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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Here's why I think the Philips OLED951 could be the TV of the year

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

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

Could Sony's True RGB be the RGB Mini LED tech to beat OLED?

We're almost a third of the way through 2026, and if there's one takeaway from the world of TVs, it's that maybe too much is happening.

I'm deeply immersed in the release schedules and latest technologies tied to the likes of Samsung, LG, Sony, Philips, Panasonic, Hisense and TCL, and yet even I'm finding 2026 to be one of the most confusing years for TVs to date.

Part of that is a good thing, as we're getting lots of exciting innovations this year, which are sure to define generations of TVs to come, but they're ultimately meaningless if the messaging is unclear.

I've been catching up with the brands mentioned above since January, getting behind-the-scenes access to some of the more exciting TVs to launch this year. But, despite my extensive access to TV experts from said brands, I still have plenty of unanswered questions...

RGB Mini LED: mid-range marvel or premium panel tech?

The biggest TV news of 2026 is that practically every TV manufacturer is launching new backlit TVs with this state-of-the-art panel technology.

RGB Mini LED looks to be the successor to Quantum Dot Mini LED, as it strips away the QLED layer and swaps a white backlight for individual red, green and blue LEDs in the pursuit of greater colour accuracy and backlight control.

On paper, this sounds great, and we've even seen a few impressive sets, including the Hisense UR8 and TCL RM9L, in action. We've also just been treated to a demo of Sony's True RGB system.

The issue is that these companies can't decide where to position RGB Mini LED. And this lack of clarity on its place in the pecking order is already causing confusion.

Samsung and Hisense seem to be championing it as flagship technology, meaning it's reserved for premium models that sit alongside (or, in some cases, above) OLED TVs. Samsung's R95H appears to sit alongside the brand's S95H QD-OLED this year, which can only signify that the Korean AV giant sees it as a top-of-the-line technology.

Philips and LG, on the other hand, maintain that it sits below their respective OLEDs. Philips has been more open about this, as it claims "OLED is still the reference", and the company's mid-range MLED981 sits below even the entry-level OLED761.

So, which one is it? Is this new panel tech best suited to flagships? Or is it not capable of challenging even some of the most affordable OLEDs on the market?

Is OLED in trouble?

We were blindsided by two prominent OLED TV manufacturers, Sony and Panasonic, essentially selling off their TV businesses to Chinese firms, TCL and Skyworth. The latter is only handling Panasonic's European TV division.

Both Japanese giants are known for producing high-quality, and often fairly pricey, OLED TVs, but that may be about to change. While we can't speak entirely for Sony, we do know TCL's firm anti-OLED stance (specifically for TVs, the company uses OLED for mobile and automotive displays), so we don't have high hopes.

What we can presume is that Sony likely won't launch a premium OLED TV this year, as it now employs an unconventional release schedule, where each model is only refreshed every two or three years – or in the case of the A90K, possibly longer. The Bravia 8 II launched last year, so we expect this to stick around until 2027.

Speaking of not launching a new premium OLED, Panasonic confirmed that the Z95B will continue as its flagship offering in 2026. As it stands, the entry-level Z86C will be the only new OLED from the legendary Japanese AV company this year.

Pair that with the LG G6 being the first in the series to not score five stars (you can read our full LG G6 65-inch review here), things are already looking interesting for this year's What Hi-Fi? Awards judging process.

All we'll say is that it's a good job that the LG C6 is a simply superb OLED TV, as it might be among a modest cohort of new models this year.

Is Dolby Vision 2 really coming this year?

The final slightly baffling hot topic in the TV world is Dolby Vision 2. Now, I've seen it in action a couple of times, and I have to say that it looks superb, but there are so many unanswered questions.

Hisense and TCL were announced as launch partners at IFA 2026, and yet neither referenced it at their respective launch events in Europe last month. Furthermore, when questioned about it, Hisense confirmed that it should be coming to its 2026 TVs, but possibly not at launch. Instead, it'll likely be added via a software update down the line.

Philips, on the other hand, made no qualms about Dolby Vision 2 Max being supported on its 2026 OLEDs, including the OLED911. This feels more promising, especially when LG and Sony have remained especially tight-lipped about the new HDR format for quite some time.

There is, of course, the issue of Dolby Vision 2 content. To our knowledge, the only services that will support Dolby Vision 2 are Canal+ and NBC's Peacock service, neither of which really has the mainstream draw of Netflix, Disney+ or Amazon Prime Video.

It is, of course, early days, so we could see more services pick the format up, but the creation of Dolby Vision 2 content is still a mystery right now.

Looking to a buy a TV now? Here's my advice...

If you're in the market for a TV now, my honest advice would be to hold out until we gain a little more clarity.

The best TV that we've tested this year (so far) is the LG C6, and while it is brilliant, it's also expensive right now. We expect this price to drop steadily throughout the year, as the C5 and C4 did, so your patience should be rewarded.

We're also yet to review any of the new RGB Mini-LED models, so if you can wait until we make a judgment on these upcoming TVs, we'd recommend doing so. It's entirely possible that RGB Mini LED could surpass OLED in terms of picture performance, but we won't know until we try them ourselves.

And if you're confused by the state of the TV world in 2026, then don't worry – we live and breathe TVs here, and even we're feeling a bit overwhelmed.

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Read our full LG C6 65-inch review

The LG C series is a bit of a mess right now, and it's all the better for it

Check out our picks for the best OLED TVs

April is usually when practically every TV manufacturer has officially unveiled its lineup of TVs for the year, and I've had the pleasure of seeing almost every new model in the flesh.

From new Primary RGB Tandem OLED flagships, to game-changing RGB Mini LED sets, and even affordable mid-range models (both Mini LED and OLED), the 2026 TV market is officially in full swing after a busy string of launches.

I started my year at CES, where Samsung and LG stole the spotlight with flagship OLED TVs, and from there I've attended hands-on events with Panasonic, Philips, Hisense and TCL to see each company's respective new TV ranges.

While we're still yet to hear from Sony about what it has up its sleeve (especially in the wake of its partnership with TCL), it's looking like a majority of the big players in the TV world have locked in their lineups.

I've selected the five that have caught my eye most at these events, and even included a bonus option which boasts some major improvements over its disappointing predecessor.

1. Philips OLED911

Kicking things off with Philips, the OLED911 is a sequel to one of my favourite TVs of 2025. The OLED910 offered up a picture experience that truly rivalled the Award-winning Sony Bravia 8 II, and there was no competition when it came to sound performance.

Its sequel, the OLED911, was unveiled at Philips' Unboxed Event in Berlin last month, and it stole the spotlight at the showcase.

It sports a second-generation Primary RGB Tandem OLED panel with an even higher claimed brightness figure than its predecessor and improved anti-reflective qualities to combat glare from ambient light.

Furthermore, it features a major upgrade for gamers: four HDMI 2.1 sockets (all of which support up to 4K/165Hz with VRR and ALLM), and it is also the first OLED TV in the world to support Dolby Vision 2 Max.

Rounding things off with the improved 81W Bowers & Wilkins sound system, which includes a slimmer rear-mounted subwoofer with four passive radiators, and dedicated left, right and centre channels, all of which feature dual 45mm midrange glass-fibre drivers alongside a 19mm titanium-dome tweeter.

This TV is feature-packed, and it comes in a slick new design as well, which makes it one of my top TVs to watch out for in 2026.

Read our Philips OLED911 hands on review

2. TCL C7L

While the pricey OLEDs are unquestionably the more eye-catching sets I've seen at these events, I've also been on the lookout for some of the more affordable options, which are guaranteed to shake up the mid-range TV market in 2026.

Case in point, the TCL C7L, which is a follow-up to the Award-winning C7K. Spotted at the company's Nxt Home launch in Paris last month, the C7L stood out thanks to its new Super Quantum Dot Mini LED (SQD-Mini LED) display, which promises more dimming zones, higher brightness figures, and better colour accuracy.

It's got big shoes to fill, but the TCL C7L promises to make some big picture upgrades over its five-star predecessor, which was enough to get me excited during my brief hands-on time with the new Mini LED set.

Read our TCL C7L hands on review

3. Samsung S99H/S95H

If we were giving out an Award for the luxurious TV of 2026, then Samsung's new S99H (S95H in the US) would have already won.

This new flagship OLED TV sports a brighter QD-OLED panel (Samsung claims there's a 700 nit upgrade in the TV's movie picture mode), and there have also been reported improvements to colour reproduction and banding visibility in lower-quality content.

Samsung has also made some changes to the One Connect system. The TV sports four full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 sockets housed within the main chassis. However, there is also an optional wireless One Connect box, which expands this to a whopping eight HDMI 2.1 sockets.

These upgrades sit inside a new, premium chassis that incorporates a Frame-style metal bezel, on which the QD-OLED panel sits to create a floating effect. I've seen this TV wall-mounted, and paired with the matte display finish, it really does look like a work of art.

I was treated to an early sighting of this TV at Samsung's headquarters in Suwon, South Korea, and was there to see its official unveiling at CES 2026. Despite being severely jet-lagged in both instances, this TV was an absolute showstopper at both events.

Read our Samsung S95H hands on review

4. Hisense UR8

2026 is a big year for backlit TVs, as the next generation of Mini LED panel technology is here.

RGB Mini LED was introduced on a handful of 2025 TVs, namely a 115-inch Samsung model and a 116-inch Hisense. It should come as no surprise that these gargantuan TVs with their first-generation panel technology are wildly expensive.

Thankfully, that's all about to change in 2026. Hisense isn't the only company to welcome the new panel technology into its line up this year; however, it wants to be known as the RGB Mini LED brand, and the UR8 is just one of its new models.

With promises of high brightness figures and rich, pure colours, Hisense is really going all-in on the new panel technology, which hopes to succeed Quantum Dot Mini LED.

Interestingly, I've opted for the cheapest RGB Mini LED in the range, which I came face-to-face with in Munich, Germany, last month.

This is mostly because I, and many others, presumed that a new panel technology would equal huge introductory price tags, and yet Hisense claims that this step-down model – which comes in 55-, 65- and 75-inches – will hit the market at a "competitive" price.

Read our Hisense UR8 hands on review

5. Panasonic Z86C/Z85C

Speaking of step-down TVs, Panasonic has only announced one new OLED TV this year, and it's unfortunately not a successor to the excellent Z95B from 2025. Instead, Panasonic (which is now producing its European TVs in collaboration with Chinese AV brand Skyworth) unveiled the Z86C (Z85C in Europe) at its event (also in Munich) earlier this year.

This entry-level OLED TV sports LG Display's new OLED SE panel technology, which removes the polariser to cut back on costs. This will, of course, reduce the TV's ability to combat glare and reflections, but for dark-room viewing, the Z85C should be just fine.

With its 120Hz refresh rate, supported by two HDMI 2.1 sockets, the Z86C is also a solid choice for gamers. In my brief experience with the TV, I found that even at this entry-level point with a stripped-back panel, the contrast and black depths that OLED brings to the table were unquestionably great, even if this TV didn't quite rival its Award-winning Z90B counterpart.

Read our Panasonic Z86C hands on review

Bonus: Sony Bravia 3 II

I'm sneaking in this TV as a bonus option, and I'm even breaking my own rules here as it's not a TV I've seen in the flesh. It's no secret that the Sony Bravia 3, which I reviewed last year, was a bit disappointing, especially by Sony's usually excellent TV standards.

It ultimately came down to the hardware limitation; the Bravia 3 featured a 60Hz direct-lit LED panel with no QLED layer, which made it feel quite expensive, especially considering it outpriced the Award-winning TCL C7K (which featured a 120Hz QD-Mini LED display).

I have to give credit where credit is due though; Sony has come back with a MKII refresh which directly addresses my gaming-focused concerns, and it even brings something new to the table for Sony TVs.

While we don't get Mini LED or even QLED here, it does now feature a 120Hz panel and four, yes four, HDMI 2.1 sockets to support gaming features.

Better yet, the Bravia 3 II now comes with Sony's XR processor, which has worked wonders in its more expensive TVs, especially when it comes to enhancing the sharpness and solidity of the image.

While I feel as though Sony could (and probably should) have crammed in another upgrade or two, these are certainly steps in the right direction. Unfortunately, this TV isn't currently slated to come to the UK yet, meaning we'll have to wait to see if this TV is an improvement over its predecessor.

Find out more about the Sony Bravia 3 II here

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As well as the best Mini LED TV

Roughly £25 off the four-star Philips TAH8000E wireless headphones does, on the face of it, look like rather a tempting proposition.

The Philips over-ears are clear-sounding, comfortable cans with solid ANC and outstanding battery life, and now that they've fallen from £150 to £114 at Amazon, they're more appealing than ever.

The thing is, we think you can do better. Unless that absolutely monster battery life of 70 hours already has you sold on the Philips, there are finer alternatives at better prices which we think are more deserving of your cash.

An appealing wireless headphones deal

More talented alternatives?

We wouldn't discourage you from buying the Philips TAH8000EBK. They're truly solid headphones, and while their sound isn't quite class-leading, it's a long way off being a disappointment.

That mega battery life is also a huge bonus, and we know that for frequent flyers or commuters, battery is a major consumer consideration.

We just feel that sonically, you can do better. The Sony WH-CH720N are a more convincing listen than their Philips rivals, with a greater feeling of musicality and verve, even at their lower price and advancing age.

Plus, their 50-hour battery is still excellent, and you're getting all of those well-performing features and solid build quality you'd expect from a Sony product.

For sonic purists, we'd also nudge you over towards the Austrian Audio Hi-X2BT. With no noise cancelling and no app support, they are the wildcard pick, but during our testing, it was hard not to slightly fall in love with their sparky, clear and natural sonic presentation.

Three strong candidates, then, but if you want the most well-rounded and value-first over-ear package, we'd direct you over to Amazon and the Sony WH-CH720N. For sonic purists, checking out Richer Sounds and the Hi-X25BT is also well worth it.

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If you’ve spent any time at all reading the TV reviews here on What Hi-Fi?, you’ll know that panel technology alone does not make a TV.

Even televisions that use the same panel can look vastly different from one another, and that’s before you consider all the other things – such as features, design and sound quality – that might sway a buying decision one way or the other.

When the LG G5 was released last year, it sent the Micro Lens Array (MLA) tech that had been behind its flagship panels for the last two years packing, and replaced it with new, cutting-edge Primary RGB Tandem OLED panel technology.

A few other TVs also bought into this tech – notably the Panasonic Z95B and the Philips OLED910 – and since we’ve already put the LG G5 and the Z95B up against one another, it’s high time we considered how the Philips OLED910 compares with its panelmate too. Let the battle begin.

Philips OLED910 vs LG G5: pricing

Considering the LG G6 is currently prepping itself for the shelves, the LG G5 is now much cheaper than it was at launch (though perhaps not as cheap as it will be in a couple of months).

This price would have brought it much closer to the original price of the Philips OLED910 if a recent price drop from Philips hadn’t widened that gap once again. That is, of course, if you live in the UK or Europe – Philip OLEDs aren’t available in the US or Australia.

We tested both of these TVs at 65 inches, and currently you can pick up that size of the LG G5 for around £2499, while the OLED910 is available for as little as £1799.

The 65-inch G5 has gone as low as £1899 in the past, but we've never seen it available for less than the OLED910.

If 65 inches doesn’t suit your space, you’ll have more choice on size with the G5, which is available in 48, 55, 77, 83 and 97 inches – though it’s worth noting that the 48- and 97-inch sets do not use the Primary RGB Tandem panel, and so therefore will not reach the same brightness levels.

That, perhaps, makes the fewer size choices of the Philips OLED910 less of an issue, with the 55- and 77-inch options, alongside the 65-inch set, most likely covering the screen sizes most people want – and at considerably lower prices.

When it comes to pricing, then, the Philips takes an easy win.

Winner: Philips OLED910

Philips OLED910 vs LG G5: design

Whatever design you prefer is the right answer to which is best, but we’d argue there is more to like about the design of the Philips OLED910 over the LG G5.

The Kvadrat fabric covering the under-screen speaker gives it a stylish, furniture-esque look, and four-sided Ambilight only adds to its flair.

The G5, by comparison, is as slim (2.4cm) and attractive as its predecessors – but it’s a design that has gone unchanged since the G1.

It feels ready for a makeover, but there’s absolutely nothing to dislike here otherwise. The Zero Gap wall mount makes for a super flush fit if you are looking to mount it, but if not, be sure to look out for the version that comes with the tabletop stand – in the UK, that’s currently only available for the 55- and 65-inch versions.

Slim and sleek is all well and good, but we have to pay the OLED910 its dues for its greater aesthetic consideration.

WINNER: Philips OLED910

Philips OLED910 vs LG G5: features

We already know that the LG G5 and the Philips OLED910 share the same super-bright Primary RGB Tandem OLED panel, with peak brightness claims of up to 4000 nits, but what in their feature lists separates them?

For a start, behind those panels are, of course, two different processors – the Philips 9th Gen P5 and LG’s Alpha 11 AI Processor Gen 2. Both are the companies’ most powerful TV chipset, with AI smarts on board that claim to offer a helping hand when it comes to making the picture and sound the very best for what you’re watching.

In the G5, that includes AI Picture Pro and AI Sound Pro, the former covering off a range of picture enhancements, such as AI Perceived Object Enhancer (which aims to boost the three-dimensionality of the picture), AI Super Upscaling and OLED Dynamic Tone Mapping.

LG has also installed an AI chatbot into the G5, which is on hand to help you get your picture how you want it, or solve issues with your TV. For those who don’t feel confident trawling through a settings menu, you can say things such as “my TV isn’t bright enough” to have the settings automatically adjusted.

For the OLED910, the on-board AI helps to classify what it is you’re watching and adapt the picture quality to suit. It also offers similar AI-judged improvements to things such as sharpness, colour vibrancy and contrast, though as always you can turn these off if you prefer.

Elsewhere, the Philips OLED910 continues its commendable commitment to supporting all four of the current HDR formats – that’s HDR10+ and Dolby Vision, alongside the basic HDR10 and HLG.

The G5, by comparison, only supports Dolby Vision, HDR10 and HLG. That covers off the majority of content, in honesty, but the additional support on the OLED910 does keep you covered for absolutely everything, and futureproofed too.

Where the Philips really loses ground is in its connectivity, and this has a particular impact on gamers.

On the LG G5, you have four full bandwidth HDMI 2.1 sockets, all capable of handling 4K/165Hz signals with VRR and ALLM (which covers off the 4K/120Hz max for consoles and 4K/144Hz for fancy PCs), while the OLED910 only has two, with a maximum limit of 4K/144Hz.

One of the HDMI 2.1 sockets also doubles as the eARC port, so you’ll be reduced to just one for your gaming machines if you need it for a soundbar or other sound system. That's not the end of the world if you don't mind any further devices being limited to 4K/60Hz, but it will be an annoyance to many gamers.

We’d also lean towards the LG G5’s webOS platform over the OLED910’s Google TV platform. For us, webOS wins on ease of use and speed, but it also offers a more comprehensive selection of streaming apps, with BBC iPlayer currently missing from Google TV.

It’s closely run in this section, with some wins on both sides. But we think the TV with the best, most impactful features for most users is the LG G5.

WINNER: LG G5

Philips OLED910 vs LG G5: picture quality

Given that both of these TVs received five-star reviews, you can imagine there’s little to grumble about in the way they handle pictures. However, even with the same panel behind them, there are differences in their delivery that might sway your buying decision.

Thanks to that new Primary RGB Tandem OLED panel, the G5 and OLED910 are noticeably brighter than their predecessors, and – most importantly – handle their additional nits well.

Philips does seem to put HDR levels of brightness behind SDR content on all of its picture modes though, which is something we wish was optional, even if it doesn’t impact the overall picture performance.

Colour handling is excellent on both, with punchy and vibrant pictures that clearly benefit from the additional colour volume afforded by this panel. There’s the occasional oversaturation of skin tones in some scenes on the Philips OLED910 that we don’t notice as much in the G5, but overall both sets balance vibrancy and accuracy with few complaints.

Both offer Filmmaker Mode alongside a whole host of other picture options – it’s the picture setting we recommend, since it is the most accurate and usually switches off all additional processing. However, we actually found the OLED910 leaves some of it turned on, mostly for helping the TV to look its best at various levels of ambient lighting.

It’s worth experimenting here and deciding for yourself if there’s any positive impact, but if you’re particularly against any form of added processing, some extra care will be required in the OLED910’s menus to make sure it’s all off.

You can expect sharp, detailed and insightful pictures from both TVs. If pushed, we’d say the Philips gets closer to the solidity and three dimensionism of the Award-winning Sony Bravia 8 II, which is also helped by the OLED910’s better handling of dark scenes – there’s a slight black crush from the LG G5 that means you lose some shadow details in the darkest parts of a picture.

Overall there are some pros and cons for both TVs, but both offer a superb picture with lots to like. We’re chalking this one up as a draw.

Winner: draw

Philips OLED910 vs LG G5: sound quality

While these TVs might come close in picture quality, when it comes to sound quality, there is a clear winner.

The LG G5 offers a 60W 4.2-channel system, while the Philips OLED910 has a 3.1-channel 81W system, produced by B&W, that sits underneath the screen like a soundbar.

Overall, the G5’s performance is disappointing. Even with our preferred Cinema preset, it just isn’t able to dig deep and deliver much bass at all, nor is it very assured with low-level dynamics, meaning dialogue often sounds lifeless and dull.

It’s a really unexciting sound, which means, without a doubt, you’ll need to add to the G5 by way of a soundbar or surround sound system.

However, the Philips OLED910 proves that not all TV sound has to be bad, and manages to deliver a wide, detailed sound, with good effect placement (even with Atmos sounds), impressive weight and a really lovely tonal balance by TV standards.

Dynamics are impressive for a TV too, and there’s a much better handling of low-level dynamics, meaning voices have realism and character, while bigger volume changes are handled well too.

There’s a little softness to deep bass, but you’ll be hard pushed to find a TV that sounds better.

