warmth to the image – and it doesn’t drift into gaudiness.

Motion handling is strong, too. The default Film setting is decent enough, but switching Motion Enhancement to Clear results in noticeably smoother pans without introducing the distracting soap-opera effect or processing artefacts that such systems often create.

The notoriously difficult Matera cemetery and chase sequence from No Time To Die is handled particularly well, with impressively little judder to the panning shots and clean rendering of drifting smoke and rapid camera movement.

Dropping down to standard-def and SDR, our Kiss Kiss Bang Bang DVD is reproduced with pleasing warmth, strong detail and impressively clean upscaling. Colours are arguably pushed a touch too hard at times, but the overall presentation remains highly enjoyable and consistently cinematic.

For all of the UR9’s strengths, though, direct comparisons with a top-tier OLED TV still reveal the limitations of even this undeniably refined RGB Mini LED model. Despite its impressive local-dimming system, the Hisense simply cannot match the pixel-level contrast control of the Sony Bravia 8 II.

Extremely bright highlights against deep black backgrounds are sometimes handled slightly conservatively, presumably to avoid blooming. Perhaps counterintuitively, those bright white logos against pitch-black backgrounds appear more intense and impactful on the Sony OLED than on the much brighter, on paper, Hisense.

More significantly, the OLED TV produces a more solid and perceptually three-dimensional image across the board. Objects and characters stand out from their surroundings with greater depth and dynamism, while subtle gradations within clouds, shadows and highlights appear more convincing and refined, creating a more rounded look.

This isn’t a new phenomenon: we have documented that extra solidity you get from OLED plenty of times previously, most notably when we used the Sony Bravia 8 OLED as a comparison in our Bravia 9 Mini LED review. But it bears repeating for those who are choosing between an OLED and a backlit TV.

Viewing angles are another clear OLED advantage. While the UR9’s picture performance doesn’t entirely fall off a cliff when you move off-axis, the sweet spot in which it performs at its very best is surprisingly narrow.

And while the UR9 usually keeps blooming impressively well controlled, especially for a backlit TV, particularly torturous scenes can still expose its limitations.

The bomb-test sequence in Oppenheimer is a great example. From the UR9, there’s a slight general greying to the image, plus some visible glow around isolated spotlights in the darkness. The opening starfield of Alien: Romulus, meanwhile, reveals that the UR9 cannot simultaneously maintain truly inky blacks and perfectly intense star highlights in the way an OLED can.

To be clear, the Hisense performs well in these scenes by LCD standards, and many owners may never notice such shortcomings during normal viewing. But they do prevent the UR9 from truly matching the effortless contrast precision and dimensionality of the best OLED TVs.

Sound quality

Developed in partnership with Devialet, the UR9’s 4.1.2-channel speaker system delivers a surprisingly expansive and full-bodied presentation by TV standards, with particularly impressive width and height effects.

The Theatre sound mode is the most immediately striking of the available presets, producing a presentation that extends well beyond the physical boundaries of the TV and creating a convincing sense of spaciousness with Dolby Atmos soundtracks.

There’s decent bass depth, too, and the UR9 maintains good composure at high volumes, avoiding the harshness and distortion that can afflict many flatscreen TVs when pushed hard.

The overall presentation is smooth and rich in character, which makes the UR9 an easy and enjoyable listen over long viewing sessions.

It isn’t perfect, though. Dynamics are a little stunted, and action scenes lack some of the punch and excitement they deserve, while dialogue could be projected with greater clarity and emotional expression.

The Theatre mode also slightly overplays its hand at times. While its extra spaciousness is undeniably appealing, it introduces a faintly diffuse and echoey quality to voices, along with a slight sense of delay that makes speech sound less natural than it should.

As a result, we find ourselves preferring the Standard sound mode for most content. It still sounds pleasantly spacious and open, but delivers dialogue with greater focus and cohesion while maintaining good weight and scale.

Ultimately, while even a modest dedicated soundbar will comfortably outperform it, the UR9’s audio system is better than that of most TVs, even at this lofty level.

Verdict

In several ways, the Hisense UR9 is one of the best backlit TVs we have ever tested.

Most of the time, you’re not even made aware that it is a backlit TV, so good are its black levels, its control of blooming and its consistent, flicker-free contrast.

While it is possible to trip up the backlight, it’s quite hard to do so, and many buyers may never see an unsightly bloom in their period of UR9 ownership.

But while this first mainstream RGB Mini LED TV is broadly mercifully free of the flaws that generally afflict backlit TVs, it still can’t match the overall picture quality of the best OLED models.

The pixel-level contrast control of OLED brings benefits in several areas. There are the notably brighter highlights on very dark backgrounds that even accomplished backlit sets, such as the UR9, are too cautious to go all guns blazing with for fear of blooming. There are the almost flawless viewing angles, too, which the UR9 is a long way from matching.

The biggest thing, though, is the generally more solid, more perceptually three-dimensional image that OLED provides. Next to the Bravia 8 II, the Hisense UR9 simply looks flatter, less dynamic and less impactful.

Ultimately, as enjoyable and technically impressive as the UR9 is, we can’t think of a good reason you would buy it over a flagship-grade OLED, and that’s the level at which Hisense is pitching it – at least in the UK.

Of course, if you are someone who has a flagship-level budget for their next TV and a general aversion to OLED, the Hisense UR9 should be right around the top of your list.

If you’re a UK buyer, it’s probably a good idea to wait and see if we get a massive US-style discount before placing an order, though.

SCORES

• Picture 4
• Sound 4
• Features 4

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Where have all the Panasonic OLEDs gone? If you’re asking that question, you’re not alone.

We have had a wave of emails flood in from you, our eagle-eyed cinephile readers, pointing out that it’s pretty much impossible to buy most models, unless you’re willing to go second-hand.

And, blow us down, you are right. Richer Sounds, Peter Tyson, John Lewis, Sevenoaks Sound and Vision, Amazon and more all seem to have run out of stock of most of them. This is certainly strange, as Panasonic TVs usually remain on sale for at least a year, sometimes two, after launch.