Of course, a good soundbar will be even better, but you’d need to invest in something around the level of the Sonos Arc Ultra for a significant upgrade on what this TV can do.

WINNER: Philips OLED910

Philips OLED910 vs LG G5: verdict

As always, there can only be one winner, and given how close these TVs come in key areas such as picture quality, the value offered by the Philips OLED910 is hard to ignore.

Throw in nice-to-haves such as Ambilight, a pretty great built-in sound system and a living room-friendly design, and that saving over the G5 starts to look even tastier.

However, this particular head to head isn’t cut and dried by any means, and if gaming is a key consideration for you, we might be inclined to recommend the LG G5 because of the additional HDMI 2.1 ports.

The better smart system and full complement of catch up apps is also a mark in the G5’s column, as is that stunningly slim wall-mounted design, which might be worth the additional outlay.

Still, the Philips OLED910 is to be applauded for how much it offers at such a great price.

Getting a 65-inch TV with a performance this good for well under the £2000 mark is nothing short of a bargain. If you choose it as your next TV, we think you’ll be very happy indeed.

OVERALL WINNER: Philips OLED910

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After years of waiting, Sony has finally announced a TV with four HDMI 2.1 sockets, rather than the brand’s usual two.

That makes it the first Sony TV that can handle 4K/120Hz signals from consoles and gaming PCs across all of its HDMIs.

Unfortunately, it’s probably not the model you’re hoping for, because it’s not a flagship OLED or Mini LED set – it’s the budget-oriented Bravia 3 II.

Not that we should be sad about cheaper TVs getting improved specs, of course, but it feels as though the people most likely to have enough gaming machines to need more than two top-spec HDMIs are also the sort of people to have a premium TV.

The Bravia 3 II, though (which is, naturally, a successor to the Bravia 3), is a standard LCD set that lacks not only Mini LEDs and Quantum Dots, but also local dimming of any kind.

That isn’t to say it will be a bad TV. Sony has a strong track record of getting excellent performances out of specs that many consider to be basic, and if it pulls off the same trick again, this could be an excellent option for buyers on a budget – particularly those who are also hardcore gamers.

There’s just one further problem, though: the Bravia 3 II is not currently set to come to the UK.

Sony has given a vague explanation that mentions catch-up app certifications and left the door open to it arriving on these shores in the future, but there are no guarantees.

That’s a shame, naturally, but Blighty-based TV buyers still have reason to be pleased by the Bravia 3 II’s existence – because it’s presumably just the first Sony TV to get the four HDMI 2.1 inputs treatment.

Sony has presumably switched to MediaTek's Pentonic 800 chip for the Bravia 3 II, hence the additional HDMI 2.1 sockets, and there’s every reason to expect this chip to now appear in future Sony TVs.

That's the approach that Philips has taken with its 2026 TV range.

But what will those future Sony TVs be and when will they arrive? We honestly don’t know.

Sony has today announced just the Bravia 3 II and entry-level Bravia 2 II (which is coming to the UK), plus a couple of fairly affordable soundbars and some home cinema accessories.

Is there more to come, or is this all of the new kit that we’re getting from Sony this year? Only time will tell.

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Ah, the humble micro system. Yes, they’re not as swish-looking as a modern speaker system, such as the five-star KEF LSX II LT.

And yes, there is an argument that they peaked in the ’90s, when every household usually had at least one kicking around (sometimes with a MiniDisc as well as a CD drive, if you were from a bourgeois family).

But, there’s still undeniably something magical about them, especially for elder millennials like me, who grew up with one. A Panasonic SA-PM37MD powered many a listening session during my teenage years.

In fact, if you walked past my room between the ages of 13-16, there was a very good chance you'd hear one booming Faith No More, Ozzy Osbourne and Pearl Jam on repeat, while my mum optimistically repeated “it’s just a phase” in the lounge.

Ah, the times we had. I still owe whatever deity stopped her ever checking what was in my sock drawer or why my room always had that “funny smell” over those happy, angst-filled years…

Which is why, when Philips unveiled a new FA7 micro hi-fi system complete with modern Apple AirPlay 2, Google Chromecast, Spotify and Tidal Connect streaming smarts, I felt a familiar wave of nostalgia come over me.

The idea’s a simple one. Deliver a tiny, multifaceted stereo system that doesn’t require any knowledge of hi-fi or matching to work, that can play CDs and stream music in hi-res over wi-fi.

And while I’m slightly concerned about the FA7's €600 (roughly £520 / $695) price, the more I thought about it, the more I’m sold on the idea and feel micro systems are due for a proper resurgence. There are three main reasons why.

First, the What Hi-Fi? team has long called for more small, but great-sounding, affordable hi-fi, and micro systems fit that bill – especially the Award-winning Denon D-M41DAB, which is still on sale, floating around the £269 mark at most stores.

As we said in our Denon review, it’s a convenient hi-fi solution for people short on space, that delivers effortless versatility and “a character of performance that could hold its own against groups of separates at a greater cost”.

This brings me on to my second point. Micro systems, like Philips' and Denon's, have a key advantage over most wireless speaker systems: a CD player.

Now, we’ve been promised a CD revival, akin to vinyl’s for some time. In fact, one of my first interview pieces for What Hi-Fi?, three years ago, saw Cambridge Audio’s then CEO saying “it was coming”.

But, according to sales figures for 2025, there’s now some solid evidence to back that claim. Numerous stores, as reported by The Guardian, saw a huge increase in sales at the end of last year, to the tune of a 74 per cent spike in demand for players at John Lewis.

So there’s a demand. But the truth is, players are still quite expensive, at least the good ones. The budget pick in our best CD players guide, the Marantz CD6007, costs £349 at most stores, for example. That's a lot more than our recommended Denon micro system, even before you add the cost of an amp and speakers. So, cheaper micro systems staging a comeback to meet the new demand for CD players makes sense.

And that leads me to my third point. According to these stats, it’s not just oldies like me fuelling the revival. Like the recent spike in wired headphone sales, it’s Gen-fudging-Z pouring gasoline on the fire.

Yes, apparently the kids are getting back into spinning CDs.

To be fair, I shouldn’t be surprised by this. When I interviewed numerous record store owners a couple of years ago, they all said they’d seen a gradual increase in interest in CDs with younger shoppers.

Given the current price of vinyl, I can understand why. The last one I bought, Princess Mononoke Symphonic Suite by Joe Hisaishi, set me back nearly £50 (annoyingly, it seems to have gone down in price since then). Even now, that would get me at least two or three CDs, more if I bought second-hand.

So, to me, a resurgence in micro systems, an affordable, no fuss, convenient solution that will meet their interest in spinning shiny plastic discs, and let them stream as they’re used to, makes perfect sense.

Here’s hoping it happens.

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Last week, I was whisked away to Berlin for Philips' Unboxed event, in which the company unveiled its latest range of AV and hi-fi products.

While the retro audio range caught my eye, mostly thanks to the funky designs clad in canary-yellow plastic, my main focus was on the glorious new OLED TV lineup that Philips will be launching later this year.

My personal highlight was the OLED911, a new premium model that utilises LG Display's second-generation Primary RGB Tandem OLED panel technology, supports Dolby Vision 2 Max, and continues Philips and Bowers & Wilkins' partnership with an impressive built-in sound system.

While those attributes are exciting in their own right, there are two features included on this TV that I think make it the perfect gaming TV.

After years of accepting that Samsung and LG would be the only manufacturers to equip their high-end TVs with four HDMI 2.1 sockets, Philips has broken the mould and left the likes of Panasonic, Sony, TCL and Hisense behind.

The OLED911 features four full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 sockets, all of which support up to 4K/165Hz signals with VRR and ALLM. Frankly speaking, it's about time some of the other manufacturers caught up, but I won't let that spoil my fun, as I'm delighted to see Philips make a play (quite literally) for the Best Gaming TV title.

This now means that users can attach either four consoles (or an HDMI 2.1-equipped streaming device) or three gaming devices and an HDMI eARC-equipped soundbar, without having to compromise on performance. That means gamers who have invested in an Xbox Series X, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2 and a gaming PC will feel right at home on the OLED911.

It's worth noting that all of Philips new OLED models, including the OLED761, OLED811, and OLED951, will all feature four HDMI 2.1 sockets; but the OLED911 takes the edge by including the Bowers & Wilkins sound system and four-sided Ambilight.

That neatly takes us onto my next point: Ambilight. Philips is adding a huge upgrade to the ambient lighting system this year with AmbiScape, which will allow you to connect your TV to smart bulbs made by a handful of manufacturers (including Philips Hue, Nanoleaf and IKEA) to create an immersive light show that fills your entire room.

As someone who has gamed extensively on a Philips Ambilight OLED TV, I can vouch for how much more immersive and exciting the reactive lighting system makes the experience; so now I'm just picturing my entire room lighting up like some sort of festive gaming grotto.

Pair that with the abundance of HDMI sockets and that Dolby Atmos-touting built-in sound system, and the OLED911 becomes a very tempting proposition to gamers. However, what really seals the deal is the inclusion of a 48-inch model, which could be perfect for smaller dedicated gaming rooms, or even for desktop use.

While we currently believe that this model won't feature the brighter Primary RGB Tandem OLED panel technology, it retains the gaming goods that I'm interested in.

I'll have to wait until June for the OLED911 to launch, but in the meantime, I'll be fantasising about my new dream gaming TV set-up.

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Read our Philips OLED911 hands on review

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2026 is shaping up to be a very interesting year for OLED TVs. Two Japanese AV stalwarts, Sony and Panasonic, have entered strategic partnerships with huge Chinese corporations to ensure their respective TV businesses can flourish in these uncertain times. And we can't ignore the fact that RGB Mini LED is knocking on OLED’s door as the latest challenger in the panel technology arena.

Nevertheless, this hasn’t deterred European heavyweight TV manufacturer Philips from swinging for the fences with its 2026 TV range, which encompasses a wide range of panel technologies. OLED is still the reference choice in its eyes, but that hasn't stopped it from also launching RGB Mini LED, Mini LED and QLED TVs.

That being said, there was one TV from its range that stole the spotlight at Philips’ (and its parent company TP Vision’s) launch event that we attended in Berlin this week.

The Philips OLED911 is the sequel to the five-star OLED910, a brilliant TV which gave the Product of the Year-winning Sony Bravia 8 II a run for its money when we tested it last year. The new set continues Philips’ close partnership with legendary British hi-fi company (and recent inductee into the Harman International family) Bowers & Wilkins.

With a fresh design, beefed-up panel, and surprising new feature set, could the Philips OLED911 be the TV to watch in 2026? It might just be…

Price

As is often the case with our TV hands-on reviews, pricing hasn't been confirmed for the OLED911. However, we can take an educated guess from the price of the OLED910, which launched at a surprisingly competitive £2199 for the 65-inch model.

You'll notice that we are mentioning only UK pricing; this is because Philips unfortunately doesn't sell this range in the US or Australia. You will find Philips-branded TVs in these markets, but they are manufactured by another company, not TP Vision.

Back to that £2199 price tag. We actually reviewed the OLED910 at £1799, as the TV's price dropped almost instantly it came out; and it has remained there ever since.

Other flagship OLEDs, including the Sony Bravia 8 II and LG G5, have both dropped to similar prices as of late, so this sector of the TV market really is a hot spot.

We are hoping that Philips takes a similar pricing strategy with the OLED911, as some competitors, such as the Panasonic Z95B and, probably, the Sony Bravia 8 II, will be sticking around for the foreseeable future. Price cuts, then, are inevitable.

Build

Philips has a tendency to switch up the looks of its TVs on a yearly basis. Considering that it has a tendency to make the best-looking TVs around from a design standpoint, we take no issue with this.

The OLED911 is no exception; upon first impressions, this TV is a sight to behold.

It takes the established bottom-mounted speaker-bar and dual-feet design of its predecessor, and refines it to look even smarter and more premium. That chin-mounted “soundbar” no longer spans the entirety of the TV's bottom edge. It now takes on the shape of an elongated pill, which stops just short of the full width of the screen, giving the illusion of a trimmer build overall.

The bar comes in two sizes, depending on whether you get the 48- or 55-inch, or the 65- or 77-inch model, respectively. You'll notice that we mention a 48-inch model here: the OLED911 will be the first in this range to come in the smaller screen size.

The metal pill-style feet of the previous model return, and while they aren’t placed at the very ends of the TV, they are still spread fairly wide, meaning a media unit of decent width will be necessary to support this TV.

That, of course, is if you don't wall mount it. And we wouldn't be surprised if a lot of prospective OLED911 customers take this route. Philips has managed to shave this set down to an impressively slender 39.9mm, down from 47.3mm. Marry that slim frame with the four-sided Ambilight system, and you could well say that this TV was practically made to be wall-mounted.

Features

Speaking of Ambilight, the OLED911 has a new trick up its sleeve for fans of the reactive lighting system, which mirrors the action on screen. Philips is introducing AmbiScape, which allows its new Ambilight-equipped TVs to interface with smart light bulbs from various manufacturers (including Philips Hue, Nanoleaf and IKEA) and sync up, turning practically your entire room into an immersive Ambilight landscape; hence, AmbiScape.

Ambilight might not be for everyone, but we’re fairly sure the new second-generation Primary RGB Tandem OLED panel will be to most people’s preferences. Philips claims that this TV can reach a staggering peak brightness of 4500 nits, while the improved reflectivity-reducing qualities of this display (baked in by its originator, LG Display) will help to mitigate more than 99 per cent of on-screen reflections.

Furthermore, this RGB Tandem OLED 2.0 panel can now reach refresh rates up to 165Hz with VRR – and this is where we get onto the OLED911's next best feature. Philips has opted to equip this TV with the slightly less powerful MediaTek Pentonic 800 chipset rather than the Pentonic 1000.

That sounds like a downgrade on paper, but it actually means that the OLED911 has four full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 sockets, all of which support 4K gaming at high refresh rates with VRR and ALLM. This catapults Philips into the best gaming TV conversation with the likes of Samsung and LG.

Philips has achieved this by moving away from Google TV, and instead opting for Titan OS on its entire 2026 range. This operating system was developed in Barcelona, and Philips has been a key player in bringing it to market as an alternative to Google’s operating system. With this streamlined and less demanding OS, the MediaTek Pentonic 800 chipset becomes more than powerful enough, and the gaming benefits speak for themselves.

Picture processing, however, is handled by Philips’ own 10th Gen P5 AI processor. As the name suggests, AI is integrated deeply into the picture processing here, with some examples including AI HDR tone mapping, and a new AI HDR expansion/restore feature that uses “frame-by-frame analysis to measure the incoming HDR signal and restore the original light output of the content, matched to the peak light output of the display.”

And, if you thought the Philips OLED911 had run out of sleeves up which to hide its tricks, here's where we reveal that this is the world's first OLED TV to support Dolby Vision 2 Max. HDR10, HLG and HDR10+ are also on board, making this among the most versatile TVs around when it comes to HDR format support. The inclusion of the hotly anticipated Dolby Vision 2 makes this one of the most exciting OLED TVs of 2026.

Dolby Vision 2 Max supports the likes of Authentic Motion and Light Sense, on top of the benefits of “standard” Dolby Vision 2. The former adjusts motion in real time to ensure judder is minimised without introducing the soap-opera effect, whereas the latter will take the ambient light of your viewing area into consideration and adjust the picture accordingly.

Last, but by no means least, is the built-in sound system. This is probably the most “hi-fi adjacent” built-in TV sound system we have seen, which makes sense as it comes from legendary British speaker manufacturer Bowers & Wilkins.

The new sound system features dedicated left, centre and right channels, each of which features two new 45mm midrange glass-fibre drivers alongside a 19mm titanium-dome tweeter and a slimmer 75mm subwoofer supported by four force-cancelling passive radiators.

If that built-in woofer doesn’t deliver enough bass for your liking, you can directly hook up an external subwoofer to the TV for more low-end punch.

In total, this system features a combined power output of 81W, with eight dedicated channels of amplification powering each speaker.

Picture

Our time with the Philips OLED911 was mostly spent watching a short clip from the beginning of A Quiet Place: Day One via an Apple TV 4K alongside some of Philips’ bold and punchy demo-reel content. Still, we were able to make some preliminary assessments based on our fairly limited time with the TV.

Our findings here, though, certainly don’t reflect our final verdict on this TV. You’ll have to wait for our full review for that.

Still, the TV appeared to look fairly balanced and cinematic during our demo of A Quiet Place (this clip was played more to highlight the audio capabilities of this TV, which we'll come to), with rich colours that didn’t look oversaturated.

The yellow coat and orangish-red of Lupita Nyong’o’s character, Samira, had a nice touch of vibrancy against the mostly grey backdrop of New York City. The mix of sharpness and contrast also seemed to give a very solid sense of three-dimensionality to the picture.

That being said, during a sequence in which a lot of what appeared to be smoke or dust is kicked up, there was some fairly severe banding on display. This could be due to the lower bitrate of the streamed content, but it caught our eye nonetheless.

Moving on to Philips’ punchy demo content, while we hesitate to call the panning shots of nature and cities particularly natural-looking, they did a great job of highlighting this TV’s capabilities when it comes to delivering punchy colours and dazzling brightness.

The argument that OLEDs aren’t capable of reaching Mini LED levels of brightness is slowly becoming redundant, and the rich, luscious colours mixed with this intense brightness sure do make for a show-stopping debut performance from the OLED911.

Sound

Few TVs on the market can boast the same sonic credentials as the Philips OLED900-range. As we have established, the TV’s sound system was developed by Bowers & Wilkins, and representatives from the British audio company gave us an in-depth look (and listen) at the OLED911’s new speaker setup.

It’s too early to tell if this sonic hot streak will continue with the OLED911, especially with the redesigned speaker enclosure and slimmed-down subwoofer. We will certainly need to test this TV’s sound system thoroughly in our own AV testing room. The early signs, however, are promising.

We saw the 55-inch model, which features the slightly smaller speaker lozenge, yet the sound it produces is anything but small. During that brief demo with A Quiet Place: Day One, we found the sound to be superbly atmospheric, with a spacious sonic field that placed sound effects with impressive accuracy.

A helicopter passing overhead was placed with impressive height, and the sound of a police car’s siren speeding past in the background of the shot moved dynamically from right to left, and extending past the confines of the screen to provide a sense of cinematic scale that we don't often hear with built-in sound systems.

Bowers & Wilkins also demonstrated the OLED911’s sonic capabilities with music, playing Ezra Collective’s God Gave Me Feet For Dancing (feat. Yazmin Lacey). The track’s lively energy was presented with a solid sense of rhythmic drive, while the vocals were clean and clear.

While the overall sound from the OLED911 seemed to be big, bold and crisp, we felt voices lacked a touch of warmth perhaps, although we should stress that the listening space was by no means ideal. Once again, final judgement must wait for when we test this set in our dedicated home cinema room.

Early verdict

In a year with potentially fewer flagship rivals than before, Philips could easily have rested on its laurels and delivered a modest follow-up to the excellent OLED910. We're pleased to see that the company has done the exact opposite.

With a super-bright OLED panel, superb gaming specification, an upgraded sound system, a sleek new design and a bold new take on Ambilight, the OLED911 is shaping up to be a TV that could truly steal the spotlight from the superb Sony Bravia 8 II, as well as, potentially, the upcoming LG G6 and Samsung S95H.

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Read our full Philips OLED910 review

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To mark its centenary last year, Philips announced that it will be reviving its classic Moving Sound range of products from the 1980s – think bold yellow colours, burly boomboxes, and slimline on-ear headphones to plug into your portable cassette player.

At Philips' headquarters in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, I was shown an early preview of the upcoming reimagined modern range, which features portable Bluetooth speakers (the modern boomboxes), updated on-ear headphones with wireless connectivity and a brand-new pair of true wireless earbuds.

Philips has now confirmed the final product names, specifications and prices of its modern Moving Sound range.

The two portable Bluetooth speakers are called The Tube (MS80) and The Roller (MS60), and they both feature Bluetooth 6.0, Auracast sharing technology, IP67 rating for water and dust resistance, and 24 hours of battery life.

The Tube is the bigger and more powerful of the two speakers, boasting 140W of power driving two 12.7cm woofers and two 19mm tweeters, while dual passive radiators promise deep, dynamic bass.

There are large physical control buttons and a colour display that shows off an animated cassette graphic – a clear nod to its '80s roots. The Tube measures 51 x 20 x 16.5cm and has a carry handle and shoulder strap to make it easy to transport, and is priced at €350.

The Roller (MS60), meanwhile, is an iconic '80s name and design that has been modernised for the today's listeners. It's a smaller portable speaker at 38 x 20 x 12cm, and features a built-in carry handle.

It features a "true stereo acoustic architecture" with 60W of power driving a dedicated woofer, tweeter and passive radiator, while Moving Sound Bass+ technology promises powerful bass response. The Roller is priced at €180, with other pricing yet to be announced.

Like The Tube, this portable Bluetooth speaker also features a colourful screen that displays the cassette animation and both models can be used as a power bank to charge your smartphone on the go. You can control both speakers using the Philips Entertainment App, too.

Next up is The Ringo Duo (MS1) headphones that sport a lightweight, on-ear design and are yours for just €35. This classic on-ear headphone design has been updated with wireless Bluetooth connectivity, while also allowing you to listen in wired USB-C mode.

They feature 40mm drivers, and have a built-in AI microphone for clearer calls that also aim to reduce background noise. Designed for ultimate portability and comfort, the Ringo Duo headphones have an adjustable headband and come with three sets of detachable ear cushions. 26 hours of battery life is promised, too.

Of course, we didn't have wireless earbuds in the '80s, but Philips' revived Moving Sound range wouldn't be complete without a set of true wireless earbuds. According to Philips, The Buds (MS3) "bring the collection fully into the modern age while maintaining the playful spirit of the original design language."

The Buds feature hybrid active noise cancellation, spatial audio, multi-point connectivity and Auracast support. Six microphones ensure "excellent" ANC ability, while three AI mics are used to ensure clear voice calls even in busy surroundings.