In fact, going through all the usual suspects, we found it next to impossible to find many sizes of the firm’s current-generation Panasonic Z95B and Z90B OLEDs in stock. The 48-inch Panasonic Z90B, which not only impressed our reviewers enough to earn a five-star rating when we reviewed it less than a year ago, but also went on to win a What Hi-Fi? Award, is particularly hard to find.

We reached out to our contacts at the big AV retailers as well as Panasonic itself to find out what’s going on with its current-generation OLEDs. Sadly, the news isn’t great.

Commenting off the record, every store spokesperson we spoke to had pretty much the same response when we asked when and if the TVs will go back on sale: “We don’t know.”

When we went to get information straight from the horse’s mouth, Panasonic was similarly wary to give any concrete information, simply telling us that it has nothing to share about the OLED drought.

We haven’t, then, had any official word on the cause. It could be they are just really popular and sold out fast. Or, possibly more likely, it could be to do with the supply chain, and imminent deal with Skyworth. This will see the Chinese brand take over production, research and development, and sales of Panasonic TVs in numerous territories, including the UK and Europe.

We have chased for further information and will update this page when we hear back, but whatever the answer, the loss of two great TVs so soon is undeniably a bummer, especially the smaller Z90B.

While the 42-inch LG C5 is still a good alternative, there’s a reason we recommended the Z90B over it: the Panasonic set offers better picture quality. Losing it so soon after launch is more than a little disappointing, especially with the football World Cup, which will have many of us glued to our sets, coming up.

Fingers crossed we get good news about Panasonic stocks soon. If not, you can check out our picks of the best OLED TVs we have fully reviewed, recommend and can confirm are still on sale, using the attached guide.

We also expect to get a number of this year’s new sets, including the smaller LG C6, Samsung S90H and Samsung S95H, in for testing soon. So the gap left by the Z90B may well get plugged in the not-too-distant future.

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Samsung is making a statement with its 2026 TV lineup. The company is shifting things around in its range, moves which include demoting Neo QLED to its mid-range in favour of the new RGB Micro LED panel technology. And there are even more OLED options to choose from than in previous years.

With all of these exciting TVs primed to launch, Samsung kindly invited me to view some of its latest products before they officially hit the shelves. And this time, I managed to get some in-depth time with three of its latest premium TVs.

While I have seen some of the models mentioned here today in action at CES, and on a visit to Samsung’s headquarters in South Korea, this time I was allowed to sit with the TVs for an extended period, change the settings, and even play some reference discs straight from our AV testing room.

With that in mind, here's a quick roundup of my thoughts from hands-on looks at three of Samsung’s latest premium TVs…

RGB Micro LED could be a winner…

The first TV I spent time with yesterday was also the most fascinating model from Samsung’s new lineup. The R95H uses the brand’s new RGB Micro LED (which seems to be its version of RGB Mini LED) panel technology, and the initial signs are very promising.

I saw this TV at gargantuan sizes at CES, including 115- and 130-inches, but this time around it was the more real-world 65-inch model on show. While pricing wasn’t shared, I’m willing to bet that this will be a more attainable option to experience the latest panel tech compared with the huge TVs mentioned above.

Using a medley of reference clips we often use for testing, from films including Oppenheimer, Blade Runner 2049 and Pan, I got a flavour of what this TV can do. It’s safe to say that I walked away rather impressed.

A tricky nighttime scene from Oppenheimer demonstrated this TV’s local-dimming capabilities; I struggled to see any blooming, and black levels were remarkably good for a backlit TV.

At the other end of the scale, the blindingly bright Pan looked superb on this TV, with rich colours and dazzling highlights. There was also a sharpness and solidity to the picture that could – and I stress could, as we need more time with the set to cement this claim – give OLED a run for its money.

We'll need to assess this TV in our home cinema testing room to settle on a final verdict, but I certainly felt that this set left a strong first impression.

The S90H looks good, but my biggest question remains…

Sitting in the middle of Samsung’s premium TV range, the S90H is the closest rival to the five-star LG C6 that I have seen so far. Samsung set this TV up in a very brightly lit hotel room with all of the curtains open – and there was a reason behind this.

For the first time since Samsung introduced the display coating on the S95D, Glare Free is being introduced on the step-down models in the company’s range, which includes the S90H. And you’ll find it on every screen size, from 42 to 83 inches.

While it was unquestionably effective at combatting reflections and diffusing ambient light, it did disperse the light in a way that seemed to introduce a touch of greyness to blacks (this was most noticeable in the letterboxing bars of 21:9 content). However, this felt a reasonable tradeoff, and it certainly gives this TV an edge for daytime viewing.

That being said, Samsung remained coy on a hot-button issue relating to this TV, which is why I still have my reservations. Once again, the company refuses to clarify which OLED panel is inside this TV. While we have it on good authority that the S90H uses a WOLED panel, the previous generations of this TV have been subject to an “OLED panel lottery” in which Samsung used WOLED and QD-OLED panels interchangeably.

While the company maintains that the panel doesn’t matter, and that users will get a top-notch picture experience regardless, we know that these panels perform differently when it comes to brightness and colour reproduction; therefore, this remains a potential sticking point with the latest entry into the S90-series.

S99H: a unique OLED flagship?

At the top of Samsung’s range is the S99H, frustratingly called the S95H in the US. This might be the most interesting-looking flagship OLED TV we’ve seen so far this year.

The design is the most striking aspect of this set: it features a metal backplate that invokes the look of Samsung’s popular The Frame range TVs. On top of this plate is the OLED display, designed to appear as if it is floating. As a result, this TV really looks like nothing we’ve seen before.

It is designed to be wall-mounted, making it a competitor to LG’s W6 Wallpaper TV, although the benefit of the S99H is that it can also be configured to sit on a TV stand if needed.

We know that this TV uses a QD-OLED panel in its 55- to 77-inch sizes, but Samsung Display doesn't currently make QD-OLED panels in the 48-inch and 83-inch sizes that the TV is also available in.

During my demo time with the TV, the benefit of QD-OLED was certainly evident, as this TV presented an image that combined dazzling brightness and rich colours, alongside the superb contrast that we have come to expect from OLED.

Brightness improvements seem to be evident across the board with this new range, and I was impressed by both the Filmmaker Mode and Movie Mode picture presets with these TVs.

Further testing is, of course, required for all of these sets, so stay tuned for our full reviews coming soon.

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Read our Samsung S95H hands-on review

As well as our full Samsung S95F review

And check out our picks for the best Mini LED TVs

This week, we updated our best OLED TV buying advice, replacing the 48-inch Panasonic Z90B with the 42-inch LG C5 as our main recommendation for people tight on space.

Normally that would be a cause for celebration. In most instances, we only ever add a new set to our buying guides when we have found something better to recommend, after all.

That’s a key reason so many of our advice pages have entries that have been there for months, or even years in some very rare cases. If it’s still the best, regardless of its age, we’ll keep recommending it.

And to be clear, the 42-inch LG C5 is an excellent small OLED TV. That’s why we gave it a five-star rating and What Hi-Fi? Award last year. If you want a Cliff Notes summary, here’s the verdict from our review:

“The 42-inch LG C5 is the best small OLED TV we’ve tested this year. Like its predecessors, it offers a near-flawless feature set and solid, sharp, immersive picture quality, neatly packaged in a small room-friendly frame. The only minor issue remains its audio, which, while fine for casual viewing, isn’t powerful or precise enough for immersive movie watching. Plan for a soundbar in your budget, if you don’t already have one.”

The issue is, despite all its perks, it’s not the best small OLED we have tested in the past 12 months. That honour went to the also Award-winning, slightly larger 48-inch Panasonic Z90B.

We confirmed that when we ran all the small OLED TVs we had head-to-head during last year’s Awards season. The reason is simple: at the time, it offered the best picture quality of all the TVs in the room.

Though it wasn’t the brightest, it offered the most even-handed performance, with colours and movements looking wonderfully natural. So, unless you were a gamer with numerous consoles and PCs requiring multiple HDMI 2.1 sockets, it was our main recommendation.

As we said in our 48-inch Panasonic Z90B review:

“From sparkling desert dunes in sci-fi epics to cars thundering across a race track and heated conversations behind closed doors, every scene we threw at this set looked wonderfully authentic and weighty. If you want a 48-inch OLED TV and value cinematic authenticity, the Panasonic Z90B is currently the one to get.”

The only reason we have stopped recommending it is that stock appears to have evaporated atypically early, making it near impossible to buy, unless you’re willing to grab a second-hand or display set.

We have asked retailers and Panasonic if any new stock will appear, and why it has sold out so fast, and we will keep you updated on what we find out.

Either way, while we think the 42-inch LG C5 is still more than enough OLED for most movie fans tight on space, its ascension to our buying guide isn’t the same cause for unbridled celebration it might normally be. And the early loss of the Z90B isn't a good thing for buyers in general. There are very few good, small OLED TVs around in general, after all.

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RGB Mini LED is the TV industry’s big push for 2026.

That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s about to become the best or most popular display technology – but it is the one being marketed most aggressively, with some brands even positioning it as an OLED killer.

I’ve now seen a fair few RGB Mini LED TVs in action, and I’m not yet convinced. The headline benefits – higher brightness and greater colour volume – are fairly clear, but they don’t obviously outweigh OLED’s core advantage: self-emissive pixels.

As I recently reported, LG says “OLED is still king” – though given that its business is deeply tied to OLED panel production, that stance isn’t exactly surprising.

More interesting, then, is the view from Philips.

Danny Tack, Senior Director of Product Strategy and Planning at Philips, which is launching its own RGB Mini LED TV this year, puts it plainly: “We think OLED still is better.”

That aligns with what I’ve seen so far – and Tack boils the difference down to one simple point:

“This [Philips’ MLED981 RGB Mini LED TV] has 11,520 zones, but OLED has, like, 8.2 million zones – because every pixel is a zone. [That means] we can still have much deeper black, more accurate black.

“Although [the MLED981] is pretty good, pretty well tuned, and there are so many [dimming] segments, there will still be, here and there, a danger of a halo, and a border of the dimming zone.”

That’s the crux of it. Even with thousands of dimming zones, Mini LED still can’t match OLED’s pixel-level precision – so issues such as blooming and imperfect blacks don’t disappear entirely.

Philips is a particularly useful voice in this debate because it produces TVs across all major panel technologies. And Tack, in particular, has a reputation for prioritising picture quality over all else.

So why launch an RGB Mini LED TV at all?

As with LG, the answer is largely about size and price. As Tack explains, the MLED981 is aimed at “somebody who wants a big screen size, good picture quality, and a more affordable price – the bigger the screen size, the more affordable Mini LED is over an OLED.”

Accordingly, Philips is (at least initially) launching the MLED981 only as an 85-inch model – the size at which OLED prices rise sharply and become truly out of reach for most buyers.

Mini LED also still has two notable advantages: brightness and colour volume.

“You could say also in terms of full-screen brightness, Mini LED is better than OLED – 800 nits versus OLED, which is now reaching 450 nits – so under bright conditions, this might be a better offer,” Tack says.

“Colours [are also] a bit more intense, but then again, at an angle, compared to OLED, less so. There are lots of pros and cons.”

In other words, RGB Mini LED absolutely has its place – particularly if it’s a very big, very bright, and relatively affordable TV that you’re after.

But on balance, Philips’ view is clear – and it’s one I share: right now, OLED remains the benchmark for overall picture quality.

Could RGB Mini LED overtake it? Possibly – perhaps even this year. Sony, in particular, is talking a big game with its True RGB technology.

For now, though, OLED remains the TV technology to beat.

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There are certain things you always remember, no matter how many spins around the sun you’ve done.

For me, there’s the death of Optimus Prime in the ’80s Transformers animated film, the time my brother kicked me in the nuts so hard I got a nosebleed; and seeing an OLED TV for the first time.