We are promised a total battery life of 42 hours (with ANC off) with the charging case, while a 10-minute charge will give you two hours of playback. The earbuds are IP54-rated, while various controls can be personalised using the Philips Headphones App.

The rather large, round charging case comes with a display screen, much like JBL's Tour Pro 2 smart display case, and it can also display the same cassette animation seen on the portable speakers. The Buds are competitively priced at €80. Other prices are TBC.

All products in Philips' new Moving Sound range are available in yellow or black finishes with neon pink accents to capture that retro '80s aesthetic.

All four models will be available in Q2 of 2026 and aim to deliver the "bold spirit of the original 1980s Philips designs with a fresh mix of colour, style and modern performance."

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Philips announces 2026 TV lineup with Tandem OLED, RGB Mini LED and Dolby Vision 2 Max

Philips has expanded its extensive Fidelio audio range with two new additions: the FA7 micro hi-fi system and the L5 over-ear wireless headphones.

Aimed at "audio enthusiasts who value both sound quality and aesthetic appeal", the new additions aim to bring Philips' signature sound to two distinct corners of the audio market.

We'll start with the Fidelio FA7, a source-and-speakers micro hi-fi system that puts us in mind of the Award-winning Denon D-M41DAB (now around £269), a system we've so often lauded for its compact footprint, effortless versatility and excellent performance.

Like the Denon, the Philips Fidelio FA7 micro system consists of a pair of stereo speakers alongside a main source unit, although it's set to be a fair bit pricer at €600. The system features a digital display accompanied by on-unit controls for managing volume, playback and equaliser settings.

The FA7 promises "deep bass, clear mids and sparkling highs" thanks to 120 watts of power feeding a 12.7cm glass-fibre woofer and a 25mm titanium dome tweeter.

Modern connectivity comes courtesy of wi-fi streaming via the likes of Apple AirPlay 2, Google Chromecast, Spotify and Tidal Connect, while FM, DAB+ and internet radio tuners are available alongside standard Bluetooth.

A motorised CD tray takes care of your shiny compact discs, while a USB-A input lets you plug in other audio sources. There's also a front-mounted 3.5mm headphone port if you want to get up close and personal with your tunes.

For listening on the go, Philips has also unveiled the Fidelio L5 wireless headphones, which tease an "expansive and immersive sound". They feature a set of bespoke 36mm drivers and support the hi-res LDAC Bluetooth codec, which allows you to stream up to 32-bit/96kHz files at 990kbps data transmission rates.

While LDAC is on board for higher quality wireless streaming, the Fidelio L5 also offer a wired connection to your source thanks to 3.5mm and USB-C ports.

Spatial audio is supported if you want a more immersive experience, while a grand total of five microphones are designed to offer "state of the art" active noise cancelling, including an adaptive mode which automatically adjusts to your surroundings in real time.

A trio of AI-assisted microphones aim for crystal-clear voice calls, while smart wear detection pauses music whenever your cans are removed from your head.

Philips promises that its newest over-ears are a seamless blend of comfort and design, featuring a curved ergonomic headband and deep oval ear cushions for long-lasting wearability.

The Fidelio FA7 micro hi-fi system is due to arrive in the final quarter 2026, priced at €600. The Fidelio L5 wireless headphones will follow in October 2026, priced at €200. We'll update this article when we receive further prices.

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Philips is releasing three new soundbars, which the brand says will all offer “excellent performance, high power and good specifications.”

Kicking off with the B8301 model, this 3.1.2-channel system consists of a soundbar and a wireless subwoofer in a “slimline” package according to the brand.

There’s support for Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, which will be good news for movie lovers looking for multiple surround sound options. Under the hood, you will find dedicated LCR (left, centre, right) channels and with two up-firing drivers, all running on 190W of total system power.

The wireless subwoofer, which features a twin driver, can be mounted vertically or horizontally and includes 100W power output.

In terms of connectivity, there is an HDMI eARC port with 4K/120Hz passthrough, and Bluetooth on the cards. Like all of the new models, the bar offers an AI-powered "Intellisound Engine" which automatically chooses the sound profile based on what's playing. Options on offer include all the usual suspects: Movie, Music and Voice Boost.

They all also feature Philip’s EasyLink 3.0 system, which allows both the soundbar and a Philips TV to be controlled using one remote control.

So far, only the European pricing has been released, coming in at €329. That’s around £285 in the UK and $380 in the US. At that price, the B8301 is up against the Award-winning Hisense AX5125H (£249 / $350) soundbar system, which scored highly for its amazing weight, scale and spaciousness for the money. Tough competition, indeed.

Next up, the B5601 is a more compact model which Philips says is “designed to bring a full-size performance to smaller spaces.”

The 2.1 system is made up of a main soundbar and a subwoofer. You won’t find any Dolby Atmos support this time, however, as the model offers Dolby Digital+ and DTS: Virtual X compatibility.

Finally, the B5201 is Philips’ latest all-in-one model, which measures 6.5 x 77 x 91 cm (hwd) and has the smallest footprint of the bunch.

With 80W of total output power, the company says it “offers a simple but high-quality upgrade to TV sound as a single compact 2.0 soundbar”. Dolby Digital+ and DTS: Virtual X compatibility. The B5201 also includes an HDMI ARC connection, but there's no 4K passthrough on the cards.

There’s no word on price for the two more compact models, but the B5201 could well be gunning for the four-star Sony HT-SF150 (£90 / $100 / AU$199). With increasingly tricky competition in the budget soundbar market, Philips’ new range will have to work hard to stand out from the crowd.

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Desktop speakers aren’t what they used to be. Don’t worry, that’s no bad thing – this relatively unassuming corner of the audio world has come on leaps and bounds in the past few years, with many manufacturers now bringing potent performance and up-to-the-minute features to your humble desktop.

As a result, there are currently a healthy number of powered desktop speakers from which to suit your need, especially if you’re not keen on spending a huge amount to get hold of a pair.

The Ruark MR1 Mk3 (£399 / $579 / AU$899) are our established Award-winners at this budget end of the market, with the Onkyo GX-30ARC (£339 / $349 / AU$649) providing stern competition at a similar price and with a more comprehensive range of features and functions.

Then we have the Philips Fidelio FA3 (£349 / $399 / AU$499), which cost around the same money as their competitors but employ an active design – whereby each speaker takes power to amplify a separately powered drive unit, rather than the purely powered configuration of their counterparts.

Picking a winner

While these may ostensibly be a trio of ‘desktop’ speakers, their capabilities stretch far beyond the realms of dutifully flanking your laptop to give your daily YouTube scrolling a bit more pep. All are bolstered by Bluetooth streaming powers, and all – to a varying degree – offer a raft of physical connections to stretch their capabilities far beyond that of mere deskbound sound.

That can make your choice all the trickier, as the process is no longer as simple as finding the pair that sounds the best plonked in your office and wired up to your desktop PC (remember those?).

Here, then, we have assessed each of our three contenders as thoroughly as possible, judging them on their versatility, design and sonic talents across a broad spectrum of potential use cases.

Whether you’re seeking your next pair of purely on-desk sentinels, or you want a do-it-all pair that can even get your turntable sounding superb, we have covered all the bases to put you in the best position to make your selection.

What’s fascinating about this particular group test is how different our three rivals are. While they may all be active or powered desktop speakers in name, the divergent paths each brand has taken at this budget end of the market clearly demonstrates there’s more than one way to skin this particular cat.

Each pair is a different size, boasts a distinctive design, has a given array of features and offers its own unique sound signature. A certain degree of our recommendation, therefore, is naturally going to be based on users’ subjective needs and preferences, even if, ultimately, we know where we would put our money. We’ll get to that in a moment.

Philips' Fidelio FA3 go big and bold

If size without much subtlety is what you desire, the Philips Fidelio FA3 make that case with a loud, hearty shout. These are the largest speakers of our trio and the most assertive sounding, with the burly boxes dwarfing their Onkyo and Ruark rivals by a considerable margin.

They might be the biggest of the lot, but they’re not the best equipped on the features front. While the inclusion of Bluetooth plus RCA, optical, USB-C and HDMI ARC options isn’t stingy, a lack of a standalone 3.5mm auxiliary input, a subwoofer out or any phono stage means Philips lags behind its competitors.

The Fidelio FA3 are capable of going louder and prouder than most typical desktop speakers, with a muscular, bass-heavy signature which will offer some appeal for anyone who just wants to crank up the volume and fire out their tunes with vigour.

For subtlety and nuance, however, they are outmatched here, with that ill-disciplined bass and route-one approach leaving us disappointed in their sonic capabilities when put up against their rivals.

Onyko's GX-30ARC are stunningly versatile

By contrast, subtlety and nuance aren’t lacking from the Onkyo GX-30ARC. While the Philips go big at the lower end, the Onkyo pair prioritise clarity, detail and organisation. They are, perhaps, a touch light in the bass, but that’s a minor niggle that can’t spoil a very positive sonic picture.

They are the most versatile of our trio, too, offering Bluetooth streaming alongside a bulging arsenal of physical connections, including optical, 3.5mm aux and a pair of RCA inputs, as well as USB-C, a moving-magnet phono stage and HDMI ARC.

That phono stage is great, and if you’re planning on grabbing a pair, we recommend using some form of wired connection to get the most out of them. Bluetooth audio is capable, but when your source is connected via the likes of USB-C or RCA, the GX-30ARC shine via a clearer, nimbler and more balanced reproduction.

Ruark continues its sonic supremacy

The Onkyos are clearly multi-talented, but for pure sonic excellence, the Ruark MR1 Mk3 still lead the way.

They may be the smallest of our trio, but they are also the most musically involving. They offer a powerful, punchy and dynamic sound that picks up on emotional subtleties with a far keener ear. For us, this is still the best-sounding pair of powered desktop speakers we have heard at this price.

They are also some of the best looking, and thanks to their compact, stylish footprint, a great option for anyone short on space. They will slot neatly into a desktop setup, perched on a bookshelf or, if you like, flanking your precious turntable.

That last option is one we recommend. The MR1 Mk3s’ phono stage is the party piece here, sounding well-defined, clear and confident beyond the speakers’ meagre dimensions. Add to that Bluetooth streaming, a USB-C input, a combined optical and 3.5mm auxiliary input and a sub out, and you have a superb all-around package.

They may not be quite as feature-laden as the Onkyo GX-30ARC, nor as burly-sounding as the Fidelio FA3, but for their deeply musical sound and lovely design, the Ruark MR1 Mk3 stand alone in riding that tricky balance of style and substance.

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Philips and Samsung are both veterans of the TV industry, mass-producing quality sets before the first issue of What Hi-Fi? went on sale half a century ago.

The TV industry and the two brands are very different now, but both still know how to put together a tasty-looking flagship.

These aren’t just any flagships, though; what we have battling it out before us are the Philips OLED910 and Samsung S95F, two stunning OLEDs and contenders for the best TV of the last year.

So which of these five-star sets is the better buy? We’ll break down the arguments below…

Philips OLED910 vs Samsung S95F: Price

The Samsung S95F launched first, with the 65-inch model retailing for £3399 / $3300 / AU$5299.

However, prices have dropped in recent months, with a standout January deal bringing the 65-inch S95F down to £1799 / $2430 / AU$3424. Typically, though, the S95F is available for around £2099.

The 65-inch Philips OLED910, however, launched at a very aggressive (at the time) price of £2199 (Philips OLEDs are not available in the US or Australia at all).

Similarly, a standout January deal dropped the OLED910 to £1699; it currently sits at around £1999.

Even though the gap has narrowed, the OLED910 has reached a deeper low and has consistently undercut the Samsung, making it the more budget-friendly choice over time.

**Winner: Philips OLED910**

Philips OLED910 vs Samsung S95F: Design

This really is a fashion face-off, as we have two of the most stylish TVs among the OLED flagships.

Neither has changed much from its predecessor, which is no bad thing – the OLED910 evokes the sculpted OLED909, with a grey Kvadrat fabric wrapped around the slim speaker bar and dainty, ice-skate-like feet.

The biggest design draw of the OLED910 design is, of course, Philips’s Ambilight technology. This consists of coloured LEDs along the back of each side of the TV, that create a full, seamless lightshow that dynamically matches the on-screen action.

Ambilight instills a bit of a marmite reaction among home cinema aficionados, but we think it can be stunning with the right bright, colourful content such as the Spider-Verse movies.

The Samsung S95F, on the other hand, boasts a uniform 1.1cm thickness and a premium metal shell.

This is partly achieved through Samsung’s One Connect Box, which houses all the processing, connections, and power in a separate box that then connects to the TV via a single cable. As well as enabling the S95F’s astounding thinness, it also serves as a tidy, discreet cable manager.

In contrast to the OLED910’s dainty feet, the S95F comes with a premium, and heavy, pedestal stand. It gives the TV a very solid base while also being low-profile enough to accommodate a typical soundbar.

If you’re a big Ambilight fan, this might be enough to swing things in the Philips’s favour, but for sheer attractiveness and all-around appeal, we’re going to give this to Samsung.

**Winner: Samsung S95F**

Philips OLED910 vs Samsung S95F: Features

Starting with the all-important panels, Samsung, of course, uses its QD-OLED offering. The fourth generation of the technology claims to allow the TV to go 30 per cent brighter than its S95D predecessor, with a peak brightness of around 2000 nits.

Philips, as a user of LG’s panels, has made the move from MLA OLED to Primary RGB Tandem OLED. Brightness is the big beneficiary of this switch, with Philips claiming that the OLED910 can hit a peak brightness of 3700 nits.

Honestly, though, it’s best to more or less ignore claims such as these; each brand measures in different ways, so they are rarely like for like figures, and the settings required to get the brightest images never create a picture that is actually pleasant to watch.

All you really need to know here is that these are two of the brightest OLED TVs currently available, and the Philips could potentially be the brighter of the two.

Samsung has also upgraded its anti-glare coating, which is more effective at suppressing reflections than that of glossy panels such as the Philips OLED910. The matte screen does result in some raised blacks when viewed in a bright room, but this is not an issue if you take your viewing seriously enough to dim your lights.

Samsung’s panel also has a higher refresh rate of 165Hz, and 4K/165Hz gaming is supported via all four HDMI 2.1 sockets. The OLED910 maxes out at 4K/144Hz and has only two HDMI 2.1 sockets, with the other two being limited to 4K/60Hz.

Those with lots of gaming hardware may lean towards the S95F then; but do bear in mind that the PS5 and Xbox Series X can output at a maximum of 4K/120Hz, so only PC gamers with very powerful machines will have any use for refresh rates beyond that.

Both TVs support VRR and ALLM.

These are modern flagship TVs, so it’s no surprise that both the sets feature a raft of AI-powered picture-performance features. A highlight of the S95F is AI Upscaling Pro, one of our favourite features of the QN900D 8K TV, which can sharpen finer details and remove visual imperfections. The Philips OLED910, on the other hand, can classify on-screen content and adapt the picture quality to best suit what you are watching; it also includes algorithms to enhance sharpness, colour vibrancy and contrast.

Philips comes out on top in terms of HDR commitment, with support for all four HDR formats: HDR10+, Dolby Vision, HDR10, and HLG. Unsurprisingly, the S95F lacks Dolby Vision, as Samsung continues to push its own HDR10+ format.

Both TVs support Dolby Atmos. The Samsung boasts a 70W, 4.2.2-channel speaker system with Samsung's proprietary OTS+ technology; Philips, on the other hand, has partnered with Bowers & Wilkins for an 81W, 3.1-channel system.

We’ll factor the panel technology into the picture round as it is ultimately the performance that matters. That leaves the two TVs fairly evenly matched – the Samsung has the gaming advantage, while Philips boasts all-encompassing HDR support.

**Winner: Draw**

Philips OLED910 vs Samsung S95F: Picture

Both TVs, as expected, make a relatively poor impression in their default settings. Switching to Filmmaker Mode largely fixes the issues for the Samsung S95F; the Philips OLED910, however, requires a bit more work, as several of the ‘Ambient Intelligence’ settings are left on.

Once settings are properly dialled in, however, it’s remarkable how close both these TVs get to the Sony Bravia 8 II, our Product of the Year and current benchmark.

The Samsung S95F is arguably even more impressive than the Bravia 8 II when it comes to bright content, such as Kingpin’s dimension-melding machine in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which is gloriously vivid and dazzling in the best possible way.

The Philips might not have the same pop, but it does offer superb vibrancy and punch that go hand in hand with naturalism and authenticity. As long as you stay in Filmmaker mode, the brightness isn’t forced.

With more grounded content, both TVs suffer from a smidge of over-exaggeration, particularly with skin tones, which can look a little too red. However, this is a minor issue you are unlikely to notice on either TV when watching in isolation. It is certainly present, however, when viewed side by side with the more balanced and super-accurate Bravia 8 II.

This is not to detract from the overall delivery on both – every 4K and HDR movie we throw at each TV is displayed with stunning sharpness and detail.

The S95F’s QD-OLED panel delivers consistent colours from the darkest to the brightest parts of the image, while the OLED910’s Primary RGB Tandem OLED panel is slightly less vibrant and consistent at the extremes.

However, it’s the OLED910 that comes closest to the Bravia 8 II, which is really exceptional given the lower price.

Motion on the OLED910 is genuinely excellent, with a firm grip on people’s movements and a satisfying lack of judder even in tricky panning shots. All of which is achieved without the dreaded soap-opera effect, meaning the OLED910 has a rare Goldilocks motion setting.

The S95F, in comparison, has no such Goldilocks setting – the small amount of judder present by default can’t be removed without at least a whiff of the soap-opera effect.

The OLED910 handles dark scenes exceptionally well, offering OLED’s trademark perfect blacks and excellent shadow detail, with skin tones that aren’t too washed out.

This is where the S95F has a noticeable picture quality flaw: black crush. It’s not a huge flaw by any means, but some of the subtlety in dark scenes is lost. Changing the Shadow Detail settings results in unintended side effects that outweigh the benefits.

The OLED910 has some flaws of its own, though, including imperfect blacks in Dolby Vision performance and over-brightened SDR content in every single picture preset. To be clear, SDR content still looks excellent, but we would prefer a mode that tracks intended brightness accurately – which is what the Samsung does in its Filmmaker Mode.

Overall, though, it’s the OLED910 that comes out on top. It offers a solidity and vivaciousness that few TVs can match, and is an excellent picture performer overall, only a few whiskers off our benchmark.

**Winner: Philips OLED910**

Philips OLED910 vs Samsung S95F: Sound

When it comes to sound, there’s a clear winner here.

We’ll start with the S95F, which sounds impressive for such a thin TV with a speaker system completely hidden from view.

To quote from our Samsung S95F review: “There’s significantly more bass than one would expect, a generally balanced tonal range, clear dialogue, and a soundstage that extends fairly effectively beyond the TV's side and top edges.”

However, the S95F is rather quiet, and cranking up the volume results in a buzz from several of the speakers. The louder the set goes, the more the speakers crackle, whether it's the explosive part of a movie or the less challenging parts.

There is nothing in the settings that fixes this, and indeed, several of the other sound modes and features have problems of their own.

The Philips set, on the other hand, benefits greatly from the brand’s collaboration with Bowers & Wilkins.

As our Philips OLED910 review reads: “With every Dolby Atmos movie we throw at it, the TV produces a sound with lots of width, good effect placement, very good detail, impressive weight (for a TV) and lovely tonal balance.”

There’s particularly good spatial and tonal organisation, while dynamics are impressive too, with voices having lots of realism and bigger volume changes handled very adeptly.

Other than a little softness in the bass, there’s nothing to complain about with the OLED910’s audio delivery. It sounds even better than our current benchmark, the Sony Bravia 8 II, and you would have to be looking at a soundbar as good as the Sonos Arc Ultra for any significant sonic upgrade.

For this reason, the Philips OLED910 comfortably takes the win for sound quality.

**Winner: Philips OLED910**

Philips OLED910 vs Samsung S95F: Verdict

As two OLED flagships and five-star stunners, this was always going to be a close call.

The Samsung S95F still reigns supreme as the best-looking of the 2025 flagship OLEDs, and has an awful lot going for it, including four HDMI 2.1 sockets and a faster refresh rate.

But the Philips OLED910 pips it in both picture quality and sound, while costing a decent amount less too. If you’re a fan of Ambilight too, then the pendulum swings strongly in favour of the OLED910.

Neither TV is a bad purchase, and it must be said that the Samsung S95F delivers bright content with a vivid, dazzling pop, and does so with less fiddling of the settings. The audio also delivers more bass than the OLED910, and is balanced and clear enough for everyday use.

The OLED910, however, is the closest TV to our current benchmark, the Sony Bravia 8 II, in terms of picture quality. It’s vibrant and punchy in a more natural, authentic way than the S95F, and excels in dark scenes, where the S95F suffers from black crush. The built-in audio is also among the best on the market right now, with none of the distortion issues of the S95F and a sonic performance that would need a good soundbar to comfortably top.

Gamers and aesthetics-focused buyers may well want to go for the S95F, but the Philips OLED910 is our multifaceted, all-around pick.

**Winner: Philips OLED910**

If you want a decent pair of active stereo speakers, you’re not short of options. The compact and affordable Ruark MR1 Mk3 (£399 / $579 / AU$899) and Onkyo GX-30ARC (£339 / $349 / AU$649), not to mention the more costly KEF Coda W (£799 / $1000 / AU$1450), have delivered ably on the promise of that signature stereo speaker sound and design combined with built-in amplification, Bluetooth streaming and plenty of physical connections.

Now it’s the turn of Philips and its active Fidelio FA3 speakers to see if it can muscle in on this market. At around £349 / $399 / AU$499, the FA3 cost around the same money as their Onkyo and Ruark competitors, and while the Ruarks derive much of their appeal from their compact size and engaging musicality, the Onkyo earned a five-star haul thanks to their solid performance and outstanding versatility. The bigger KEF Coda W, meanwhile, are for anyone wanting a significant step-up in sound quality for a more sizeable sum.

Lots of bases covered then, and all leading to one important question: do the Fidelio FA3 offer anything that their class-leading rivals don’t already have covered?

Build & design

The Fidelio FA3 are on the larger side of what you’d generally find from a pair of active speakers at this price – if anything, they could pass for a pair of dedicated hi-fi standmounts. Standing around 30cm tall, they dwarf their 22cm high Onkyo GX-30ARC rivals, all while making the 18.5cm Ruark MR1 Mk3 look titchy by comparison.

They’re big beasts, but not poorly made. The overall standard of construction feels admirable, while the main body of the speakers shines proudly thanks to its glossy black finish. That gloss black exterior gives the FA3 a somewhat flashy aesthetic, even if it leaves them susceptible to the ignominy of grubby fingermarks. Oh, and we hope you like that colourway, because it’s the only one currently available.

Unlike their key competitors, the Fidelio FA3 eschew a master and slave configuration – whereby one speaker takes the power and shares it through a wired cable connection to its companion – in favour of both units receiving power via two separate sockets. That can cause its own issues, as you’ll need two available plug sockets to keep your speakers firing, and the provided power cables are a little on the short side at around 140cm each.

The primary speaker houses the lion’s share of the inputs and buttons, including a power button, volume dial and source selector, with both speakers sporting a small LED indicator at the bottom. It’s nice to have those colour-changing LEDs displaying which source you’ve selected, but wouldn’t it have been more user-friendly to have mounted the volume dial at the front of one of the boxes? As it is, it’s just a small dial hidden on the primary speaker’s back panel.

The FA3 speakers come with a dedicated remote control for selecting your desired inputs, adjusting volume, managing playback and tweaking levels of treble and bass, and while that remote is a little plasticky, it’s about what we’d expect for this price. There’s also a set of magnetically attachable oval grilles which cover the core drive units rather than the whole of each speaker’s frontage, a smart decision which preserves the FA3’s overall aesthetic.

Inside, each speaker is fed by 50 watts of Class D power, with dedicated internal amplifiers powering a 25mm titanium dome tweeter and a 12.7cm glass-fibre mid/bass unit in pursuit of “breathtaking dynamics and soundstaging”. Bass performance, as you’ll discover when you turn your speakers around, is tuned by a large rear port on each unit.

Features

For simple convenience, Bluetooth is the only way you’ll get a wireless connection going from your system to your source device, with standard AAC and SBC living alongside the higher quality LDAC codec if you have a compatible source.

Physical connections include RCA stereo inputs alongside an optical input, as well as a USB-C option if you want to connect directly to your laptop or smartphone. For integration with a television, the Fidelio FA3 also feature an HDMI ARC port.

That’s a reasonably solid variety of connections, even if a lack of a standalone 3.5mm aux input, a sub out or any phono stage for connecting a turntable means Philips lags behind the comprehensive suite provided by the do-it-all Onkyo GX-30ARC.

The speakers themselves can be connected to each other wirelessly or via a coaxial cable. All digital input sources will be able to handle files up to 24-bit/192kHz, but regardless of input, note that the Philips speaker will downsample all incoming hi-res files to a maximum of 24-bit/96kHz resolution.

For taking charge of your Fidelio FA3 and tinkering with the finer points of your experience, you’ll want to get a hold of the Philips Entertainment app. Here, you’ll discover a reasonably wide range of handy boons, including an in-depth seven-band equaliser and a digitally mapped alternative to the physical remote control.

Sound

We kick off our testing by sampling the FA3’s Bluetooth powers, streaming music from Tidal after placing the speakers onto our office desk.

The sound we receive is powerful and meaty, but that meatiness comes with a good deal of fat at the low end that could do with some serious trimming. Whether it’s Goose’s funky So Ready, Hans Zimmer’s epic Why Do We Fall? or Radiohead’s refined Reckoner, the speakers sound loose and ill-disciplined, with a heavy-handed bass that lacks much perceptible precision or clarity.

Voices come through with ample expressiveness, and we detect a real keenness and full-bodied bite through what is an admirably detailed midrange. This isn’t a crisp or nimble sound, but the speakers’ weighty and impressively cinematic approach does give genuine muscle to Why Do We Fall? to give the titanic track a real feeling of epic drama.

The problem is that lower end. The deep bass plucks at the start of So Ready, for instance, don’t sound much like any instrument in particular, and while we’re aware that something is being played, and that it comes from the lower registers, there’s little evidence that this is the unmistakably resonant twang of a bass guitar.

Tinkering with the provided equaliser can take a bit of the overzealousness out of the lower end, but it can’t rectify what is clearly a fundamentally ill-defined and imprecise sound. Yes, there’s punch to the sound, but it’s more the imprecise thwack of a 20oz heavyweight glove as opposed to the razor sharp jab of a dancing featherweight.

This is all a little disheartening, so we lunge for the safety of a USB-C cable to see if we can put some pep into the Fidelio FA3s’ step. It’s a good decision, and while the Philips system’s core character remains, we find that those defects are slightly mitigated by the introduction of a good old-fashioned wire tether hooked up to our Lenovo Thinkpad laptop.

Everything sounds tighter and clearer through this wired connection, allowing what is an admirably detailed midrange to shine more clearly, and while that bass is still as overbearing as a strict mother turning up to her daughter’s first disco, it does at least have greater shape and precision this time around. There’s more space around the notes played, with music hanging together in a less slipshod manner – it’s far from perfect, but better than before.

A little more encouraged by the FA3’s USB-C performance, we recruit the services of our trusty Cyrus CDi CD player into the Philips’ RCA stereo input, discovering that the system is capable of accommodating a far more talented source player than a standard work laptop.

Moving over to the optical input shows the Philips’ DAC is a respectable one, even if we still discern a noticeable drop-off in performance when switching from the talented Cyrus’ DAC to that of the Philips. That’s not entirely surprising, as the Cyrus CDi, while advancing in its years, will still set you back around £1000.

Regardless of source, though, the Fidelio FA3 doesn’t have the chops to challenge the best in class. Admittedly, the powered Ruark MR1 Mk3 speakers sound smaller than the FA3, but they’re also a far subtler, sweeter and more expressive proposition than their larger rivals, bending and flexing to accommodate the mood and feel of a wide musical spectrum rather than simply barraging us with a somewhat shouty, route-one approach.

Similarly, the Onkyo GX-30ARC don’t have the burly sonic brawn of the Fidelio FA3, but those shortcomings are easily remedied by a clearer, cleaner sound and a more dextrous handling of those key bass frequencies.

Whichever competitor we compare the Philips with, it simply sounds too sonically unsubtle to compete with the class leaders – less a trained chorister in an airy chapel, more a merry football fan belting out Sweet Caroline on the terraces.

Verdict

The Philips Fidelio FA3 have their moments. They can sound bold, powerful and muscular for what is a pretty modest outlay, with a solid array of connectivity options granting decent versatility for the money.

The problem for the FA3 is that price-comparable rivals tend to give you more bang for your buck. Whether it’s the more comprehensive suite of connections from the Onkyo GX-30ARC or the sonically superior Ruark MR1 Mk3, we’re struggling to see where the Fidelio fit into the current landscape.

Review published: 10th March 2026

SCORES

• Sound 3
• Build 4
• Features 4

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On 8th March 1979, Philips revealed the very first Compact Disc (CD) and CD player prototype to the press at Eindhoven, Netherlands. The CD player prototype had an LED display and four buttons, and a top-loading mechanism. It was called the "Pinkeltje" and it set in motion one of the most seismic shifts in the history of the recorded music industry.

Philips and Sony were both separately developing digital disc technology during the 1970s, and the two technology innovators from Europe and Japan joined forces to create the standard for the CD. Philips had the physical format for the discs, while Sony offered their expertise in digital error correction.

The first CD shown at this 1979 demo by Philips measured 11.5cm in diameter, but it was later standardised to 12cm. Why? To ensure the format was large enough to accommodate the entirety of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, which ran for 74 minutes.

Sony's inaugural CDP-101 player launched first in Japan in 1982, while the consumer-ready Philips CD100 launched in Europe a year later.

On 1st March 1983, the first CD players landed in the UK. By 1988, CD music unit sales surpassed those of vinyl albums.

It was a rapid music revolution and made good on the inventors' promise of being "the biggest step forward in sound reproduction since the invention of the gramophone" (What Hi-Fi?, June 1983).

The format's benefits over the established vinyl – compact size, long life, resistance to scratches and dust, low noise levels – certainly helped quickly win over music fans.

Sift through the pages of our What Hi-Fi? magazine archive for 1983 and you'll find dozens (maybe hundreds) of reviews of turntables, cartridges, tonearms, cassette tapes and cassette players. You'll also see news snippets here and there about the advent of CD and how the record labels planned to make albums available on this new digital format.

The coverage in the magazine is all-analogue until, like the proverbial London buses, What Hi-Fi? published a whole (free) supplement dedicated to CD players in the October 1983 issue.

In this special supplement we tested 11 new CD players, alongside technical information on the new format, CD album reviews, and opinion pieces arguing for and against the new format from respected hi-fi writers of the time, Dave Prakel and Alvin Gold.

The 11 player "supertest" featured CD players from Akai, Fisher, Hitachi, Marantz (which at the time was owned by Philips), Philips, Pioneer, Sharp, Sony and Toshiba, all of which were priced between £480 to £649 (today's equivalent being around £2100 to £2800).

We rated each disc player's construction, features and sound quality, with an overall rating (out of four!) based on our core ethos: value for money.

There were two camps of CD players: one that followed the 14-bit coding used by Philips that employed "oversampling" to achieve the lowest levels of noise and distortion (and were cheaper to make); while others followed Sony's 16-bit technique, which pushed component technology to its limits and tended to be more expensive to produce.

Reading through the reviews, it's the Philips CD100 that came out as the clear winner for sound quality.

We called it a "first-rate performer" that delivered a "smooth sound", a "wide dynamic range", natural voices and a "good driving punch". Philips was also praised for offering the minimalist, slimline size that befitted the nature of the new compact disc, which was one of the promised benefits over a cumbersome racks-based vinyl system.

Conversely, the Sony CDP-101 was heralded more for its "superb internal engineering" that allowed for servicing and repair, while it also offered a headphone socket and the one thing that none of the other players included: a remote control.

Last year, I was lucky enough to visit the Philips museum in the company's home town of Eindhoven where I saw first-hand that very first Philips CD100 from 1983. You can see the photos in the gallery above.

Also on display, under a glass case, was the early "Pinkeltje" protoype, looking a little worse for wear and, on top of it, a very worn CD disc that can only be the very first 11.5cm disc shown in that 1979 press demo.

Other prototype components were also on show, and it was incredible to see a piece of history that seems so recent – my teenage years were rife with CDs – and marvel at how futuristic and fully-formed the CD player was when it launched. No wonder that the adoption of the format spread like wildfire.

We all know how CD's story went. At the turn of the millennium, the CD was at its peak, accounting for 90% of the music industry’s revenue. But at the same time, another digital revolution was happening, the iPod, downloads and, eventually, the rise of music streaming.

We're celebrating 50 years of What Hi-Fi? this year, and the Compact Disc, since its inaugural prototype unveiling and release in 1983, is the dominant format of our history.

It's hard to think of just how innovative and impactful the Compact Disc and CD player were when they first launched, especially when today, there are so many formats (vinyl, CDs, digital radio, hi-res streaming, even cassettes) that sit alongside each other and can be consumed concurrently.

It's even more amazing to think that vinyl has come back with a vengeance and overtaken CD sales in revenue (if not by unit) by quite a margin.

In 1983, the jury was still out on the quality of CDs and CD players, and if this new digital format would (or could) really replace the analogue medium in terms of technical and musical merits, not to mention perceived value and and emotional enjoyment. I'll leave you with the words of Dave Prakel and Alvin Gold, who take either sides of the argument and ponder the Compact Disc's potentials and pitfalls...

[Below, click on the arrow sign on the bottom-left corner to read the full-size text.]

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Picture this, you’re walking in the park on a beautiful summer’s day, fully focused on your favourite song as it plays through your wireless headphones. But just as you're about to reach the best part, the battery dies and you’re left feeling disappointed and unfulfilled.

If you’re not keen on such an experience, it’s worth checking out the Philips TAH8000E over-ear wireless headphones. Provided the Dutch manufacturer’s claims of a 70-hour battery life (50 with ANC turned on) ring true, scenarios like the one described above shouldn’t happen too often.

But then who wants long-lasting headphones if they’re not fun to listen to? Let's find out if they are…

Price

If you’re in the UK, you can buy the Philips TAH8000E at Amazon for around £140 at the time of writing, although we have seen the price dip as low as £122, depending on the finish.

US customers can pick them up for $149 once they launch there later this month. Australians will have to wait until the second half of the year to get their hands on these Philips, when they will cost an estimated AU$246 based on current exchange rates.

This means the TAH-8000E currently sit in the mid-priced range of wireless headphones, a slightly underserved category that includes the Award-winning Austrian Audio Hi-X25BT (currently £129 / $199 / $289) – we fish this benchmark pair out of our stockroom for sound quality comparisons, although note that they don’t feature noise cancelling.

Sony’s WH-CH720N (£75 / $100 / $AU259) technically fall into the price category below the Philips, but are the nearest-priced Award-winning headphones with active noise cancellation, so we dig them out for our comparison tests, too.

Features

Philips’ claims of long battery life appear to ring true during our testing period. After giving the TAH8000E a full charge, seven hours of use with ANC turned off leaves us with 90 per cent juice, according to the Philips Headphones app. This suggests that they should comfortably beat the Sony (50 hours with ANC turned off) and Austrian Audio Hi-X25BT (30 hours) rivals.

Once the TAH8000E’s battery does eventually die, you can use the supplied 3.5mm cable (1m long) to continue pumping out your favourite tunes using a wired connection to your source device. Philips claims a 10-minute charge with the supplied USB-C cable will provide an extra eight hours of playtime, too.

While it’s handy to know how much listening time you have left (probably a while), Philips’ app lets you do much more. Not only does it allow you to fine-tune the active noise cancellation, but there are also custom EQ settings for music and voice calls, which make a noticeable difference to what you’re hearing. We would advise against using the ‘Dynamic Bass’ setting as more low-end isn’t needed here, but we find that enhancing the higher frequencies during calls makes voices clearer.

The spatial audio setting also widens the soundfield and, as a side effect, softens the impact of some of the bassier tones coming through when watching movies. Plus, there’s an ‘Explore’ section that provides access to a selection of tones and soundscapes – such as water droplets reverberating off the floor of a cave – for background listening, some of which are quite immersive and calming.

The TAH8000E are equipped with Bluetooth 5.4, and support Auracast sharing technology and multipoint connection. Additionally, they support the higher-quality LDAC codec alongside the standard SBC and AAC alternatives.

Sound

The first thing we notice about the Philips’s presentation is just how overblown the bass sounds. While bassline junkies may appreciate that, certainly if listening to tracks such as Trouble by Scorpio, the mid and higher frequencies feel overpowered in comparison. So, we dial down the low end using the app’s EQ settings. This helps to a fair degree, and restores a sense of balance.

Once that is done, we’re able to pick out the individual tom and hi-hat hits on The Trammps’ Disco Inferno with ease, while the drums collectively sound reasonably tight and crisp. These Philips headphones also do a good job conveying the song’s funky rhythm and we find ourselves nodding along to the beat.

The nodding continues as we explore some poppier tracks. These may not be the liveliest headphones, but the Philips' relatively calm presentation is mostly enjoyable nonetheless.

They wouldn’t be our first choice for more aggressive music, though. We play some hard-rocking Thin Lizzy, and while the Philips propel us through the songs adequately, things are not quite as gritty as we’d like them to be.

Dynamic handling is competitive. Beethoven’s Symphony No 7 builds slowly until you’re met by a nice wallop from the horns. This classic Beethoven piece also provides an opportunity to examine the level of detail on offer, and we find the strings have a decent amount of texture to them. There are so many elements that go into making a piece of music like this, and everything from the horns to the flutes comes through clearly.

Despite the complexity of the music, the Philips over-ears stay pleasingly composed, conveying a grand sense of scale, while neatly organising the different instruments so we can appreciate them individually and how they interact with the wider orchestra. The higher notes also sound crisp, but the Philips’ smooth tonal balance means they enter our eardrums without a hint of harshness.

While the class-leading Austrian Audio headphones have a more dynamic, detailed and energetic presentation overall, the TAH8000E still satisfy on their own terms. Comparisons with the cheaper Sony headphones prove interesting, with the Sonys sounding a little more cohesive and expressive overall, though not as detailed or refined through the midrange and treble.

As is the case with many wireless headphones, the Philips sound their best when hard-wired to an audio source. Clarity, detail levels and dynamic handling all receive a noticeable boost when connected to our laptop. This lets the vocals and higher frequencies shine brighter, so even though the low end still needs some taming, things sound more balanced overall.

Build & comfort

Whichever way you choose to make use of the Philips’ silk-coated 40mm drivers and their resulting performance, though, you can do so comfortably. Their soft, plush earcups are well-padded and cut you off from your surroundings well without letting your ears get overly hot. Philips also offers replacement ear cushions if they get worn out. A good layer of padding in the headband keeps the top of your head free from discomfort, too.

The clamping force isn’t overly tight and we’re able to move our glasses back and forth without too much resistance. They isolate you nicely from your surroundings even with ANC turned off. At 260g aren’t overly heavy, either.

Build quality is generally good, but ideally, some of the physical controls, all of which feature on the right earcup, could feel more precise. Pressing the button/lever to stop or start playback feels a little vague, for example.

While these controls feel pretty intuitive to use for the most part, you also have to rapidly flick the button/lever to make dramatic volume adjustments unless you resort to using the app.

The TAH8000E’s earcups can be rotated 90 degrees and tilted inwards, allowing them to fit neatly into a rucksack or the smooth but sturdy oval-shaped carrying case they are supplied with.

Another key element to these Philips headphones is the replaceable lithium-ion battery, which can be swapped out when it reaches end of life – in a bid to be more sustainable overall.

ANC & call quality

Of course, there’s not much point in having portable wireless over-ears if it means you're startled every time a car whizzes by or your music won’t drown out the conversation from the world’s most annoying train passengers. If you’re wearing the Philips, however, neither should give you too much grief thanks to capable active noise cancellation.

The headphones use five microphones and a ‘noise-reduction algorithm’ that the Dutch manufacturer says is optimised to block out a wide range of sounds. When we take these features for a test drive, we find the closed-back design is naturally isolating, meaning noise from passing cars is somewhat muffled even with ANC turned off, more so than when wearing the Sony CH720N.

Turning noise cancellation on, however, allows most car and wind noise to be ignored via the Philips cans.

Call quality is generally good. While voices lack some richness and warmth, conversations come through clearly and we can’t detect any background noise from passing cars during our test run. In comparison, the rival Sonys block out less noise from the road and are unable to match the Philips for clarity.

Verdict

Philips’ latest wireless headphones certainly have a strong battery life. Considering they’re also comfortable and efficient at isolating outside noise, the TAH8000E will likely have their suitors.

But to bring you back to our earlier question, are they worth listening to for as long as they last? Given their refinement and midrange clarity at this price level, we think so.

Review published: 27th February 2026

SCORES

• Sound 4
• Build 4
• Features 4

MORE:

Read our review of the Austrian Audio Hi-X25BT

Also consider the Sony WH-CH720N

Best wireless headphones: reviewed and rated by our in-house experts

Panasonic has just unveiled its 2026 TV range, and it's not what we were expecting.

While there is a new OLED model, it's not a replacement for the flagship Z95B, or even the step-down Z90B. Both of those models will continue through 2026.

Instead, it's an all-new Z86C model (Z85C in mainland Europe), which Panasonic says features "a new OLED panel".

Our working theory is that this new panel is the budget-oriented OLED SE panel that LG Display introduced last month at CES.

When we put that to a Panasonic representative, they said, “LG display has launched a new panel; this is that panel”, which feels like confirmation to us.

The use of an OLED SE panel would position the Z86C as an entry-level OLED. Perhaps even at a similar level of affordability as last year's Philips OLED760 and Toshiba XF9F.

We're working on getting pricing information out of Panasonic.

The Z86C has a 120Hz refresh rate and VRR support, so it could be a good option for gamers, though the number of HDMI 2.1 sockets it has is yet to be confirmed.

All flavours of HDR are supported, so that's HLG, HDR10, HDR10+ and Dolby Vision, and Dolby Atmos is also on board.

Amazon's Fire OS provides the Z86C's smarts, whereas mainland Europe's Z85C features Google TV.

Both TVs will be available in 55- and 65-inch sizes.

QD Mini LED sets galore

While there's just one new OLED TV on the way from Panasonic this year, there is an onslaught of Mini LED models – but they're not all coming to the UK.

The Mini LED range starts with the flagship W97C and W95C, which differ only in the colour of their casework. These models are limited to mainland Europe.

They feature a 144Hz panel, "more than" 1000 dimming zones, and a claimed peak brightness of 1500 nits.

They also feature what Panasonic is calling "Glare Free Ultra", which is designed to reduce reflections and improve viewing angles.

The W97C and W95C will be available in sizes ranging from 55 to 86 inches.

Definitely destined for UK shores is the W94C, which will come in 55-, 65- and 75-inch sizes.

This looks on paper to be very similar to the W97C and W95C, thanks to its 144Hz panel and Glare Free Ultra anti-reflection tech, but it isn't clear whether it has the same number of dimming zones or brightness.

The W94C does feature the Amazon Fire OS, though, whereas the W97C and W95C are Google TVs.

The final UK-bound Mini LED model in Panasonic's 2026 range is the W91C. Interestingly, this is a Roku TV, rather than a Google or Amazon-powered one.

This model has just a 60Hz refresh rate, but it does feature the Glare Free Ultra tech, HDMI 2.1 sockets and support for VRR and ALLM.