The year was 2012, and I could still make it from one end of the Las Vegas convention centre during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) without a toilet break. Ahh, to have a 20-something-year-old’s bladder again…

I had been assigned to cover LG’s wares at the show that year. Top of the list was a new 55-inch giant OLED TV. Sure, there had been OLEDs at past shows. But they were dinky by comparison, and I hadn’t had a chance to check them out. So I was going in fresh.

As always, LG made a big song and dance about the technology, so I probably should have been more excited than I was at the time. Truthfully, slightly knackered from the flight and cantankerous over the ever terrible wi-fi in the show’s press room, I didn’t believe any of the hype until I actually saw it.

And there was one big reason for that. Even in the less than ideal show conditions, a disappointing HD resolution and terrible test footage, it delivered something I’d never seen a TV do before: deliver perfect blacks.

In AV terms, what then ensued was that love at first sight scene every romcom seems to have. The sound of other visitors screaming and grunting as they pushed past morphed into birdsong, and the stench of stale beer (at least that’s what I hope it was) was replaced with the smell of freshly cut grass. It was magical.

Since then, right up to the present day, while we have sometimes had our four-star tiffs, OLED and I have managed to keep that spark alive.

What’s the secret to our longevity, you ask? Well, it’s pretty simple: with its perfect blacks, OLED still gives me something no other TV or projector can.

That’s why, even though I will wholeheartedly recommend LEDs and Mini LEDs to people on a budget, or those with certain specific requirements, if a serious cinephile asks what the best option is, from a pure performance and picture-quality perspective, I almost certainly point them to an OLED.

When an OLED is watched in a dark room, with a decent sound system, the added contrast and oomph the blacks give, when deployed with finesse, is magical. This is a key reason the TV Product of the Year winner at the What Hi-Fi? Awards has generally been an OLED for more than half a decade.

But it’s also why this year, in particular, I’ve had some pretty loud alarm bells go off. For reasons unbeknownst to me, TV makers seem not only to have forgotten the importance of OLED’s black levels, but are instead focused on boosting another key metric: peak brightness.

Before regular readers say anything, yes, I am aware OLED TV makers chasing a high nit count isn’t anything new. In fact, you could argue the craze started back in 2022 with the launch of QD-OLED on the Samsung S95B. But here, the focus was as much on improving colours as it was “fixing” OLED’s perceived weakness, its inability to offer as high operating and peak-brightness levels as LED, especially Mini LED, rivals.

For me, the overt focus on brightness over all else only really started gaining proper pace with the arrival of Micro Lens Array, LG Display’s short-lived rival to QD-OLED. It's a technology which has since been replaced by Primary RGB Tandem OLED.

It was MLA that sparked the ongoing nit wars, where every TV maker seems to be fighting to have the highest figure possible, regardless of whether it actually improves the picture (at least in my mind).

We have detailed why this is problematic before, but the short version is that peak brightness is important, but only one of many ingredients that make for tasty picture quality. If you add too much to the pot, you risk ruining the flavour; as with most things, balance is key.

The reason I am particularly concerned now is that, while I had seen the fight for brightness take away focus from other aspects of OLED sets’ performance before – MLA’s tendency to lose colour volume in low-light scenes, for example – the black level was generally left alone.

That changed in 2026 when we saw not one but two new TVs that didn’t nail blacks, pass through our test rooms.

First was the LG C6, which felt like a minor blip, with certain scenes looking a smidge grey until we adjusted the Near Black Detail settings. As we said in our review:

“The Near Black Detail adjustment proves particularly useful, too. Out of the box, the C6 occasionally prioritises shadow detail slightly over absolute black depth. In the opening moments of Alien: Romulus, for example, the blackness of space can appear just a touch raised compared with the LG C5. Dropping Near Black Detail to -1 neatly restores the sort of inky blacks OLED fans expect.”

Then the issue was repeated – to a far worse degree – on the LG G6. We found: “It seems as though LG has chosen to raise the black floor slightly, perhaps to increase shadow detail, but we regularly find that what should be perfect black looks slightly grey.”

And we then couldn’t fix it, with the -1 Near Dark Detail still looking a touch grey and -2 removing some dark detail.

To be clear, they are still good (great in the C6’s case) TVs. But my alarm bells are in full warning mode; I really hope it isn’t the start of a trend for OLED TVs in 2026. This is a brilliant TV tech that, in my mind, should continue to play to its greatest strength, rather than continue chasing Mini LED-level peak-brightness numbers.

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It’s early days for 2026 TVs, with some brands (Sony, for one) yet to reveal their full ranges – but I’ve already spotted a front-runner for TV of the year, and it’s probably not the model you’re expecting.

The model I’m talking about is the Philips OLED951.

In picture terms, this is Philips’ flagship TV for 2026, and while many brands seem to be taking a fairly evolutionary approach to their OLEDs this year, Philips is really pushing the boat out.

On paper, it ticks almost every box: picture performance, gaming features, spectacular flourishes and future-proofing.

Of course, there’s no guarantee that the on-paper promise will translate to real-world perfection, and we’ll have to conduct a full review before we can deliver our verdict on that.

But, having now briefly seen it in action, I think there’s a good chance the OLED951 can really deliver.

Here, then, are seven reasons I think this Philips flagship OLED could end up being the TV of 2026.

It’s an OLED

An obvious one this, but the Philips OLED951 is… well… an OLED.

That’s a good thing in my book. The RGB Mini LED invasion is upon us, and there are some very good RGB Mini LEDs already out and on the way (including one from Philips), but I’m yet to see any evidence that the technology’s various strengths are a match for the pixel-level contrast control of OLED.

Perfect black pixels next to bright white or coloured ones make for unbeatable contrast, which has benefits right across the picture, particularly in terms of solidity and perceived three-dimensionality.

An OLED-beating RGB Mini LED TV might one day materialise – I’m open to that – but I predict that in 2026, at least, the best TV will be an OLED.

Brighter than the LG G6

We’ve written plenty of times about how brightness is a long way from the most important thing for a TV to deliver.