All of Panasonic's new Mini LED sets feature Quantum Dots for added colour vibrancy, but there is also a range of QLED TVs with non-Mini LED backlights, too, as well as some entry-level LCD models.

Our man on the ground, Lewis Empson, will be getting hands-on time with some of Panasonic's new TVs later today, so stay tuned for his first impressions pieces.

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If you looked at the What Hi-Fi? home cinema reviews team’s yearly letter to Santa, you’d find a fairly esoteric, disjointed series of requests, not all of them to do with work.

Senior staff writer Lewis Empson, for example, likely has “Taylor Swift tickets” as number one right now.

TV and AV editor Tom Parsons almost certainly has a fairly expensive tipple in a prime position.

My plea to Big Red is for a vintage Fender Starcaster.

I’m not brave enough to guess what resident ne'er-do-well and staff writer Robyn Quick has. Not because it would be bad, just because I’m old and don’t understand Gen Z…

But, I am equally certain, “a cheap OLED TV”, while not number one, would at least be in the top five for all of us.

And this week, while we didn’t manage to find one (our definition of cheap is any set under £500 / $500), we came pretty darned close, adding the five-star Philips OLED760 to our best OLED TV guide, as our new “entry level” recommendation.

Yes, after weeks of comparative testing, the 65-inch version, which sells for a very reasonable £1099 (you can also get the smaller 55-inch for an even more modest £899), proved to be the cheapest OLED we’d class as good that you can buy right now.

Why is that a big deal? There are two reasons. First, because even a few years ago, those prices would have been unheard of for an OLED of these sizes.

Second, because it shows that OLEDs can go down in price without sacrificing performance to unacceptable levels – something we weren’t sure of until the OLED760.

We’d grown slightly concerned about companies’ ability to drive OLED prices down after reviewing the OLED760’s main rival, the slightly cheaper Toshiba TF9F, in January.

Though cheap, with the set selling for around £799, and occasionally dropping as low as £649 at some stores, the TF9F's overly aggressive processing lacked the finesse required to make the most of the OLED panel, creating a distracting rather than immersive experience.

This is why, while we applauded the Toshiba TF9F’s trailblazing attempt to drive OLED prices down, we took it as a sign that more affordable sets with the tech wouldn't necessarily be good, especially right now, with similarly priced Mini LED sets, including the Award-winning TCL C7K nipping at their heels.

So, the OLED760 passing through our rooms, costing only a smidgeon more and offering a holistically solid, immersive performance, is a key moment and hopefully the start of a trend that will continue over 2026.

If it does, coupled with LG Display’s latest efforts to build a new series of “affordable” OLED panels, we may finally see a good, cheap TV with the tech in the not-too-distant future.

Fingers crossed.

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While I was once an all-around gadget reviewer with laptops within my purview, these days I rarely get excited about what's going on in that world.

This concept from Lenovo has really grabbed my attention, though, primarily because I think it has potentially awesome ramifications for the TV world.

Said concept is the Lenovo Legion Pro Rollable – a laptop with an OLED screen that can seamlessly expand from its default 16-inch mode to a much larger 21.5-inch size.

Here's my colleague from Tom's Guide, Jason England, having a play with it at CES:

This isn't the first laptop with an expandable screen to appear, but it is the first (to my knowledge) that has expanded horizontally rather than vertically, and that's why it's got me all hot under the collar about TV applications.

Jason and the rest of the PC press are naturally focused on the gaming potential here – 'ultrawide' gaming is a massive thing these days, after all – but I can't help but see the potential to eradicate the black bars we all put up with at home most days.

As I'm sure you're aware, almost every TV currently on sale has a 16:9 aspect ratio, which is the one used for most broadcast TV. But most movies (and an increasing number of TV shows) are displayed in a wider aspect ratio, usually 2.39:1, hence the black bars at the top and bottom of the screen.

Most of us got used to these black bars a long time ago, but the disappointing truth is that your screen is essentially shrinking whenever you play typical cinematic content – i.e. exactly the stuff you want to look its best.

Philips gamely tried to solve this way back in 2009 with its Cinema 21:9 TVs which, as the name suggests, had a movie-friendly 21:9 aspect ratio.

The problem was that all of the 'normal' TV you watched was compromised, either by black bars on both sides or some warping/cropping. It was a bit of a weird TV for watching football and the like, in other words.

But what if we could buy a 16:9 OLED TV that could extend to 1.85:1, 2.39:1, 21:9 to suit a movie or TV show? No longer would the most important content result in TV shrinkage; it would instead be expanded for maximum cinematic impact. Plus, there would be no black bars in sight.

I'm incredibly impressed by the smoothness and seamlessness of Lenovo's rollable concept, and it seems like it could be perfect for TVs if it could be scaled up.

Speaking of which, the rollable OLED tech actually comes from TCL CSOT, the panel-producing arm of TCL.

While TCL CSOT isn't yet producing OLED panels for TVs, it has recently broken ground on a $4.15 billion factory that will manufacture OLED panels using new, cost-effective inkjet printing technology, and it seems likely that this will eventually be put to use for TV-sized screens.

And let's not forget that TCL and Sony have just announced their intentions to merge their TV businesses. Could a future version of the Bravia 8 II have an expanding screen for movies? It's certainly nice to dream.

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You know what they say about OLED TVs: you wait your whole life for a cheap one to come along, and then two arrive at once.

So, hot on the heels of our review of Toshiba’s XF9F OLED TV, we have Philips’s take on the budget OLED, the OLED760.

It currently costs just a little more than the Toshiba model, but the OLED760 is still remarkably affordable for an OLED. It also boasts better specs and fancy Ambilight, and is, perhaps crucially, the product of a brand with almost a decade of experience in the OLED TV game.

So, can it succeed where the Toshiba struggled?

Price

The 65-inch Philips OLED760 launched at an impressively low price of £1499, but its current £1099 asking price makes it potentially one of the year’s biggest TV bargains.

OLED TVs – especially those equipped, as the OLED760 is, with an eye-catching supporting cast of Ambilight technology and strong gaming support – just aren’t supposed to be this cheap. Yet here we are.

Not surprisingly, the other screen sizes of the OLED760 keep the value flag flying, with the 55-inch costing £899 and the 77-inch costing £1599.

Philips’s website lists a 48-inch OLED760 model as well, but at the time of writing, we couldn’t find anywhere in the UK selling this model. Philips OLEDs unfortunately aren’t available in the US or Australia.

Cheap though it is by OLED standards, the Philips OLED760 can, remarkably, be beaten for price, with the recently reviewed Toshiba XF9F OLED currently available for just £999 in 65-inch form.

The cheapest 65-inch OLEDs from more established brands such as Samsung and LG, meanwhile, start at around £1500.

Design

Far from being the lump of boring plastic we would expect such a budget-conscious OLED to look like, the OLED760 is actually rather glamorous. It combines a remarkably narrow, premium-feeling black screen trim with a chassis so slim at the outer edges that it gives your credit card a run for its money.

The TV does bulk out a fair bit over its more central rear portion – all of its connections, processing, speakers and the like have to go somewhere, after all – but you won’t notice this chunkier bit unless you’ve hung the TV on the wall or you’re watching it from a really severe angle.

Even the little blade-style feet supplied with the screen enjoy a quite premium ‘satin chrome’ finish.

Then there’s the OLED760’s most eye-catching claim to design fame: its three-sided take on Philips’ Ambilight technology.

This, if you’ve somehow never come across Ambilight before, uses an array of LEDs arranged down the back of the screen’s left, right and top edges to produce a pool of coloured light on the wall behind and around the TV.

This pool of light can be purely ambient, set to a colour of your choice, or set to have the LEDs constantly mirror both the tone and the position of specific colours of what you’re watching.

We realise Ambilight perhaps sounds a bit much when just described in writing like this, but while we would advise toning down Ambilight’s brightness and responsiveness from its default settings, it really can enhance the viewing experience. As well as making for a fun dinner party talking point.

Features

You would expect a £1099 65-inch OLED TV to be stripped back to the bare bones in terms of features. The OLED760, though, is having none of that.

Gamers will be delighted, for starters, to find the set capable of supporting 4K/120Hz feeds, complete with VRR in the generic, AMD FreeSync Premium and Nvidia G-Sync formats. Even more impressively, these features are supported across all four of the TV’s HDMI sockets, rather than being limited to just a couple.

When the TV’s receiving a game source, you can call up a dedicated game menu that shows both information on the incoming game feed and a small selection of gaming aids.

The screen takes just 13.1ms to render 60Hz graphics in its Game preset, too – and that drops to only around 6ms with 120Hz sources. There’s even a special Game Mode setting for the Ambilight system.

The OLED760 can also play all four of the current TV HDR formats: HDR10, HLG, HDR10+ and Dolby Vision. In other words, it will take in the best version of any content you feed it.

A Filmmaker Mode is provided for AV fans looking for an instantly accurate picture mode, though there’s also extensive Calman calibration support if you want to pay for a professional calibrator to come in and further optimise the set.

The OLED760 even retains a version of Philips’ P5 AI Perfect Picture Engine processor.

This isn’t the latest, most powerful, most feature-packed version of this processor, but it still has elements working on the core five aspects of picture quality referred to in the ‘P5’ part of its name: colour, contrast, sharpness, motion and source detection/recognition. This means it’s still got way more about it than the processing systems found on most high-value TVs.

Smart features are provided by the relatively new Titan OS platform. This isn’t the most dazzlingly presented smart service around, but it does carry the vast majority of the streaming services most UK TV buyers will want, including Disney+, Netflix, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video and BBC iPlayer.

In fact, it even carries the new Freely service, via which you can live stream (as opposed to receive through an aerial) most of the channels found on the Freeview HD terrestrial broadcast service, and enjoy subscription-free access to tens of thousands of hours of on-demand content.

Bluetooth 5.2 and Apple AirPlay are built in, too, and it also works with both Apple Home and Google Home, while Amazon Alexa voice control is built in and accessed via a microphone built into the remote control. The one major app that isn’t available during testing is Apple TV – but you can these days access Apple TV content through the Prime Video app, albeit at a lower bitrate (and therefore quality).

While the OLED760’s 2 x 10W sound system isn’t the result of one of Philips’s collaborations with audio brand Bowers & Wilkins, the set still supports playback of both Dolby Atmos and DTS:X soundtracks, as well as providing a few handy audio features including bass enhancement, dialogue enhancement, room calibration, a graphic equaliser, a night mode, and even the option to establish specific individual hearing profiles.

In these days when all OLED panels are very much not equal, we need to wrap this section up by stressing that the panel inside the OLED760 does not boast the MLA, ‘Evo’, Quantum Dot or Primary RGB Tandem technologies found in various of today’s mid-range and premium OLED TVs.

Instead, it’s a basic OLED panel without any significant brightness-boosting or colour volume-enhancing tricks up its sleeve (beyond anything Philips’ P5 processor can bring to the table). Even a pretty basic OLED panel still has the potential to rock the mid-range TV world, though…

Picture quality

While the OLED760’s pictures don’t hit the same HDR-hungry heights that the premium likes of the LG G5, Samsung S95F and Panasonic Z95B do, they’re anything but a disappointment for the set’s money.

But let’s get the downers, such as they are, out of the way first. The most obvious one is that the OLED760 isn’t nearly as bright as this year’s top-level OLEDs are. This applies both to full-screen bright HDR content (which looks to be around half as bright as this year’s boldest OLED performers) and the intensity of small bright peaks.

Motion is also less assured here than it is on Philips’ more premium TVs these days. Judder with 24p film sources is a bit stark with no motion processing active, but then some motion settings leave images looking a little soft and blurry, while others that clean this softness up push too far in the other direction, leaving motion feeling too fluid to still feel natural.

While we never quite find a perfect solution for the screen’s slight motion niggles, though, the brightness issue is really just part and parcel of equipping the OLED760 with an OLED panel affordable enough to hit its budget-conscious retail price. And it comes with plenty of healthy mitigating factors in tow.

For instance, since the OLED760 naturally retains OLED’s unique ability to have each and every self-emissive pixel produce its own light and colour independently of even its closest neighbours, local contrast is still super-impressive compared with any LCD TVs available for the same sort of money.

The OLED760 can, after all, produce an image’s deepest black pixels right alongside its brightest whites, contributing to a degree of contrast and intensity that provides more than ample compensation for the screen’s relatively limited core brightness.

Those deepest black pixels really are black, too, revealing none of the greyness that you get to some degree with even the strongest mid-range LCD TVs.

Nor is there any instability in the OLED760’s portrayal of dark scenes; baseline brightness levels always look rock solid, even with dark shots that contain multiple subtle shifts in their overall light balance.

Plus, of course, since this is OLED technology, there’s no backlight clouding or blooming to worry about.

The OLED760 improves over its predecessors in Philips’ TV range by also managing to reveal impressive amounts of shadow detail in even the darkest image corners.

We don’t find ourselves troubled, either, by any major green or mauve undertones while watching dark scenes, even when watching the screen from a wide angle. In fact, watching the OLED760 from an angle merely reminds us of OLED’s innate advantage in this area over the vast majority of LCD TVs.

The exquisite degree of light control the OLED760 provides, albeit within a constrained light range, feeds into its colour performance. There’s never any trouble with significant colour striping or posterisation with HDR feeds, and shading even in the most vibrant areas remains present enough to avoid the flat and cartoonish look such areas can exhibit with lesser TVs.

Philips has very much learned over recent years how to cater for a range of picture quality tastes, and this underrated talent continues even with a TV as affordable as the OLED760.

A Filmmaker Mode is provided and works very nicely for people who want an accurate but relatively flat, ‘laid back’ picture that thrives on subtlety and nuance. Philips’s default Crystal Clear setting, though, is also on hand to deliver an eye-catching demonstration of how intense and vibrant the OLED760 can look, despite the OLED panel’s limited brightness.

While this default setting initially feels a bit too strong and aggressive, especially if you’ve watched the Filmmaker Mode first, it’s surprising how much its extra vibrancy starts to grow on you as you tune into it. Especially as it’s actually much more consistent, balanced, nuanced and faithful to the feel of the original source material than some of Philips’ previous default picture presets have been.

There’s a relatively simple way to take the edge off this mode’s most aggressive instincts, too, if you really can’t tune into them, in the shape of a Colour Content Adaptation setting. Just switching this to Balanced from its default (in Crystal Clear Mode) Vibrant setting can calm the picture down without losing too much of that enjoyable extra brightness and punch that the Crystal Clear mode is designed to provide.

It’s worth adding, too, that the OLED760 provides an HDR Movie preset that gives you (with minimal tinkering) an image that feels nicely positioned between the relatively dark, subdued Filmmaker Mode and the exuberance of the Crystal Clear mode.

The OLED760 effortlessly adapts its talent for subtlety and finesse to SDR content too, as well as, finally, delivering a crisp, clean, responsive gaming performance that’s way better than we’d expect from such an affordable 65-inch OLED TV. Not least because it also largely avoids (especially with 120Hz sources) the slight motion inconsistencies and flaws noted during video playback.

Sound quality

The OLED760’s trend of punching above its price weight continues with its audio. It can get surprisingly loud for a TV with such a thin (at the outer edges, anyway) chassis, but at the same time, it manages to retain excellent levels of detail and clarity even when pushed to volume levels that would have many TVs’ speakers crumbling.

These details are well placed, too, creating an effective sense of 3D space with Dolby Atmos and DTS:X mixes that includes making dialogue sound locked to the screen.

The sound also projects forward quite nicely, and there’s nothing harsh or thin about even the most trebly details. At the other end of the frequency spectrum, meanwhile, the OLED760 manages to deliver a pretty solid bass showing, despite the slenderness of so much of its bodywork.

The midrange sounds spacious too, with enough headroom to cope with substantial sound mix expansions during action scenes without starting to sound thin or boxed in.

The movie world’s most bonkers bass drops and sustained rumbles can instigate a little humming interference from the TV’s chassis, and/or cause the stereo drivers to succumb to some minor and short-lived booming interference.

The auto calibration system doesn't make as much difference to the TV’s sound profile as we would like, and we also find we have to add an audio delay of around 30ms to our sources to stop the OLED760 suffering from the occasional lip-sync slippage.

Overall, though, as with its pictures, the OLED760’s audio strengths easily overwhelm its weaknesses – though, as ever, a dedicated sound system is highly recommended.

Verdict

While we’ve seen one or two previous OLED TVs venture down into the same sort of price territory the OLED760 occupies, no similarly affordable 65-inch OLED TV before it has delivered anything like the same level of features and performance that this Philips set does.

As such, it’s a potential value-driven game changer, the likes of which we were starting to think the OLED TV world would never give us.

SCORES

• Picture 5
• Sound 4
• Features 5

MORE:

Read our review of the TCL 65C7K

Also consider the LG OLED55C5

Read our Samsung S90F review

Best OLED TVs: the 3 Award-winning sets our experts recommend

It’s no secret that we’re big fans of the Sony Bravia 8 II. It did, after all, take home the TV Product of the Year gong from the most recent What Hi-Fi? Awards.

To win that prize, Sony’s flagship OLED set had to defeat not only the Samsung S95F, with which it shares its QD-OLED panel, but also the LG G5 and Panasonic Z95B, which both feature cutting-edge Primary RGB Tandem OLED panel technology.

All four of those TVs are utterly awesome, so for the Bravia to come out on top was quite the achievement.

But there was one rival that didn’t make it in time for our Awards-deciding flagship OLED shootout – the Philips OLED910.

This features the same super-bright Primary RGB Tandem OLED panel tech as the LG G5 and Panasonic Z95B, but it combines it with super-sexy European styling, a B&W sound system, dazzling Ambilight and super-aggressive pricing.

So, is all of that enough to unseat our current Award-winner? We directly compared these two flagship sets over several days, using all of our favourite discs and streams, to find out.

Spoiler alert: it’s a mighty close contest.

Sony Bravia 8 II vs Philips OLED910: Pricing

Philips went super-aggressive with the OLED910’s launch pricing, releasing it to the market for £2199 at 65 inches and £3399 at 77 inches.

Even though rival sets, including the Bravia 8 II, had been on sale a while and been discounted, the OLED910 was cheaper out of the gate.

It’s dropped in price now, too, with the 65-inch model currently available for £1799, and the 77-inch version for £2799.

The Bravia 8 II has been further discounted, too, but the 65-inch model still currently costs £2199. There’s no 77-inch version, but unlike the Philips, there is a 55 incher, which is £1799 at the time of writing.

So, in the 65-inch size in which both sets are available (and which we directly compared), there’s a big £400 price difference. That’s extremely hard to ignore, and means the OLED910 takes first blood in this face-off.

WINNER: Philips OLED910

Sony Bravia 8 II vs Philips OLED910: Design

The Sony Bravia 8 II is a smart-looking TV, but it’s barely any different in appearance to the preceding A95L, which launched back in 2023. A design refresh to match the ambitious performance upgrade would have been nice.

Still, this is a very purposeful-looking, monolithic TV that looks particularly neat when the feet are installed at their default low–profile setting, which keeps the bottom edge of the TV within about a millimetre of the surface upon which it’s placed.

Those feet can alternatively be installed in a taller setting that creates a gap of a few centimetres between TV and furniture, into which you can slot a soundbar.

The Bravia 8 II does, of course, have an integrated sound system (a good one at that), but thanks to the technology it uses, it’s completely invisible from the front, contributing further to the stylishly clean appearance of the TV.

The Philips OLED910 is a very different aesthetic proposition. The integrated sound system includes front-facing speakers, but these are incorporated into a slim bar that’s wrapped in grey Kvadrat fabric and has nicely rounded corners, giving the set a softer, more appealing appearance.

Like the Sony, the Philips OLED910 has feet rather than a pedestal, but these feet are installed further towards the centre of the bottom edge of the TV, rather than the furthest points as they are on the Bravia 8 II. In other words, while the Sony can only be placed on top of furniture that’s at least as wide as the TV, the Philips will be happy on something narrower.

And, unlike the Sony, which has a fairly uniform thickness of about 3.4cm, the Philips combines its fairly chunky 5.6cm section with super-thin panel sections at the sides and top of the chassis. To our eyes, that makes it more visually striking, but beauty is, of course, in the eye of the beholder.

On that note, we have to mention Ambilight here. This is Philips’s unique bias lighting system, which features coloured LEDs around four sides of the OLED910’s rear. These can dynamically extend the on-screen image onto the wall around the TV in the form of coloured light.

Ambilight isn’t for everyone and isn’t a bonus for all content, but it does look spectacular, and for bright, colourful movies and games, it can really add something special.

All told, while the Bravia 8 II’s monolithic styling will certainly appeal to many, the OLED910’s softer, more living room-friendly appearance and (at least occasionally) thrilling Ambilight mean it wins this round.

WINNER: Philips OLED910

Sony Bravia 8 II vs Philips OLED910: Features

On paper, the Sony Bravia 8 II and Philips OLED910 take notably different approaches.

The Bravia 8 II uses Samsung Display’s latest QD-OLED panel, paired with a custom heatsink and the XR processor. Sony claims this enables a 25 per cent brightness increase over the preceding A95L and a 50 per cent uplift over the Bravia 8 W-OLED, alongside improved colour volume and better dark gradation.

Philips, meanwhile, has stuck with LG Display technology but upgraded from MLA to Primary RGB Tandem OLED. Philips quotes eye-catching brightness figures of up to 3700 nits for small highlights and 350 nits full-screen – numbers that should translate into a more dynamic image than the preceding OLED909, even in restrained picture modes.

Processing is a major talking point for both sets. Sony’s XR Processor introduces a new AI scene recognition system, which analyses content in real time and adjusts picture parameters for greater realism.

Philips counters with its 9th Gen P5 AI Engine – a powerful processor packed with features including Machine Learn Sharpness, AI Smart Bit Enhancement and AI Perfect Reality, all designed to optimise sharpness, colour and contrast depending on what’s on screen.

HDR support is one area where Philips holds a clear advantage.