Still, lots of brightness headroom can be useful for a TV to deliver the goods in a brightly lit room. It also adds a degree of future-proofing, just in case Hollywood suddenly starts mastering lots of movies to 4000 nits (something I see very little evidence of, for what it’s worth).

Brightness isn’t going to be an issue for the OLED951, though, because Philips claims it can hit a peak brightness figure of 4500 nits, and a full-screen brightness of 400 nits.

Those are improvements over last year’s already very bright OLED950 of 800 and 50 nits, respectively.

Those figures, if achieved, will also make the OLED951 a good deal brighter than the LG G6, which shares a ‘Meta 4.0’ Primary RGB Tandem OLED panel with it – something that Philips says is down to its unique picture engine.

But will those figures be achieved? Having seen the OLED951 running against the OLED950 (see the photo above), it certainly looks like it. The OLED951 looked so much brighter that the figures given actually seem conservative.

And this isn’t just brightness for the sake of brightness, either, because, as we’ve seen in our own testing, when increased brightness is combined with OLED’s perfect black and pixel-level light control, the result is even greater contrast, which, as mentioned above, tends to make images look more solid and three-dimensional.

That was certainly the case in the side-by-side demo – the OLED951 really popped.

Four HDMI 2.1 sockets and custom settings for every game

Finally, Philips’ flagship OLEDs (and most of its other models, in fact) will have four HDMI 2.1 sockets.

These will all be able to accept gaming signals of up to 4K/165Hz, complete with VRR and HDR, including in the Dolby Vision format.

Sure, LG and Samsung have been offering OLEDs with four HDMI 2.1 sockets for years, but when combined with everything else the OLED951 offers (more of which I’ll get to), that still makes it a tantalising proposition for gamers.

Another feature that will appeal to gamers like me is the ability to customise settings for individual titles.

These settings can be designed to improve the picture (extra brightness and vibrancy for Rocket League, perhaps, and a darker, broodier presentation for Alan Wake II), give you an advantage over online rivals (through an onscreen crosshair or enhanced shadow detail, for instance), or deliver geeky gaming info such as the current frame rate.

If you’re a gaming picture quality obsessive, that’s very neat.

Ambilight and AmbiScape

Look, I know it’s not to everyone’s taste, and I certainly don’t think it makes sense for all content, but Ambilight – which extends the onscreen action onto the wall around the TV in the form of coloured light – remains a spectacular feature.

And now your room lights can be synchronised with what you’re watching more easily, too. This isn’t an entirely new feature, but previously, you needed Hue bulbs.

Now, thanks to the new AmbiScape feature, lights that conform to the Matter standard will be supported – and there are loads of those. That will make it far more affordable and flexible to get your lounge lights in on the Ambilight action.

Again, this won’t be an upgrade for all content, but play the aforementioned Rocket League, and it’s impossible not to get an extra thrill when a goal creates a flash of brilliant colour right across your room. It works brilliantly for colourful animated movies, too, such as the Spider-Verse series.

Dolby Vision 2

Will Dolby Vision 2 be a big deal in 2026? There’s a strong possibility it won’t be, as we’ve still had no news on actual content in the format.

It is coming at some point, though, and our first looks at it in action have been very impressive, so if you’re buying a TV this year, it’s well worth considering going for a model that supports the format.

That makes Philips’ new OLED951, OLED911 and OLED811 particularly appealing, because they will be the first OLED TVs to support Dolby Vision 2. In fact, they will also support the even more advanced Dolby Vision 2 Max, which adds, among other things, the very interesting Authentic Motion feature.

The Dolby Vision 2 and 2 Max support will be added via a post-launch software update (October is the current ETA), but don’t go thinking that 2026 OLEDs from other brands will follow suit: Dolby Vision 2 also needs to be baked into the hardware, and based on what we’ve been told so far, this hasn’t been done in the case of, for example, LG’s new models.

Excellent anti-reflection tech

Fighting reflections is a key theme in current TV development.

It’s probably fair to say that Samsung is best at it: its top OLEDs suppress reflections incredibly effectively.

But it does this by using a matte panel, and that tends to make blacks look quite grey in a well-lit room.

The new Meta 4.0 OLED panel from LG Display, though, suppresses more reflections than the previous version while still retaining the glossy finish that allows it to produce almost perfect blacks, even in strong ambient light.

According to official figures, the reflectance has been reduced from 0.6 per cent to 0.3 per cent. That doesn’t sound like a huge change, but in reality, it makes a clear difference.

We first saw this new anti-reflection tech in the G6, which massively impressed us with its combination of reflection suppression and deep blacks, and it looked equally excellent in the demo of the OLED951 against last year’s OLED950.

This is one of those things that really comes down to taste, with some people being perfectly happy with the matte look of the Samsung models. I personally prefer the glossy look, though, and the new panel in the LG G6 and Philips OLED951 strikes the best balance of anti-reflectivity and black performance that I’ve so far seen.

Dual Engine picture processing

Those already in the know about Philips’ 2026 TV lineup might be wondering why I’m getting all excited about the OLED951 rather than the OLED911.

After all, everything I’ve written so far also applies to the OLED911, and the OLED911 also has a Bowers & Wilkins sound system that, if form is to be believed, will make it one of, if not the, best-sounding TV in its class.

The reason is that the OLED951 has the Dual Engine version of Philips’ new 10th Gen P5 AI processor, whereas the OLED911 has the single-chip version. This unlocks some extra picture processing features that should further improve certain things, such as bright details and banding suppression.

The difference perhaps won’t be huge – we’ll need to fully test both models to find out – but as someone who subscribes to the ‘all TVs should be partnered with a dedicated sound system’ philosophy, I’ll always choose the potential for better picture quality over a better sound system.

You may feel differently, of course, and that’s fine. If that’s the case, I strongly recommend you read Lewis Empson’s Philips OLED911 hands-on.

That also looks like an excellent TV – but on paper (and from what I’ve seen of it so far), the OLED951 is the one that ticks every box for me.