The OLED910 supports all four HDR formats: HDR10, HLG, Dolby Vision and HDR10+. The Bravia 8 II, meanwhile, supports Dolby Vision, HDR10 and HLG, but, as ever with Sony, HDR10+ is not supported.

The Sony does, however, boast IMAX Enhanced certification, and leans heavily into its Studio Calibrated Modes, with dedicated Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Sony Pictures Core presets designed to present content as the creators intended.

On the subject of Sony Pictures Core, the Bravia 8 II also comes with credits that can be used to ‘buy’ movies from Sony’s exclusive streaming service, which delivers content in almost 4K Blu-ray quality.

Gaming support is broadly similar. Both TVs offer 4K/120Hz, VRR, ALLM and a Dolby Vision game mode, though the Philips also supports 4K/144Hz, which will appeal to hardcore PC gamers with super-serious rigs (current consoles can’t go beyond 120Hz).

Frustratingly, both sets are limited to two full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 ports, one of which doubles as the eARC socket, potentially leaving just a single 4K/120Hz input once a soundbar is connected.

Sony adds its ‘Perfect for PlayStation 5’ features, but these are a little less grand than they sound – only the HDR Auto Tone Mapping does something beyond the capabilities of other sets, such as the OLED910, and while this is useful for getting a fairly accurate HDR performance out of most PS5 games, it isn’t quite 100 per cent accurate.

Both TVs use the Google TV smart platform, which is pretty good these days, but while Sony has sought to fill in Google TV’s terrestrial catch-up app gaps through the addition of YouView, the Philips OLED910 is missing BBC iPlayer.

We’re not going to factor the two different OLED panel technologies into the round, as it’s the actual picture performance that matters, and we’ll cover that in the next section. That leaves the two TVs fairly evenly matched on the features front: the Philips has HDR10+ and 4K/144Hz support, but the Sony has IMAX Enhanced, Sony Pictures Core, and the BBC iPlayer.

Ultimately, we’re calling this a draw, but you can call it a win for one or the other TV based on which of those feature differences matters to you.

WINNER: draw

Sony Bravia 8 II vs Philips OLED910: Picture quality

Both the Sony Bravia 8 II and Philips OLED910 deliver genuinely excellent pictures, but when viewed side by side, it becomes clear that they prioritise slightly different strengths.

The Bravia 8 II sets the benchmark for balance and effortlessness. Straight out of the box, its core presets – Dolby Vision Dark and Professional – deliver a beautifully judged image with no need for tweaking.

Peak highlights are brighter and more piercing than those of Sony’s previous OLEDs, colours are richer without exaggeration, and improvements to dark gradation reveal noticeably more shadow detail.

Crucially, all of this combines to create an image with exceptional solidity and three-dimensionality: objects have weight, people feel rounded and lifelike, and backgrounds possess genuine depth.

That sense of realism holds across all content types. HDR movies benefit from punchy highlights and immaculate tone mapping, animation bursts with colour without tipping into garishness, and even standard-definition material is upscaled with impressive cleanliness, sharpness and restraint.

Nothing ever feels forced or over-processed, and the Bravia 8 II consistently presents content in a way that feels authentic and natural.

The OLED910, by contrast, can take more work to get right, but rewards that effort with a thrilling, high-impact image.

Once switched into HDR Filmmaker Mode and properly dialled in, it delivers bright, punchy HDR with excellent sharpness, fluid motion and a strong sense of vibrancy.

OLED’s perfect blacks are paired with strong shadow detail and consistent colours in dark scenes, and motion handling is a particular highlight, striking a rare balance between smoothness and cinematic integrity. In fact, we’d go as far as to say it’s a match for the Sony in terms of motion processing – something we absolutely hadn’t anticipated.

Where the Philips falls slightly short of the Sony is in absolute accuracy and subtlety. Reds can occasionally appear a touch over-emphasised, particularly in skin tones, and while this is rarely obvious in isolation, it becomes more apparent when compared directly with the Bravia 8 II’s more natural colour handling.

In HDR10 content, the OLED910 gets impressively close to the Sony overall, but the Bravia has the edge in terms of contrast control, three-dimensionality and overall image cohesion.

Dolby Vision performance on the Philips is excellent in Filmmaker Mode, though blacks can appear slightly raised in very dark scenes – again, something that’s most noticeable next to the Sony.

SDR content, meanwhile, is significantly over-brightened in all picture modes. It looks great, with oodles of punch, but having at least one preset that tracks SDR brightness accurately would have been nice.

Ultimately, the OLED910 is a superb picture performer and one of the closest challengers to Sony’s flagship. But the Bravia 8 II remains the reference, delivering a more natural, solid and consistently cinematic image across all formats, with less effort required from the viewer.

WINNER: Sony Bravia 8 II

Sony Bravia 8 II vs Philips OLED910: Sound quality

Both the Sony Bravia 8 II and Philips OLED910 rank among the very best-sounding TVs available, but they go about their audio delivery in notably different ways – and in this case, the Philips ultimately comes out on top.

The Bravia 8 II uses Sony’s Acoustic Surface Audio+ system, with actuators vibrating the screen itself to produce sound, supported by twin subwoofers.

This creates an unusually strong sense of cohesion between picture and sound, with voices and effects locked precisely to their on-screen positions. Dialogue is clear, detailed and warm, and there’s enough dynamic subtlety to convey emotional nuance in performances, as well as enough punch to handle larger shifts without flattening out.

Spaciousness is also impressive by TV standards. Effects stretch well beyond the edges of the screen, creating a soundstage that feels wider and more immersive than most integrated systems can manage.

Bass depth isn’t class-leading, but it’s controlled and weighty enough to underpin action scenes convincingly, without unwanted distortion or boom. Overall tonal balance is excellent, making the Bravia 8 II one of those rare TVs that doesn’t immediately demand the addition of a budget soundbar.

The OLED910, though, raises the bar further. Its Bowers & Wilkins-tuned 3.1-channel system delivers a sound that’s bigger, weightier and more room-filling than the Sony’s, with excellent width, precise effect placement and impressive dynamic range.

Dolby Atmos soundtracks are handled with confidence, producing a convincing sense of scale and height, particularly when the Entertainment mode is engaged.

Low-level detail is a real strength, with subtle background sounds and musical elements placed clearly and naturally, while dialogue remains full-bodied and expressive. Dynamics are handled with assurance, too, from quiet conversational moments to louder, more demanding sequences.

Deep bass is a touch soft, but crucially remains clean and distortion-free – and there’s much more of it from the Philips than there is from the Sony. Compared directly, the Philips sounds more powerful, more immersive and more expansive than the Sony.

While both TVs will still benefit from the addition of a dedicated sound system, the OLED910 noses ahead if you’re determined not to go down that route. If you are prepared to add discrete sound, you need to be looking at something on the level of a Sonos Arc Ultra before you’ll hear a clearly worthwhile improvement on either TV.

In short, the Bravia 8 II delivers excellent, finely balanced sound with superb picture-to-audio cohesion, but the OLED910 sets a new benchmark for built-in TV audio at this level, edging ahead as the best-sounding TV of the two.

WINNER: Philips OLED910

Sony Bravia 8 II vs Philips OLED910: Verdict

This is one of the closest TV head-to-head battles we’ve seen in some time, and the fact that the Philips OLED910 gets so close to the Sony Bravia 8 II is a huge achievement – particularly given its lower price, more adventurous design and genuinely outstanding built-in sound.

The OLED910 wins convincingly on value, and edges the Sony on design flair and audio performance. It also delivers a thrilling, high-impact picture once properly set up.

If you want a premium OLED that looks and sounds spectacular, and you’re keen to avoid adding a separate sound system, the Philips makes a hugely compelling case.

But picture quality remains the deciding factor – and here, the Bravia 8 II still stands apart.

Its image is more natural, more consistent and more three-dimensional across all formats, with none of the small compromises that occasionally creep into the Philips’s delivery.

Just as importantly, it achieves this with less effort from the user, delivering reference-level results straight out of the box.

That combination of accuracy, balance and cinematic realism is why the Bravia 8 II earned its Product of the Year crown – and why it keeps it here.

The OLED910 pushes it harder than almost any rival we’ve tested, but when it comes to the overall best TV you can buy right now, Sony’s flagship remains the one to beat.

OVERALL WINNER: Sony Bravia 8 II

Sometimes an Adventure in AV can involve a short trip into our TV's settings menu to discover something new. Other times it involves physically trekking halfway around the world.

In my case, it's the latter, as I kicked off my year in Las Vegas, Nevada, scouting out the latest innovations in the world of home cinema at CES 2026.

As expected, the show was nothing short of overwhelming, with countless new releases and announcements that will shape the AV landscape for the year to come.

While the RGB Mini LED TVs and new OLED sets stole the show, two specific demonstrations stood out, as they will remain relevant well beyond the end of 2026.

The first showed Dolby Vision 2, and although it didn't launch at CES specifically, I now have a much clearer picture of what it is actually capable of.

It was initially revealed at IFA 2025; but it was shrouded in mystery and confusion, and every TV manufacturer I quizzed on the subject seemed almost as confused as I was.

The second demo was for HDR10+ Advanced, which I had a sneak peek at during a trip to Samsung's headquarters in Suwon, South Korea, back in October of 2025.

The Samsung team offered somewhat of a more complete answer, though they showed me simulated footage rather than actual working HDR10+ Advanced, so I had to take their word for the claimed performance upgrade.

The good news is that both Dolby and Samsung had major presences at CES 2026, and each showed their new respective dynamic HDR formats working in action. So I now have a much clearer picture of what the future of HDR will look like.

I'll start with Dolby, which showed me three examples of Dolby Vision 2 running on a beta-software build on a high-end, mid-range, and entry-level TV.

They all appeared to be bright and punchy Mini LED TVs, and while Dolby wouldn't specify the brand, the primary launch partner for Dolby Vision 2 is Hisense; I'll let you connect the dots there.

Dolby's demonstration truly wowed me. It showed an intense boost to brightness that transforms dark content to dig out detail that I presumed was simply lost to shadows indefinitely. It had regular Dolby Vision TVs set up alongside the Dolby Vision 2 versions in some instances, and the differences were practically night and day.

Digging up more detail in the dark areas did not come at the cost of lifted black levels, however, as it still looked natural to my eyes, and (most importantly) Dolby assured me that the system can recognise what is intentionally meant to be shadow details and not over-brighten those sections.

Dolby stressed how closely it works with directors and editors to ensure that their work is presented in a true-to-life manner.

There is a more advanced set of metadata underpinning Dolby Vision 2, which comes straight from the creatives themselves. And it results in enhanced brightness (and more) without the loss of detail and authenticity.

The need for this brightness-boosting version of Dolby Vision is rooted in the launch of super-bright Mini LED and RGB Mini LED TVs, which can far surpass the capabilities of the current version of Dolby Vision; this makes the super-bright TVs that we've seen crop up over the past couple of years even more compelling, as there is now a feature that can properly take advantage of their specifications.

Not to be outdone, Samsung showed a live demo running its new HDR10+ Advanced format on beta software, running on the new R95H RGB Mini LED TV.

Once again, the results were impressive, especially as Samsung had a “normal” HDR10+ TV running alongside the demo of the new format. Colours seemed more vibrant while remaining natural and balanced, and there was unquestionably more depth and contrast to the image.

There also seemed to be more in the way of detail levels, although (much like Dolby Vision 2), this was most noticeable in dark sequences.

Samsung also assured us that creator-derived metadata would underpin the changes coming to HDR10+ Advanced, which means that authenticity was also at the top of its priority list.

Furthermore, both companies dug deeper into Dolby Vision 2 and HDR10+'s ability to handle motion. Traditionally, HDR formats haven't really played much of a part in motion processing; however, both Dolby and Samsung make a good point on this.

The (frankly tragic) reality is that most people out there will never open their TVs' settings menu. Some because they don't know how the settings work, others because they fear permanently messing up their TV by adjusting the wrong settings.

I sympathise. A TV settings menu can be daunting to the less technically inclined; and Dolby and Samsung's answer is simply to handle the motion processing themselves.

It's a bold move, and we'll need to test it more to confirm our feelings, but both formats showed promising signs during the demonstrations I attended.

Dolby in particular stood out with its Authentic Motion system, which can dynamically shift motion processing based on the content.

Therefore, minimal motion-processing can be applied during slower scenes, such as conversations, whereas fast-paced action scenes or panning shots can be aided by a pinch more.

It never looked unnatural or oversmoothed to my eyes, and it could solve the conundrum of judder being visible when using a TV's most accurate and authentic picture mode (in which motion processing is often switched off).

I will certainly need to do a lot more testing with both of these HDR formats to come to a conclusive opinion, but the good news is that both looked to be working as intended during CES.

This left me with a sense of hope for the future of HDR; it could be a bright and smooth year for the picture technology.

Samsung has already confirmed that HDR10+ Advanced will be coming to its mid-range and premium models sometime this year, and Amazon Prime Video will be the first service to offer select titles with the standard included soon.

Hisense, TCL and Philips TVs will launch with Dolby Vision 2 this year, and Dolby Vision 2 Max should also be supported on the higher-tier models within each of these manufacturers' lineups.

MORE:

Read our Hisense 116UXS hands on review

As well as our Samsung S95H hands on review

And our LG C6 hands on review

Folks, we're battling through January.

But amongst the post-Christmas comedown and freezing temperatures, there is one shining light through the doom and gloom: the January sales.

The sales have been especially kind this year, with several Award-winners seeing prices slashed, half-price discounts on older products and even some recent favourites seeing impressive savings already.

On the home cinema side, highlights include a discount on the recently-reviewed Philips OLED910, a close competitor of the Sony Bravia 8 II despite costing hundreds less. There's also 46 per cent off a Samsung soundbar we reviewed only last month, and a sweet saving on our favourite budget TV.

The hi-fi side has spoilt us, however, with deals on headphones, streamers and speakers galore. This includes a Product of the Year in the superb Fyne Audio F501E floorstanders, as well as several other Award-winners such as the multi-talented Technics SA-C600 and great value Sony WF-C510.

Let's not hang around then – see the best deals from the January sales below.

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The new LG C6 OLED TV features Primary RGB Tandem panel tech – there's just one problem…

Onkyo celebrates its 80th anniversary with all-new Muse streaming amplifiers

Philips’ 2026 OLED TVs will feature Dolby Vision 2. We had heard the news previously from Dolby, but now Philips has confirmed it along with more detail.

That means Philips joins Hisense and TCL as the only TV makers offering Dolby's next-gen HDR tech. LG has proved the surprise holdout, which could give Philips a key advantage, for this year at least.

Philips doesn't usually announce its TV range until a few weeks later into the year, so Dolby's reveal may have forced its hand.

The company says that the DLED 9001 will be its first with Dolby Vision 2, followed by the OLED811 series. It will subsequently come to its “premium Mini LED and DLED [Direct LED] TVs”.

The new models will run MediaTek's Pentonic 800 with MiraVision Pro chip, the first to integrate Dolby Vision 2.

The more premium of these TVs will offer Dolby Vision 2 Max, which is designed for the “highest performing TVs”. As well as elevating picture performance through smarter processing and improved tone-mapping, Vision 2 Max will unlock premium capabilities only possible with the higher-end screen technology that comes with pricier TVs, such as an evolved ambient-aware system, creator-guided motion handling, and new tone-mapping logic that harnesses flagship-class brightness and colour volume.

Dolby Vision 2's key sell is ‘Content Intelligence’. This optimises your TV to produce a “more captivating picture” based on what and where you’re watching. For example, Precision Black improves clarity in dark images without sacrificing black levels, while Light Sense 2 detects the ambient light around the TV and fine tunes the picture based on that information.

It also promises higher brightness, sharper contrast and more saturated colours. And it's not all about HDR – Dolby claims that its Authentic Motion feature will make scenes feel more cinematic by reducing judder on a shot by shot basis.

However, there's a fair amount of suspicion surrounding Dolby Vision 2, with critics wondering whether it's needed yet, given what standard Dolby Vision is capable of. The need to buy a new TV in order to experience it has also proved controversial.

LG has proved the surprise holdout over Dolby Vision 2 (the firm supported the original Dolby Vision from the start). Sony and Panasonic are yet to announce whether their 2026 TVs will support it, while Samsung is launching HDR10+ Advanced as a rival technology this year.

Will the addition of Dolby Vision 2 influence which TV you buy? Let us know in the comments.

MORE:

Three TV brands have confirmed support for Dolby Vision 2 – but there’s a big one missing

Check out our CES Live Hub for all of the news as we get it

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

Dolby Vision 2, the somewhat controversial new HDR format, was announced last year with Hisense listed as the only TV partner at the time.

Now, though, it's been confirmed at CES 2026 that two further TV brands will be supporting the format this year.

The first of those is TCL. This should come as little surprise after the brand whacked a 'Dolby Vision 2.0' logo on its stand at IFA in September – much to the confusion of everyone, including TCL's own staff.

We now understand that the brand's new SQD Mini LED range, including the new flagship X11L model, will get Dolby Vision 2 support via a post-launch software update.

Dolby also claims it will be added to TCL's mainstream C-series, presumably including the successor to last year's What Hi-Fi? Award-winning C7K – we've approached TCL for comment on that.

And while Philips hasn't even announced its 2026 TV range yet (that's not expected for a few weeks), Dolby has already revealed that several new models, including the (again, as-yet-unannounced by Philips) OLED811, OLED911 and flagship OLED951 will support Dolby Vision 2.

So that's Hisense, TCL and Philips all confirmed (at least by Dolby) to be supporting Dolby Vision 2 this year.

But what about the rest?

Sony and Panasonic

It's no surprise that we have no Dolby Vision 2 news from Sony or Panasonic.

Sony no longer announces its new TVs at CES, choosing instead to reveal new models around March or April each year. We're expecting a similar timeframe this year, so if Sony is going to support Dolby Vision 2, that's when we'll find out.

Panasonic, on the other hand, does usually announce its new flagship TV during CES. This year, though, it hasn't done that. It could be a while until we get any 2026 TV news from Panasonic (its overall range is usually announced around May), including whether Dolby Vision 2 is on the cards.

Samsung

It's also entirely unsurprising that Samsung hasn't been mentioned in relation to Dolby Vision 2, because Samsung has never supported Dolby Vision at all.

In fact, Samsung created HDR10+ as a rival to Dolby Vision, and it's launching HDR10+ Advanced this year as a rival to Dolby Vision 2.

LG

Now this is the surprising one: LG has long been regarded as one of Dolby Vision's keenest advocates, having supported it from the start on as many models as it possibly could, yet we've been told that the brand has "no plans to support Dolby Vision 2 in 2026".

That's a direct quote from David Park, LG’s Director of Product Strategy and Marketing in the US, who is very much a man who's usually in the know, yet he seemed surprisingly in the dark about Dolby Vision 2 in general, including whether it might be possible for it to be added to its 2026 TVs at a later date.

Will a lack of Dolby Vision 2 be enough of a factor to put prospective buyers off LG's new W6, G6 or C6 OLEDs, which otherwise all look very appealing? It's hard to say, but the fact that several other brands will be offering it this year, while LG won't be, will certainly provide pause for thought.

MORE:

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

The Philips OLED910 really surprised me when I tested it right at the tail end of last year.

It's a TV that combines the latest and brightest Primary RGB Tandem OLED panel technology with a Bowers & Wilkins sound system, great styling, and delightful Ambilight.

It's the best-sounding TV you can buy right now, and it gets close to the awesome Sony Bravia 8 II for picture quality, all while costing a lot less.

In fact, not only did the OLED910 launch for significantly less than rivals such as the Bravia 8 II, LG G5 and Samsung S95F, but it's been discounted further, too, so you can now pick up the 65-inch model for just £1699 at Richer Sounds.

That's almost £300 less than the equivalent Bravia 8 II, which is currently £1979 at Richer Sounds.

Right out of the box, the OLED910 looks and feels like a high-end television: a slim, elegant screen framed by a clean, understated design, and finished off with Philips’ signature four-sided Ambilight.

This isn’t a gimmick – the ambient lighting genuinely enhances immersion, framing movies and games with dynamic light that dances with the action on screen. It's not necessary for all content, but with bright, colourful movies and games, it's stunning.

Under the hood, Philips has chosen a Primary RGB Tandem OLED panel (the same panel that's found in the LG G5 and Panasonic Z95B) and its P5 AI processor, giving you bright, vivid images with punchy highlights and rich shadow detail.

Unlike the LG G5, Samsung S95F and Sony Bravia 8 II, the OLED910 also supports all major HDR formats, including Dolby Vision and HDR10+, so you’re set up for the best possible streaming, disc and gaming content.

One of the OLED910’s standout features is its built-in Bowers & Wilkins 3.1-channel sound system. By TV standards, this is exceptional: full, detailed, and spacious enough to fill a room.

A premium soundbar such as the Sonos Arc Ultra will sound even better, but if you're determined to stick with your new TV's built-in speakers, the OLED910 is the best-sounding model you can buy right now.

There are a couple of small compromises – slightly raised blacks in Dolby Vision, over-brightened SDR and just two full-fat HDMI 2.1 ports – but these are minor caveats given the overall package.

At this price, you’re getting a super-premium OLED picture, class-leading integrated audio and a stylish, feature-rich package – making the OLED910 arguably the best performance-per-pound flagship OLED available right now.

MORE:

Read the full Philips OLED910 review

And here's our Sony Bravia 8 II review

These are all of the best TVs you can buy right now, and the best TV deals

In the grand scheme of things, most TVs sound pants.

It's little wonder: as TVs have become ever-thinner, the space for speakers has become even smaller, so tinier and tinier drivers are having to be used.

Manufacturers do what they can with clever processing, but there's really no compensating for shifting air when it comes to making decent sound, and small speakers will always struggle to shift big air.

One manufacturer has a special solution to all of this, at least when it comes to OLEDs: Sony uses actuators that actually vibrate the OLED panel itself, essentially turning it into one big speaker.

Before you ask, no, you can't see the panel vibrating, and what you get in terms of sound is a really big (by TV standards), open, direct and detailed performance. There's not a great deal of bass depth, despite the presence of two accompanying integrated subwoofers, but the Bravia 8 II is nevertheless the benchmark for TV sound in 2025.

Well, it was.

Philips has taken a different approach to Sony and its other rivals. Instead of trying to come up with creative ways to make tiny, hidden speakers sound good, it's partnered with British hi-fi stalwart Bowers & Wilkins, which has built a sound system for the new OLED910 that you can see, and that actually adds to the TV's visual appeal.

This isn't a new initiative – the Philips/B&W partnership goes back a few years and several models – but the OLED910 is the most effective implementation of it so far.

This is a mild refinement of the sound system that was developed for the OLED909, which is no great surprise, as that was a near-perfect blend of form and function.

It involves a speaker bar that is attached to the bottom of the TV's screen. If that sounds ungainly, the opposite is true: the bar is slim, rounded and covered in Kvadrat fabric, and it softens and enhances the appearance of the TV, rather than detracts from it.

Within that stylish bar are nestled three sound channels (for left, right and centre), each one consisting of two 30x50mm midrange drivers, a single titanium dome tweeter, and a Nautilus tube.

There's a subwoofer mounted to the back of the TV's chassis, too, resulting in a 3.1-channel system with 81W of claimed power.

None of that would matter if the sound was poor, but I wouldn't be harping on about it if that were the case.

No, the OLED910 sounds excellent for a TV. B&W's hi-fi heritage is evident in the detail, dynamics and rhythmic precision of the delivery. Voices sound more human and evocative as a result, soundtracks deliver the drama they're designed to, and action scenes have punch and excitement.

There's plenty of spaciousness to proceedings, too, with Dolby Atmos soundtracks stretching far to the sides and above the TV, and effects placed precisely within the wall of sound.

And there's plenty of bass, too. It could be a little tighter, but the OLED910 reaches depths that the Sony Bravia 8 II won't dare dive to, and completely avoids the distortion that is the bane of flagship sets from the likes of LG and Samsung.

And, if you want to add some serious bass, the OLED910 actually has an old-school subwoofer output among its array of physical connections, so you can add any traditional sub that you fancy.

To qualify all of this, I'm not saying that the OLED910 sounds amazing in an ultimate sense.

A dedicated audio system is absolutely the way to go if you want the sound to match the excellent picture quality, but you will need to go for a soundbar in the region of the Sonos Arc Ultra for the extra component to be worthwhile, whereas most TVs can be substantially sonically improved by a Sonos Beam Gen 2.

And I'm very aware that for many people, the idea of adding an extra component (even a stylish soundbar) to their set-up is an absolute no-no. For those people, there's a new best-sounding TV in town, and it's the Philips OLED910.

MORE:

Read the full Philips OLED910 review

And here's our Sony Bravia 8 II review

Here are all the best TVs you can buy right now

Philips might not have the global brand recognition of rival TV brands such as Samsung, LG and Sony, but it sure knows how to put together a tasty-looking OLED.

The 65-inch OLED910 we have before us today combines the same Primary RGB Tandem OLED panel found in the LG G5 with Philips’ unique processing, support for all HDR formats, a B&W sound system, super-sexy styling and, of course, Ambilight.

What’s more, despite those superlative specs, the OLED910 costs significantly less than the flagship OLED alternatives.

Tempted yet? You should be.

Price

The 65-inch Philips OLED910 launched at a very-aggressive-at-the-time price of £2199. Rivals are now available for that sort of money, but the OLED910 has dropped, too, and can now be bought for £1799.

For reference, the 65-inch LG G5 is currently £2499, the Samsung S95F is £2299, and the Sony Bravia 8 II is £2199.

In other words, the Philips is significantly cheaper than similarly specced flagship OLEDs.

If 65 inches isn’t the right size for you, there is also a 77-inch version of the OLED910, which currently costs £2799. There is also a 55-inch model in mainland Europe, but this isn’t available in the UK.

Philips OLEDs unfortunately aren’t available in the US or Australia at all.

Design

Philips can always be relied upon to bring a bit of classy European je ne sais quoi to the TV market, and while the OLED910 doesn’t deviate much from the OLED909 in terms of design, it still stands out as stylish and sculpted against the more tech-first appearances of its rivals.

There are limits, of course, to what can be achieved when the vast majority of a device is a huge slab of screen, but the grey, Kvadrat fabric wrapped around the slim speaker bar softens the OLED910’s appearance significantly, while the dainty feet evoke images of balletic ice skaters.

While the feet are certainly neat, wall mounting the OLED910 is advisable if that’s an option. That’s because it features four-sided Ambilight, which means there are coloured LEDs arranged along the bottom as well as the sides and top of the TV, creating a full, seamless lightshow that dynamically matches the on-screen action.

There are those for whom Ambilight (and third-party alternatives) is anathema in any capacity. Still, there’s no denying how spectacular it is – while it certainly doesn't suit all content and circumstances, we think that even ultra-purists will get a kick out of it with bright, colourful content, such as the animated Spider-Verse movies.

Features

Philips has remained steadfast in its use of LG (rather than Samsung) OLED panels, so it’s no surprise that the brand has transitioned from MLA OLED to Primary RGB Tandem OLED for its 2025 flagship models.

Brightness is the key beneficiary of the switch to this new panel tech, with Philips claiming that the OLED910 can hit a peak brightness of 3700 nits with small highlights, and 350 nits of full-screen brightness.

Specific numbers such as these should always be taken with a pinch of salt on account of how they’re measured and the unappealing picture settings with which they’re usually achieved, but the fact that the OLED910’s numbers are so much higher than those of the OLED909 (3000 nits peak, 300 nits full-screen) is significant, and should result in a more dynamic performance, even in the more natural and cinematically authentic picture presets.

While many people still assume that a TV’s picture performance is all down to the panel, they’re still categorically wrong. The processing is at least as important, and powering the OLED910 is Philips’ own 9th Gen P5 AI Engine processor.

It’s worth noting that this isn’t actually Philips’ top processor, as there’s a Dual Engine version in the even higher-end OLED950, but this is still a super-powerful chip that’s worthy of a flagship OLED.

As you would expect in 2025 (especially given the name), the OLED910’s 9th Gen P5 AI Engine brings with it a raft of AI-backed picture performance features, such as the ability to classify content on-screen and adapt the picture quality to best suit the content you're watching. The latest versions of Philips' Machine Learn Sharpness system, an AI Smart Bit Enhancement algorithm, and AI Perfect Reality, which should enhance sharpness, colour vibrancy and contrast, are also all on board.

The OLED910 also continues Philips’ laudable commitment to supporting all four of the current HDR formats. So that’s the dynamic HDR10+ and Dolby Vision formats, as well as basic HDR10 and HLG. The same can’t be said of any TV from Samsung, LG or Sony.

On the gaming front, the OLED910 supports 4K/120Hz (and 4K/144Hz if you have a fancy-enough PC to take advantage), VRR and ALLM. Unfortunately, though, there are still just two full-spec HDMI 2.1 sockets, so any sources plugged into either of the other two HDMIs will be limited to 4K/60Hz.

It’s worth noting that one of the HDMI 2.1 sockets also doubles as the eARC port, so you’ll lose another 4K/120Hz socket if you need that for your soundbar or other sound system.

But will connection to another sound system be necessary? Philips and its audio partner Bowers & Wilkins would argue no.

B&W has produced a 3.1-channel, 81W system for the OLED910. The main bar features two 30 x 50mm midrange drivers, a single titanium dome tweeter, and a Nautilus tube in each channel. There’s also a rear-facing subwoofer with four passive radiators.

Hardware-wise, this is an essentially identical set-up to that of the excellent-sounding (by TV standards) OLED909, but B&W tells us that some re-tuning has taken place in order to provide an even better audio performance.

Testing the OLED910 against the benchmark Sony Bravia 8 II, and playing a whole range of content in Dolby Vision, HDR10 and SDR, we’re hugely impressed by how close the Philips set gets to our TV Product of the Year.

You do have to work slightly harder to get the most out of the OLED910 than you do many rivals, mind you.

Picture

When playing HDR10 content, the TV defaults to its HDR Eco setting which is, unlike many such modes, overly cool, over-sharpened and over-processed. It produces the sort of picture we would expect from a ‘Shop’ mode that is designed to attract the eye rather than deliver consistent, accurate picture quality, and we recommend you switch away from it as soon as possible.

HDR Crystal Clear pumps brightness and colours up massively, but it’s not horrible if that’s the sort of thing you like, and skin tones are still kept reasonably natural. HDR Home Cinema is the mode that’s designed to deliver largely authentic picture quality with a bit more pop for bright room viewing. HDR Filmmaker Mode is, of course, the TV at its most accurate – and the preset that we prefer and recommend.

Even in HDR Filmmaker Mode, Light Level Optimisation and Dark Detail Optimisation are both on by default. These and the other two ‘Ambient Intelligence’ settings, Colour Temperature Optimisation and HDR Optimisation, are worth experimenting with so that the TV adapts to ambient lighting conditions, but for serious viewing in a dark room, you’re best to have them switched off.

It’s also worth noting that even with HDR Filmmaker Mode, HDR Tone Mapping is set to AI Adaptive. Unlike some rival solutions, the impact of this is subtle, so we don’t feel the need to change it.

There’s also an HDR10 Effect setting. The default option here is ‘More Details’, which is pre-selected and gives the most accurate delivery. ‘Balanced’ and ‘More Brightness’ both boost brightness but at the expense of highlight detail, so we recommend also leaving this setting untouched unless you need every last nit of brightness – if you’re using the TV in a heavily sunlit room, for example.

Settings dialled in and No Time To Die slotted into our Oppo UDP-203 Blu-ray player, the OLED910 delivers a thrilling 4K HDR10 performance. As Bond struts across the bridge towards Matera’s famous cemetery, he does so in appropriately sharp, crisply defined style.

The Filmmaker Mode’s default ‘Movie’ motion setting is genuinely excellent, maintaining a firm grip on the movement of the people in the scene and rendering the extremely tricky panning shots with judder-free fluidity.

The fact that this is achieved without any soap opera effect is deeply impressive, and even the post-explosion smoke, which so often catches out TV motion processing, is dispatched without unwanted shimmer. This appears to be one of those rare Goldilocks motion settings. Even Sony would be proud.

This is also a bright and punchy performance, as you would expect from the figures given, but as long as you stick to Filmmaker Mode, the brightness isn’t forced. This is an image that is punchy, but also natural.

The same is largely true of the colours. There’s superb vibrancy to the delivery, but for the vast majority of the time, this goes hand-in-hand with naturalism and authenticity. That said, a smidge of oversaturation creeps in on rare occasions – Bond’s tanned skin looks just a touch too red in the close-ups in Matera and the swimming scene that precedes it, for example.

We find that this small issue occurs again when we switch to Civil War, also in HDR10. Wagner Moura’s skin looks just a little too sunburned when he awakens on the grass of a military base as tanks and trucks trundle by. It’s not that slightly nuclear tone that some lesser TVs produce, and you may not even notice without a super-accurate TV such as the Bravia 8 II alongside for comparison, but it’s undeniable that there’s just a little exaggeration to reds from the Philips.

This certainly doesn’t detract in a significant way from the overall delivery, though. Civil War is an ironically crisp and colourful movie that very much plays to the Philips’s strengths. As the battalion prepares for battle, the Chinooks and ground vehicles are sharply drawn, the surrounding greenery is lush and verdant, and the personnel are detailed. The whole mise-en-scène has a solidity and vivaciousness that few TVs can match.

The OLED910 handles dark scenes well, too. It delivers OLED’s trademark perfect blacks just as you would hope, and it combines this with excellent shadow detail – there’s none of the slight black crush that we’ve seen from the LG G5 and Samsung S95F. Colours are consistent from the brightest highlights to the deepest shadows, too, so skin tones don’t look washed out in dark scenes.

With every HDR10 movie we throw at it, the Philips OLED910 is undeniably excellent in its own right. It’s worth saying, though, that the Sony Bravia 8 II is even better. It’s even more solid and three-dimensional in its delivery, even more natural in its colours, and it delivers super-high-contrast images (the night-time forest fire of Civil War, for instance) with even greater punch and sharpness to the highlights.

The Philips gets close to the Sony, though – arguably closer than the Samsung S95F and definitely closer than the LG G5 – and that’s an exceptional feat given the lower price.

There are a couple of other specific flaws to the Philips that need to be flagged, too. While the Dolby Vision performance is broadly just as excellent as HDR10 (as long as you select the Dolby Vision Filmmaker Mode preset, that is), blacks aren’t perfectly black. This is another thing that you may not notice in isolation, but next to the Bravia 8 II, the Philips’s delivery of the opening of Alien: Romulus is a tad grey.

Interestingly, an earlier OLED910 sample that we saw suffered from some flickering and posterisation with this scene, and the LG G5 (which, let’s remember, has the same RGB Tandem OLED panel) had some issues with deep black in Dolby Vision when it first launched. It does seem that this new panel tech and Dolby Vision are less than best friends, and perhaps Philips’s fix for this has been to raise the black floor a touch. If that’s the case, it’s not a bad solution, but we wish it weren’t necessary.

We also need to mention that every one of the OLED910’s picture presets massively overbrightens SDR content. To be clear, the image is still very nice indeed, with excellent sharpness, clarity, control and colours to upscaled standard-def and HD content, but there should be an option to not have SDR boosted to HDR levels of contrast.

Ultimately, though, these are minor flies in the ointment. The OLED910 is an excellent picture performer overall, and it comes with very good sound, too…

Sound

Philips’s collaboration with B&W continues to bear very tasty fruit with the OLED910.

With every Dolby Atmos movie we throw at it, the TV produces a sound with lots of width, good effect placement, very good detail, impressive weight (for a TV) and lovely tonal balance.

There’s particularly good spatial and tonal organisation. As Summer Wind by Frank Sinatra plays in K’s apartment in Blade Runner 2049, it’s clear, but also balanced and positioned perfectly as background music.

Dynamics are impressive for a TV, too. Low-level dynamic subtlety means voices have lots of realism and character, and bigger volume changes are handled very adeptly.

The Entertainment setting is worth using to increase height and spaciousness. Enable it and the Philips suddenly delivers the rain on K’s rooftop in a way that fills the far end of the room, and the audio billboards are placed far higher up.

Other than a little softness to deep bass (infinitely preferable to distortion, of which the Philips produces none), there’s really nothing to complain about in the OLED910’s audio delivery.

For a TV, it sounds excellent – even better than the Sony Bravia 8 II – and while a good soundbar will sound even better, you’re looking at something long the lines of the Sonos Arc Ultra for a significant upgrade.

Verdict

The Philips OLED910 is a very impressive TV indeed. While it falls just short of the Sony Bravia 8 II’s picture greatness, it gets closer than most while costing a good deal less – and it sounds better, too.

If a super-stylish, bright and vibrant OLED TV with excellent sound quality and spectacular Ambilight sounds like your sort of thing, you absolutely have to check out this fabulous Philips.

SCORES

• Picture 5
• Sound 5
• Features 4

MORE:

Read our review of the Sony Bravia 8 II

Also consider the LG G5

Read our Samsung S95F review

Best OLED TVs: the 3 Award-winning sets our experts recommend

It's nearly Christmas! But wait – before we start counting down the sleeps and getting ourselves merry on mugs of mulled wine, we have a handful of hi-fi and AV treats waiting for us in the What Hi-Fi? test rooms.

While the post-Awards schedule is less hectic, there is still a queue of products waiting to be reviewed – and here, we've picked the five most exciting hi-fi and TV models that we are currently testing or are excited to get started on.

These include a new product category entrant from the legendary Rotel brand, a successor to an exquisitely made phono stage, the next iteration of Cambridge Audio's five-star streaming amplifiers, and two TVs at either end of the spectrum: an entry-level Sony LED and a range-topping Philips OLED boasting brand-new panel technology.

As ever, if you have any questions about the products we are reviewing, comment below or email us at whathifi@futurenet.com, and we'll do our best to find the answer during our testing process and get back to you.

As we head into the holiday season, we hope everyone reading What Hi-Fi? has a wonderful and restful festive break, and we thank you for all your support throughout this year. See you in 2026!

Rotel DX-3

Rotel has been around for 60 years, but this marks the first time the hi-fi brand has made a headphone amplifier. The DX-3 wants to be the "ultimate desktop audio companion", offering DAC and preamp functionalities alongside two headphone ports (6.3mm and 4.4mm) with selectable gain options.

That's not all: it has aptX HD Bluetooth, supports hi-res files up to 32-bit/384kHz PCM and DSD256, and has a good complement of analogue and digital connectivity to plug into hi-fi systems, too. The compact footprint makes it about the size of a WiiM Ultra, making it desktop-friendly. It costs £1399 / $1499, and we're looking forward to taking it for a spin.

Luxman E-07

We are big fans of Luxman's stunning, high-end EQ-500 phono stage, which we tested back in 2017. It's a beautifully made product, with exquisite sound quality to match.

We have its successor, the E-07, in for testing and we are fizzing with excitement to hear how it performs. Announced as part of the brand's centennial celebrations, the new Luxman E-07 features a refined build, the return of tactile toggle switches and dials, and "carefully selected components prioritised for supreme audio quality".

Costing £5500, the E-07 needs to be tested in an appropriately highly talented turntable system – which is exactly what we've been doing.

Cambridge Audio Evo 150 SE

It's been four years since Cambridge Audio launched Evo 75 and Evo 150 – the brand's first just-add-speakers streaming amplifiers that combined style, features and sound in an enticing manner.

Those five-star models have now been discontinued and replaced by a single model: the Evo 150 SE (£1999 / $3299). This continues the sleek industrial design language, with a large display screen and swappable side panels, while there is ample connectivity (including MM phono stage and HDMI ARC) and extensive streaming features thanks to the StreamMagic Gen 4 platform.

The internal Class D amplification uses a new Hypex NCOREx module and delivers 150 watts per channel (into 8 ohms). Cambridge says it has made improvements throughout the signal path and used more high-quality components to elevate the Evo 150's sound performance even further.

Let's hope this new 'Special Edition' mode continues the Evo range's fine form.

65-inch Sony Bravia 3

Bravia 3 is Sony's new entry-level 4K HDR TV series, and the cheapest LED in the range does without local dimming entirely. This means it goes up against TCL models with full Mini LED backlights.

Can Sony's legendary processing overcome this specification deficit? We can't wait to find out. We have the 65-inch model in for testing, which currently costs £849, and we're reviewing it against the 65-inch TCL C7K – a 2025 What Hi-Fi? Award winner we tested at £899 and lauded for its excellent value and punchy picture.

Philips OLED910

After a rather long delay, we are finally finishing our review of Philips’ first Primary RGB Tandem OLED TV.

The OLED910 series combines the super-bright, next-generation panel tech found in the LG G5 and Panasonic Z95B, with Philips' classy styling and lovely four-sided Ambilight. The OLED910 undercuts those rivals (and the Samsung S95F and Award-winning Sony Bravia 8 II) on price, too.

The Philips also has an integrated premium Bowers & Wilkins 3.1 sound system (81W total, 8 channels), and supports HDR10+ and Dolby Vision. A very enticing proposition!

You can read our first impressions in this Philips OLED910 hands-on review, but stay tuned for the final verdict very soon.

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The Award-winning Chord Mojo 2 gets two connection updates, but retains its price and sound quality

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The 77-inch Philips OLED809 has dropped to £1699 at Richer Sounds, down from its usual £1799 asking price.

Originally launching at £3499, the TV has seen its RRP reduced over time, with this most recent £100 saving making for an even more tempting proposition.

Buyers will also receive a pair of free Philips SHD8850 headphones worth £99 bundled with the purchase. We haven't reviewed them, mind, so we can't vouch for their performance. But it's an added bonus nonetheless.

As for the main course, the OLED809 sat as the third and most affordable option in Philips' OLED lineup when it landed last year, positioning itself at the time as a direct rival to the LG C4 – one of the standout OLED TVs of the year.

What makes the OLED809 particularly compelling is its ability to deliver exceptional performance without relying on next-generation screen technologies that command premium prices at the top end of the market.

This generously-sized 77-inch model shares the same core performance characteristics as the 65-inch version we reviewed, which earned impressive ratings for picture quality, sound, and features.

The TV's greatest strength lies in its handling of bright scenes, where it delivers a wonderfully wide colour palette and brilliantly high maximum brightness levels that create a truly immersive viewing experience.

Testing Top Gun: Maverick revealed wonderfully natural skin tones with a richness and warmth that oozes authenticity, while ocean views showcased reflections on the water that sparkle against a skyline full of vibrant, accurate colours.

During Pan – a particularly demanding test due to its 4000 nits mastering – the OLED809 maintained impressive levels of detail and colour accuracy in bright scenes, with the sun retaining detail and a wide range of colours that many traditional OLEDs struggle to reproduce.

The TV's performance during darker scenes is good too, though not quite at the same exceptional level.

Testing Blade Runner 2049 and The Batman revealed that while the OLED809 delivers an immersive image in isolation, it doesn't quite match the shadow detail and contrast depth of some rivals like the Sony A80L, particularly in dark content.

One of the OLED809's most distinctive features is Ambilight – Philips' unique bias lighting system that you won't find on competing OLEDs.

The three-sided variant here uses improved lenses in the LEDs to project a wider halo of higher-resolution colours that match what's happening on screen, with the aim of reducing eye strain and making the display feel more immersive.

While Ambilight remains divisive even among our review team, fans of the feature will appreciate the improvements made here, and those who aren't keen can simply turn it off using a dedicated button on the remote.

The TV itself is powered by Philips' 8th Gen P5 AI processor, which drives the new Ambient Intelligence V3 feature that intelligently optimises picture settings based on ambient light levels to improve HDR performance, even in bright viewing conditions.