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No one likes a broken record. So if you’ve read any of my recent rants about TVs and their bizarre focus on nits, I apologise.

But, after helping review the LG G6, the firm’s latest flagship OLED TV, I can’t help myself. Why? Because many TV makers still aren’t listening.

To catch readers up, the LG G6 is a particularly big deal if you’re looking to upgrade to a top-tier OLED TV this year. This is because two key players aren’t expected to release flagship OLED TVs in 2026.

Sony – because its two-year re-release cycle and new partnership with TCL, means it is very unlikely we’ll see a successor to the Award-winning Bravia 8 II arrive any time soon. Panasonic – because it’s selling its TV division to Skyworth and only has one new OLED set arriving this year, the entry-level Z86C (Z85C in mainland Europe).

So if you’re planning on buying a new OLED at this level in 2026, you’re likely only going to be able to pick between the LG G6, Samsung S95H or Philips 911.

And I had high hopes for the LG G6, mainly because, though the company shouted about how the set could go 20 per cent brighter than the outgoing LG G5 at launch, it spent far more time talking about changes it has made to let it offer a more true-to-life picture.

So, unboxing it in our test rooms and plonking it right next to the G5, ready to run our standard suite of comparative tests, I was legitimately excited.

Not to spoil our review, but immediately the TV proved that the first of LG’s claims is true. The TV was noticeably brighter and delivered a truly spectacular performance that will delight fans of blow-your-socks-off experiences.

But the problem is, it does so at the expense of other picture quality metrics that I, and many others, would argue are equally if not more important than brightness.

First up is colour accuracy. Like many of the Mini LED sets I’ve reviewed over the past two years, skylines in particular suffer. For example, during a scene from our Civil War test disc, the skyline is much brighter than what’s on show with the G5, but the G6’s colours look washed out.

The oomph the extra nit count offers comes at the expense of richness, making the scene look flat, by comparison. Honestly, it gave me flashbacks to when I was testing the since-replaced TCL C855K, which suffered from similar issues.

Problems with the G6’s black level continue this theme. Flipping to Sinners, the TV artificially raises the black level in a bid to offer more dark detail. Yes, it adds some detail but, concurrently, it makes parts that are meant to be pitch black look a little grey.

Considering perfect blacks and pixel-level light control are two reasons OLED sets can justify their premium prices, this feels like an odd decision by LG. Again, it’s something I normally worry about with Mini LEDs not OLEDs.

And what’s worse is that there’s no way to fix it. After hours of fiddling with the TV’s settings, including Filmmaker mode, which is meant to turn off all processing, nothing worked.

Yes, people like pop. And yes, the G6 is still a good TV that will delight people who want that punch. But, for cinephiles and more serious movie fans, who value accuracy and consistency, it feels odd, and a move in the wrong direction.

Hence, the need to repeat my rant against peak brightness chasers and pen this piece. Here’s hoping the S95H and OLED911 don’t make the same mistake. It’ll be a bad year for premium OLED buyers if they do.

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We have been eagerly awaiting the UK pricing of LG’s latest stream of OLEDs, and the day has finally arrived. The price tags of the C6, G6, B6, and W6 OLEDs have been unveiled, and it’s great news.

All of the models are cheaper than last year’s OLED entries across all sizes. The most premium TVs will still set you back a fair bit if you are looking to upgrade your home cinema system, but it is a welcome addition to see a slight price drop.

For the LG G6, the pricing is as follows:

As you can see, the latest G6 model is coming in at a lower price than the previous LG G5 models across all sizes. That is especially prevalent with the larger screen sizes, as the eye-bogglingly big 97-inch screen is a whole £9000 cheaper than the G5.

But how does the G6 actually perform? Well, lucky for you, we recently published our comprehensive review of the new OLED.

The 65-inch model scored a solid four-star review after being rigorously put through its paces in our test room. We praised its punchy picture quality and excellent gaming specifications, but colours do look slightly overcooked in a way that could leave cinephile purists feeling disappointed.

We will have to see how the other sizes perform, but its colourful performance with the 65-inch model bodes well.

Next up, here is the pricing for the LG C6:

Once again, the step-down OLEDs' prices are lower than last year's entries.

The 77- and 83-inch versions of the C6 feature Primary RGB Tandem OLED technology for the first time, which could be the biggest C-series upgrade in years. We are yet to get these models in our test room, but we have reviewed the 65-inch entry.

It scored a glowing five-star rating, dazzling with brighter, richer and more refined picture quality. The G6 also improves upon the C5's audio performance, as voices sound a little warmer and Dolby Atmos effects are projected further away from the screen when required to create a greater sense of scale.

But what about the pricing of the LG W6, the brand's newest Wallpaper TV?

• 77-inch LG W6: £4700
• 83-inch LG W6: £6800

LG's art TV provides a store of more than 5000 regularly updated digital artworks that users can use as screensavers. It offers wireless connectivity and integrated speakers, and measures an impressive 9mm in thickness so it can sit mostly flush on your wall.

This is not LG's first Wallpaper TV, with the last iteration coming out back in 2017 in the form of the W7. It launched at a high-end price point, which made it simply unattainable for many, so it makes sense that LG has dropped the price tag for its latest art model.

We got a chance to see the W6 in action at the start of the year at CES, and although we will need to wait until we have thoroughly tested the model to deliver our verdict, we find:

"Black levels look just as deep, rich and neutral, for starters, with no obvious signs under the CES show lights of any green or magenta tinting, even if viewed from the side."

Finally, LG has also released the pricing for its B6 series:

These prices mean the B6 series can offer a genuinely affordable range of OLED TVs from the brand, which will be welcome news for those who cannot stretch to the above models.

The reason LG has been able to drop the pricing so much on an already budget range is thanks to the development of a new SE OLED panel. The majority of the cost saving has been made by removing the pricey polariser.

Without this, the B6 will likely be more reflective than current OLED models, but they should also be brighter than current budget sets, hitting something in the region of 1000 nits rather than the 600-700 nits of models such as the LG B5.

We have yet to test any of the B6 sizes, but keep your eyes peeled for our review of the budget range.

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We all love a good comeback story, and that’s exactly what the LG G6 aims to deliver.

First, as the successor to the LG G5, which, while generally solid, came fourth (out of four) in our 2026 flagship OLED shootout.

Second, because when we originally reviewed the G6 mere weeks ago, we noticed a number of niggling flaws impacting its colour accuracy, contrast and dark detail, making it a distinctly four-star OLED.

But, since then, LG has released a series of updates aimed at fixing these problems. Having retested the G6 with its latest software in our dedicated viewing rooms, against its predecessor and key rivals, we’re pleased to confirm the work has paid off – so much so that we’ve updated its score.

Price

The 65-inch G6 we’re reviewing launched with a price tag of £3000 / $3399 / AU$4999. That makes it cheaper in the UK and Australia than the G5 was at launch (£3300 / AU$5299, while US launch pricing has remained unchanged.

We are seeing a smattering of G6 deals start to appear, with some retailers offering it for under £3000. That makes the G6 slightly cheaper than its main Samsung rival, the S99H.

The 65-inch Samsung S99H costs £3299 at launch and remains roughly £200 more expensive, even when discounted – at least for the time being.

Meanwhile, the 2025 flagship OLEDs that are still on sale, including the G5, Samsung S95F and Award-winning Sony Bravia 8 II, are currently vastly cheaper as retailers offer increasingly hefty discounts in an effort to clear stock.

Design

The LG G6 looks identical to the G5 in nearly every way. So much so that we frequently had to check the serial numbers of the two when setting them up on our test benches to make sure which was which.

The TV is mainly designed to be wall-mounted, hence the picture frame-style design, but the 55- and 65-inch versions are available with a stand if you prefer. The versions without the stand come with a Zero Gap wall mount instead, which allows for the TV to be mounted more or less flush against the wall.

But while the design certainly delivers on the promise of the ‘Gallery’ designation, it’s rather too familiar at this point, having barely changed since 2020’s GX. The upcoming Samsung S95H is a far more exciting take on the same concept.

Despite this minor qualm, the G6 is functionally sound and nicely unobtrusive. Our sample came with the pedestal stand, and while that doesn’t have a swivel mechanism, it’s sturdy and indicative of the set's generally excellent build quality.

The stand’s two height options and a fairly thin and flat plinth also make it generally easy to place a soundbar in front of the TV without blocking the screen.

The only big gripe is the lack of changes to the remote. It remains a chunky, cheap-feeling, plastic affair that doesn’t feature backlighting or USB-C charging – two things we’ve come to expect of a set at this level.

Motion controls still feature, adding some occasionally useful point-and-click functionality when navigating the set’s menus, but even so, the remote feels in need of a proper overhaul at this point.

Frustratingly, many markets were treated to a new LG TV remote last year, but the UK still has to make do with the old model.

Features

Like its design, the G6 doesn’t change the key ingredients in LG’s current OLED recipe. At its heart, you’ll find a Primary RGB Tandem OLED panel. That’s the same tech we saw in last year’s G5.

For those unfamiliar with it, Primary RGB Tandem uses a ‘four-stack’ panel structure to try and help an OLED offer higher peak and operating brightness levels, while retaining colour volume and accuracy, even during low light scenes – an area its predecessor, micro lens array (MLA), struggled with, especially against Samsung’s rival QD-OLED technology.

The only technical change to the panel is the inclusion of a new Reflection Free Premium display certification, which promises to reduce reflections to less than 0.5 per cent – meaning it should work better in less than ideal conditions with lots of stray, reflection-causing light.

But, while the fundamental panel tech remains largely unchanged, the inclusion of a new Alpha 11 Gen 3 AI processor means LG is quoting some pretty palpable improvements for the G6.

For starters, the chipset’s new Hyper Radiant Colour Technology system means that the set can offer “20 per cent higher” peak brightness levels than the already dazzling G5.

But more importantly, as peak brightness is one of many screen-quality metrics, the tech also aims to allow the G6 to offer better colour accuracy and a generally “more lifelike” picture. Finally, motion handling, upscaling, tone mapping and audio processing are also meant to be better thanks to the new silicon.

On the subject of audio, the G6 comes built in with Dolby Atmos FlexConnect functionality. This is a hot ticket item that aims to let the TV automatically connect to compatible speakers, including the LG Sound Suite we recently reviewed, to create a surround sound package.

The tech includes the ability to use the G6’s built-in speakers as the central channel, and clever room and viewer location optimisation powers. Though the tech is in its infancy, it’s a nice touch that gives the G6 an element of future-proofing.

However, there is one minor, pigmy-sized elephant in the room when it comes to next-gen Dolby tech. Specifically, the G6 doesn’t support Dolby Vision 2 (“the future of home cinema”, if Dolby is to be believed) – and it seems fairly unlikely that it ever will.

For now, as we’re yet to see any content mastered in the format, it’s not a deal breaker. But it is a minor concern for those who tend to keep their TVs for five years or more, especially as Philips has confirmed its 2026 flagships will support the standard, as will several non-OLED sets from TCL and Hisense.

LG has hinted that it may add the functionality via an over-the-air update at a later date, but the lack of certainty is still a minor frustration considering the G6’s price. People paying this amount don’t want a TV that’s out of date within a year. Though until we see the benefits of Vision 2, we want to emphasise that it's a minor gripe. We don’t currently know how big a deal Vision 2 is in general.

The supported standards remain Dolby Vision, HDR10 and HLG, meaning outside of Vision 2, the only other noticeable absence is HDR10+.

The TV’s broader feature set is, like that of all of LG’s recent flagships, more or less flawless. WebOS 26 supports pretty much every app you can think of, ranging from Now to Apple TV, Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video, all of which are present and work correctly. We’re also pleased to see it continue to support niche streaming platforms, including the anime-focused Crunchyroll and Hidive.

Gaming functionality lives up to LG’s strong track record, with all four HDMI 2.1 inputs offering up to 4K/165Hz gameplay with VRR and ALLM, and Dolby Vision Gaming HDR supported.

LG has also added more game-streaming features, including a new low-latency interface and a dedicated controller developed alongside popular gaming peripherals manufacturer Razer, which can be connected directly to the TV – though this is sold as an optional accessory.

Picture quality

The moment we power on the LG G6, it confirms the firm’s brightness claims. Playing our go-to brightness stress test, Pan, the set offers higher HDR peaks than the LG G5 next to it.

The setting sun has a noticeably brighter centre, while also retaining more detail. A wonderful palette of reds and oranges adds more solidity to the picture.

The only issue is that, as with nearly every set we test, the out-of-the-box standard picture mode is a tad too aggressive. Colours are a bit overbaked, and there’s a slight oversharpening.

Add to this slightly heavy-handed motion handling, which makes the pirate ship's movements feel slightly off, and the picture is a bit too artificial.

Thankfully, with a few button pushes, we switch to Filmmaker Mode, and things immediately pick up. Movements become more cinematically natural, and the skyline retains its intended, bombastic lustre, but with reined-in, more natural colours.

Switching gears with our Civil War test disc, the TV begins to form a pattern as it continues to offer several small refinements to the G5 that add up to a better overall experience.

The flames in a burning night-time forest continue to offer an enthralling amount of extra detail as well as higher peaks, but, more crucially, characters’ skin tones look nicely realistic, retaining reds far better, to the point that the G5’s picture makes them look slightly jaundiced by comparison.

Moving to a daytime scene in a military camp, "balanced" quickly becomes the word that best describes the G6. As a helicopter swoops into the camp over a forest, it's clear LG has backed away from its previous focus on aggressively pushing its TVs' peak brightness at all costs.

The skyline is more refined, with the picture only raising the brightness of the parts it needs to, leading to a smidgeon more contrast. Colours retain a pleasing level of control and accuracy, with greens in particular never veering into oversaturated territory, as often happens when we task less accomplished sets with playing this scene.

In every shot, the G6 feels slightly brighter, richer and more nuanced than its accomplished predecessor.

Its strong performance continues with our Sinners 4K Blu-ray, but there is a minor catch.

Dark detail is good, with the barnhouse speakeasy oozing atmosphere and feeling wonderfully immersive, but there is some very minor black crush. Gangster Stack’s face loses definition in the darkest part of the picture, with his outer cheek showing as pure black, where it should be just visible.

Raising the black level in the Near Dark Detail setting does yield some positive results, but it comes at the expense of the punchy, perfect blacks, losing a smidgeon of the picture’s three-dimensionality in the process. It’s a small gripe, but this is a key area in which the older Sony Bravia 8 II retains the lead.

Ultimately, while colour volume in dark scenes, especially with characters' skin tones, is a significant improvement on the G5 (or any other recent LG OLED we’ve tested), the G6 still isn’t the top performer here.

The TV is more accurate and handles the demanding scene much better than the G5, but the Samsung S99H, which features a QD-OLED panel, is a smidgeon warmer and more lifelike. Colours, especially skin tones, boast slightly more volume, making the characters appear more lifelike (which is funny considering most of them are meant to be vampires).

Though it suffers from slightly more severe black crush, the S99H also offers a little more oomph in the brightest part of the picture. The coloured bulbs littered around the speakeasy burn a little brighter, but without sacrificing accuracy. The use of the panel’s additional brightness is limited to where it’s meant to be, just with a bit more intensity than its LG rival. It’s a small difference but important when we’re nitpicking between flagships.

Moving to our final upscaling test, the G6 continues to impress. Playing our old faithful SDR Blu-ray of True Grit, the differences between the G6 and G5 are subtle – even going into this comparison blind, it would be clear that these are two TVs from the same family.

The G6 upscales the film with suitable care, retaining its intentionally grainy, Spaghetti Western feel without flattening it or adding noise. Characters’ stitched, thick cotton clothes are nicely sharp and detailed, and there’s a pleasingly light touch. Here, it feels as though the G6 is carefully improving the experience while remaining true to the source material.

The combination of factors means the G6 is a competitive flagship OLED that will delight movie fans, even if it’s not the best of the best at everything when it comes to picture quality.

Sound quality

Audio quality is a key area in which LG’s flagship OLED TVs have struggled to impress in our review rooms for the past few years. And, while we’re not reaching for the party streamers with the new G6, there’s no denying it is a step in the right direction.

Playing an iconic scene in Sinners, where Sammie, aka “Preacher Boy”, performs the blues, the G6 delivers a noticeably fuller, more robust sound than the G5, which offers up a thin and hollow rendition by comparison.

The guitar’s plucked strings have some bass to them, and Sammie’s wailing vocals are nicely audible and separate from background noise.

As the medley grows, adding new tracks to the mashup, the set delivers a decent sense of directionality, with each addition swooping in as the camera carves a path through each room and musical era.

But it’s still a good deal short of perfect. The low end isn’t powerful enough to deliver the oomph you need to do the scene justice, and the delivery lacks the precision to handle the vocalist's wailing vibrato, which is nearly entirely lost.

The TV also struggles to maintain a rhythmic and tonal hold on proceedings as ever more musical strands are added, and in the end, it becomes more of a cacophony rather than the intended complex medley.

This theme continues as we switch to chapter two of Blade Runner 2049. The speakers’ low end is too weak and flabby for the scene’s synth track, which occasionally sounds more like a child blowing a raspberry, rather than a booming synthetic growl.

Ultimately, while the G6 is certainly an improvement on the G5, it’s still a long way short of rivals such as the Sony Bravia 8 II and Philips OLED910, and is even beaten by certain step-down OLEDs, such as the Sony Bravia 8.

In fact, we’d say the C6 sounds better than the G6, which makes us wonder if the Gallery design is the biggest cause of LG’s G-series sonic struggles.

As ever, though, our criticisms of TV audio quality need only be taken into account if you’re ignoring our strong advice that any new TV should be partnered with a dedicated sound system.

Verdict