HDR support is comprehensive, including HDR10+ Adaptive, Dolby Vision, CalMAN calibration, IMAX Enhanced preset, and Filmmaker modes – making this one of the most flexible sets in its price bracket for HDR standard support.

Gamers are well catered for with 4K/144Hz support, VRR, ALLM, and Dolby Vision gaming across two of the TV's four HDMI inputs, which run at the full 48Gbps HDMI 2.1 specification.

The built-in audio system – comprising two-way left and right channel speakers with a rear-facing triple ring bass driver reinforced by four passive radiators – delivers above-average performance for in-built TV speakers.

It offers surprisingly controlled low-level heft and a safe, neutral presentation across the frequency range. However, like most TVs at this price, it lacks upward-firing speakers for convincing surround sound, and we'd still recommend budgeting for one of the best soundbars to get the best hassle-free audio experience.

The OLED809 also runs Google TV, providing access to all major streaming services and a user-friendly interface.

And while its out-of-the-box picture settings push brightness and colour temperatures quite aggressively, taking time to adjust the picture presets and motion processing yields significant improvements and delivers an excellent home cinema experience that prioritises authenticity over aggressive impact.

This deal makes the 77-inch OLED809 an appealing proposition for anyone seeking a large-screen OLED that excels in regular home viewing conditions – particularly if you watch a lot of bright, colourful content.

While it may not be the absolute best performer in very dark scenes, its combination of exceptional bright-scene handling, comprehensive feature set, and practical design considerations, make it well worth considering.

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The 42-inch LG C5 is the smallest option in the Korean tech heavyweight’s current line of OLED TVs.

That automatically gives it a unique place in the market as most TV makers are forsaking people short on space this year, with Sony, Philips and more all shunning 42-inch sizes in favour of a “bigger is better” approach.

Add to that LG’s strong track record in the small OLED TV space, with numerous previous 42-inch LG C-series models going on to win What Hi-Fi? Awards over the past few years, and you can see why it quickly becomes one of this year’s most interesting options.

But, with changes to its specifications being fairly minimal, can the smallest C5 make lightning strike again? Here’s what we found after thoroughly putting it through its paces in our viewing rooms.

Price

• The 42-inch LG C5 has the same RRP as the 42-inch C4
• Prices have dropped since launch
• It's now similarly priced to rival TVs from Samsung and Panasonic

The LG C5 42-inch launched with the same £1400 / $1399 / AU$2199 starting price as the outgoing LG C4 42-inch. But prices have gradually dropped and you will generally find it floating at around £1099 / $1399 / AU$1695 at most stores right now.

That puts it directly in line with the 42-inch versions of the Samsung S90F and Panasonic Z90B.

If you’re after something a little (or a lot) bigger, you can also pick up the LG C5 in 48-, 55-, 65-, 77- and 83-inch sizes. Pricing goes up in line with the TV’s screen size, capping at £5999 / $5399 / AU$7999 for the largest 83-inch option.

Design

• Similar design to last year's C4
• The TV sits low on its feet, so a soundbar could block some of the screen
• The UK remote is basic, but some regions have a newer, better version

Like all the C5 TVs we’ve tested this year, LG hasn’t reinvented the wheel designing the 42-inch model. So much so, that one of our reviewers mistook it for last year’s C4 when he first saw it.

So, it’s a fairly light and slim unit, with feet rather than the pedestal you’ll find on the larger C5 options. These are easy to set up, as all you have to do is clip them into the easily identifiable slots on the TV’s back and screw in the four included screws. Even one person can do it in a matter of minutes.

The only downside is that the feet only have one height option, which is fairly low. Even a soundbar on the small side, such as the Sonos Beam (Gen 2), will block a bit of the display when placed directly in front of it.

The remote is also identical to all other C5 models, which is another minor annoyance. In some regions, the TV comes with a new, more streamlined remote, but in the UK you still get the undeniably clunky Magic Remote, which has been around since the LG C1.

The plastic unit is a little clunky by today’s standards and, despite our constant letters to Santa, doesn’t have a backlight or even USB charging, let alone solar charging.

The only minor perk is that it has basic motion controls that let you interact with the screen using a cursor, though even this has been known to annoy some owners (and reviewers).

Features

• Advanced AI processing promises a raft of visual improvements
• Comprehensive HDR support
• Flawless gaming specification

LG’s C-series OLED TVs have a strong track record for offering near-flawless feature sets, which is one of the main reasons why, for the third year in a row, the firm has not made any significant changes to this year’s model.

The panel tech remains basic WOLED, which isn’t a surprise as LG is keeping its top-end Primary RGB Tandem OLED tech for the flagship LG G5. Last year’s flagship panel tech, Micro Lens Array, has also been sent to the big AV farm in the sky, rather than trickled down to this year’s step-down models.

There’s also still no heatsink, which is a slight annoyance as the Panasonic Z90B includes one. This would, in theory, let LG push the panel harder without risking overheating and damage.

But, it’s forgivable as the C5 still comes with a few promised improvements to peak brightness and the ilk – though LG’s been careful not to put a specific nit count, or percentage boost, out in the wild.

While the 42- and 48-inch versions of the C5 lack the 'Brightness Booster' tech of the larger models, LG has seemingly squeezed a small amount of additional brightness out of the OLED panel, primarily through the upgrade to a new Alpha 9 Gen 8 chipset.

The chipset also leverages LG’s new and improved AI processing to offer movie fans better upscaling (an area where it has been falling behind Samsung recently), as well as better audio and more accurate HDR tone mapping.

As an added incentive, LG also claims it will help the set retain colour volume even during demanding low light scenes – an area in which the LG C5 48-inch and older LG C4 42-inch in particular struggle.

Outside of this, the TV’s specifications are pretty flawless. Like all LG OLEDs this year, HDR support includes HDR10, Dolby Vision and HLG. HDR10+ remains absent, but this is no surprise and is barely disappointing.

As expected, the 42-inch C5 features four full-speed HDMI 2.1 sockets, all of which can run games at up to 4K/144Hz with VRR. ALLM, meanwhile, automatically switches the TV to its low-latency mode when a game is detected.

One of the HDMI 2.1 inputs, as is the norm, doubles as the TV’s eARC port for people wishing to connect a Dolby Atmos soundbar.

The generous number of HDMI 2.1 inputs means even the most demanding of gamers with an Xbox Series X, PS5 and Nintendo Switch 2 will be able to have all their boxes connected at once and not have to worry about troublesome cable swapping.

LG’s WebOS 25 software runs the show and is identical to the version seen on larger C5 models. This means the UX is fairly easy to navigate, featuring rows of shortcut icons for apps and LG’s own marketplace.

Streaming app support is excellent and includes Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV+, Amazon Prime Video, BBC iPlayer and ITVX. There’s also a lot of nice gaming support, with a new Xbox app and GeForce Now offering convenient ways to stream games from the cloud.

Picture

• Very cinematic picture, despite the small screen size
• Skin tones look warm but not overdone, but tend to pale in low light
• Peak highlights are brighter than expected
• Lacks some solidity and definition in darker scenes

Powering up the LG C5 42-inch connected to our ever faithful Oppo UDP-203 4K Blu-ray player, running our 4K Blu-ray of Dune: Part 2, we’re met with a sense of deja vu, with the picture telling a very similar story to that of the 48-inch model.

In its default settings, the picture looks a little too artificial for our liking. The sunscorched desert holds a wonderful lustre, with every grain of sand sparkling and looking nicely sharp and three-dimensional, but the contrast isn’t right; the sky is too bright and missing some light detail.

Highlights on the Fremen fighters are pushed too hard, making them look as though they have a stage spotlight on them.

Working through the settings, things quickly improve. After some fiddling, we settle on Filmmaker Mode, with the lowest Cinematic Movement option on, sharpening and judder reduction off and dynamic tone mapping on for the best results.

Once done, the picture looks fantastic, with the Fremen and Harkonnen fighters looking wonderfully sharp and three-dimensional. The TV’s slightly warm colours and solid peak brightness levels create a truly immersive experience despite the screen’s small size.

With the lowest Cinematic Movement setting on, the clashing desert fighters' movements feel weighty and the set deals with the demanding rapid movements of the buzzing Ornithopter wings with zero issue. We never notice artefacts or ghost frames sneaking in as the scene plays.

Our positive experience continues as we transition to our Civil War 4K Blu-ray. The open segment of the test scene, where a character wakes up sunburned in the middle of an impromptu military camp, showcases what the C5 42-inch is capable of.

Skin tones in particular look fantastic, holding a pleasing warmth without ever looking overbaked – to the point that the S90F we’re testing it against looks noticeably too red.

As the film transitions to a night-time battle, the TV leaves a positive early impression, with the streets looking suitably sharp and stray tracer bullets and explosions offering higher peaks than we’d expect from a basic WOLED.

But as it shifts to focus on the characters, we notice a key issue we’ve seen on past LG OLEDs in recent years. Specifically, that colour volume is noticeably drained.

Skin tones suddenly take on a greenish, pale hue in low light, making them look flat and noticeably less realistic than the image on the S90F, which retains its warmth and colour volume and offers clearly better dark detail.

The issue is exacerbated when we switch to our Alien: Romulus test disc. The distant space background oozes menace, but as the isolated spacecraft slowly emerges from the darkness, it looks too soft, with key details not being as defined and sharp as they should.

This adds up to make the set a fantastic performer in most instances, but far from the final word with its handling of incredibly dark scenes.

The 42-inch C5 largely makes up for this with its decent performance in our standard upscaling test. Popping our SDR copy of True Grit into the Oppo player, the C5 deals with the incredibly difficult movie’s dim opening admirably.

There’s a pleasing warmth to the lanterns glowing in the otherwise pitch black scene, and falling snow retains its fluffy quality, never appearing oversharpened or being plagued by annoying artefacts.

Transitioning to a bright town scene, the film retains its intentional spaghetti western grain and looks nicely authentic, leading to an immersive viewing experience.

Sound

• Its 20W sound system is less powerful than the bigger versions of C5
• The AI modes designed to improve audio are best ignored
• The C5's flat, compressed audio is fine for TV but not for movies
• Cinema mode improves tonal balance and separation of sounds

Audio is an area in which LG’s OLEDs have struggled recently, with many of the sets we’ve reviewed this year offering, at best, middling sound quality compared to their rivals. This remains the case with the 42-inch LG C5.

The unit comes with a 2.0-channel, 20W sound system. As is usually the case with smaller TVs, this is the weakest sound system of any LG C5 this year. The larger 48-inch LG C5 has a 2.2-channel 40W speaker system, by comparison.

Like the other C5 TVs we’ve tested, LG's made a lot of noise (see what we did there) about the TV’s AI processing powers and how they help improve the set’s audio quality.

These include things such as a specific mode designed to further separate dialogue from background noise in movies as well as a dedicated AI audio mode, which claims to optimise the sound to the viewer’s tastes. The latter requires you to go through a point-and-click setup process, picking options that “describe your preferences”.

As before, we actually get the best results ignoring the AI mode, which tries a little too hard to separate mid and upper frequencies, at times pushing the speakers to sibilance.

But even then, moving to its AI-free, out-of-the-box standard mode, the audio is slightly flat.

Playing Civil War, the audio sounds a little compressed, with any rise in volume resulting in lost detail. The rumbling low end of explosions lacks the intended oomph required to get you on the edge of your seat.

We get the best results when we switch to the TV’s Cinema mode. Here, tonal balance improves. Voices become clearer and there’s some separation between the rumbling engine noises of the on-screen tanks and screaming gunfire overhead. There’s even some limited directionality to the tracer rounds flying from left to right on screen.

All-in-all, the audio is good enough for basic TV viewing in this setting. But it still fails to truly immerse us in the movie for a couple of reasons.

First, despite being better, the speakers aren’t powerful enough to properly project the characters’ voices, with demanding explosions and louder low-end background noises tending to completely drown out the dialogue.

Second, the speakers have a slightly flabby low end. This is particularly noticeable with our standard Blade Runner 2049 test disc. As well as being too weak to do justice to the bone-shaking synth soundtrack, the low-end thumps lack precision and fail to deliver the film’s intended oppressive, menacing tone.

Verdict

• The LG OLED42C5 is the best small TV of the year
• It boasts a flawless feature set and sharp, immersive picture
• The sound is the main drawback, so buy a soundbar

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.

SCORES

• Picture 5
• Sound 3
• Features 5

MORE:

Read our review of the Panasonic Z90B 48-inch

Also consider the Samsung S90F 48-inch

Read our LG C4 42-inch review

Best TVs flagship OLEDs and budget LED sets tried and tested

2025 is rapidly turning into one of the most interesting to date for OLED TV fans. A big part of that is the sea of next generation TVs flooding the market.

And in that sea, the Philips OLED950 is our white whale – the last flagship from a mainstream player we’re waiting to test this year. Why should you care when we’ve seen other TVs with its new Primary RGB Tandem OLED panel tech?

Because not only is Philips promising the OLED950 OLED will go brighter than its already cornea burning Philips OLED909 predecessor, it's also promising to have fixed one of our biggest gripes with the firm’s past OLEDs. Specifically, their slightly aggressive handling of colours.

And after we pushed past the crowds to get some hands on time with the set, we’re taking those claims pretty seriously and can see the Philips OLED950 being one of the firm’s best TVs to date – if it continues to deliver the goods when we get it in for the full What Hi-Fi? treatment, that is.

Price

The OLED950 sits at the top of Philips' 2025 TV range, with the OLED910 nipping at its heels, just below it. The OLED has a price tag to match with the 65-inch and 77-inch models initially carrying £2799 and £3499 recommended retail prices at launch. If you’re in the US or Australia, we’re sorry to have to confirm that once again the models aren’t available in your regions.

You’ll notice we only mention two, rather large sizes. That’s because Philips has taken OLED TV makers’ focus on “bigger is better” to the next level this year and chosen not to release a smaller 55-inch model. Get your measuring tape out if you’re short on space.

The initial price puts the Philips OLED950 in the same bracket as the Sony Bravia 8 II, Samsung S95F, LG G5 and Panasonic Z95B. But, in an interesting turn of events, prices for both sizes dropped significantly the moment they went on sale. You can currently buy the 65-inch OLED950 for around £2199 as a result.

That makes it the cheapest flagship OLED TV from a mainstream player available right now outside of its slightly less advanced sibling, the 65-inch OLED910, which currently costs £1999. The closest rival is the Panasonic Z95B, which currently costs £2299. Above the two, the 65-inch Sony Bravia 8 II and LG G5 both sell for £2499. At the top, the 65-inch Samsung S95F currently costs £2699.

Yes, OLED TV prices are fluctuating fast right now, with us getting closer and closer to Black Friday, but that’s an atypically chunky drop in price for such a new OLED TV and potential differentiator for Philips in a crowded market.

Build

The set is also a slight departure from past models with its design, with Philips choosing to remove the bolted-on soundbar seen on its past flagships – much to our editor and other team members’ joy. This, plus its sleek feet design means it should be easy to place a soundbar underneath the screen, and that you could sit the OLED950 on a smaller stand with zero issue. We'll check to confirm when we get one into our review rooms.

The rechargeable remote also looks incredibly similar, almost identical, to last year's. This is no bad thing as it’s rechargeable and features a backlight – two things LG in particular doesn’t offer with its G5.

Ambilight fans will also be delighted to spot the four-sided Ambilight Intelligence 3.0 version around the set's edges. This uses light sensors built into the TV to optimise the light’s output to match the ambient settings, in theory helping HDR images look better in bright rooms and reducing eye strain.

Ambilight is a constant Marmite feature among the home cinema team at What Hi-Fi?, with some loving it and others feeling it's a distraction from what’s playing on screen. Based on our demo, here it works very similarly to the version we’ve seen in the past, so it’s unlikely to change either camp’s mind on the tech.

Features

When it comes to features, the Philips OLED950’s stand out specification is its use of a new Meta 3, Primary RGB Tandem OLED panel.

This is a tweaked version of the new LG Display-made panel tech seen on the five-star LG G5 and Panasonic Z95B and a direct rival to Samsung’s QD-OLED, which is used by the Sony Bravia 8 II and Samsung S95F.

It’s a completely new tech that replaces the Micro Lens Array (MLA) hardware Philips used on last year’s flagships. It’s different in that rather than create colours by combining red, green, and yellow elements in a single layer of the screen, it separates the colours into distinct layers positioned between two blue layers.

This apparently lets the set deliver an astounding 3700 nits of peak brightness (for 15 seconds) in isolated areas of the picture. On top of this, the tech also helps improve colour volume, especially in low light.

The OLED950 complements the panel with a 9th Gen P5 AI Dual Engine processor that is similarly heavily focussed on improving the TV’s colour accuracy and gamut coverage – an area where Philips has a track record for being too aggressive, creating slightly too vibrant, overbaked experiences in its bid to blow viewers socks off.

The chipset is doubly important as it’s one of the only big differentiators between the OLED950 and cheaper Philips OLED910, which has the same panel, but a slightly less powerful 9th Gen P5 AI chipset without the Dual Engine tech.

The most interesting feature it brings is a new AI Adaptive Gamut Enhancer, which uses frame-by-frame analysis to try and improve colour volume and let it deliver more intelligent light control, especially during bright HDR content.

In theory, this means skin tones and the ilk look more natural and apparently lets the TV cover 99.5 per cent of the DCI-P3 and 83 per cent of the BT2020 colour gamuts favoured by many filmmakers. We sadly didn't have our colorimeter to hand to check this during our demo.

Outside of this the OLED950’s specifications match most rivals. The increasingly common Google TV operating system runs the show. Dolby Vision, HDR10, HDR10+ Adaptive and HLG HDR support is included, as is 4K/144Hz gaming, with VRR and ALLM – which seems to be the new baseline for a flagship OLED despite the fact the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S can only run at 4K/120Hz.

It also has support for the growing HDR10+ Gaming standard of HDR, which is supported by Nvidia and offers similar powers to Dolby Vision Gaming when playing compatible titles.

The only downside here is that, despite adding a wealth of new features to the set's game mode, including a new mini map zoom feature which lets you adjust the size and location of in-game maps using the TV’s settings, the OLED950 only has two HDMI 2.1 inputs.

With one of these doubling as its eARC input, if you have a Dolby Atmos soundbar and multiple current generation games consoles, prepare yourself for some cable swapping as a result.

Picture

So how does the OLED950 look? Sadly, though we got a tech demo it’s too early to offer any final verdicts as the conditions were less than ideal and we didn't have anywhere near enough time with it.

The viewing room had overhead lights on and the Sony Bravia 8 II, LG G5 and Samsung S95F, as well as the OLED950 Philips being run in the comparison were all kept in their out-of-the-box settings.

Philips' reps also all but growled when we asked if we could play with the settings afterwards. Though in their defence, it was lunch time and we were holding everyone up.

Read our reviews of Bravia 8 II, G5 and S95F and you’ll get our thoughts on their performance in these settings. They’re not great out of the box – you need to tweak the settings if you want great results, as most are locked in Vivid or Dynamic profiles that overbake colours and have their motion-handling cranked to the max, resulting in over-smoothening and the dreaded soap opera effect.

But, there were some definite positives and interesting moments that left us hopeful about the OLED950’s performance.

Starting off, we saw a series of still 4K HDR images of various cities. Philips’ bold approach is clearly visible, with the red bricks of a colourful row of houses popping, creating a vibrant eye-catching picture. Transitioning to a test-still of a snooker table, we found the same was true of greens, which looked incredibly vibrant – one other attendee described it as a "Ghostbusters’ ooze green”.

Moving to a test shot of a woman standing outside a shop, the TV did a decent job retaining dark detail, with every item in the shadow remaining visible. There was a pleasing sharpness to the street as well, with paving stones retaining oodles of detail and every individual slab holding a nicely distinct three dimensionality.

This was a common theme as we moved to a panning shot of buildings, where every part of the concrete office blocks was sharp, and nicely separated from their background, creating an immersive sense of depth.

The same was true of a scene showing fireworks bursting on a pitch-black night sky, with the OLED rendering each explosion with suitable ferocity while retaining a pleasing amount of colour. We couldn't spot any blooming either.

Our only minor concern came when we returned to a day-time street shot, via which Philips tried to show off the accuracy of skin tones. Though there was solid contrast, even in the demo the set looked slightly off, with the darkest parts of some individuals looking a little too yellow – though this could easily be due to the less than optimal lighting conditions of the demo.

Motion has also been worked on. A challenging, rapid panning shot appeared smooth with no artefacts, which is impressive considering the state of things even a few years ago in the TV market.

This all made us curious to try the set in our viewing rooms with actual films, rather than test footage content.

Sound

Sadly, our demo didn’t include an audio element, so we can’t offer any insight into how the OLED950’s 70W 2.1 sound system performs. We do know that it is a departure from Philips usual approach to bundle a Bowers & Wilkins-tuned, bolted-on soundbar to the bottom of its sets. This only remains on the OLED910.

Early verdict

The Philips OLED950 is the last big flagship we’re yet to test this year. And while it has undeniably strong competition from the five-star LG G5, Samsung S95F, Panasonic Z95B and Sony Bravia 8 II, our early impressions are positive.

Though all signs suggest Philips still is pushing ahead with its standard bombastic approach to picture processing and tuning, reading between the lines it sounds like it has at least tempered some of its more aggressive tendencies – especially around colours.

This coupled with its currently incredibly competitive pricing and solid feature set could make it a serious contender in the top-end OLED TV market, if it delivers the goods when we get it into our viewing rooms for testing.

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Editor's note, 17/03/2026: Philips has announced the final product names, specs and prices of this modernised Moving Sound range for 2026, which varies slightly from the prototypes we saw in September 2025 and are previewed in the original story below. You can read the final information in the 2026 Philips Moving Sound news story.

Prepare to be transported back to the 1980s. Philips is celebrating its centenary by launching a whole range of retro-inspired gear: the very yellow Moving Sound range of portable Bluetooth speakers and headphones.

Of course, back in the ’80s, Philips’ Moving Sound range featured radio and CD playback, with lightweight headphones that plugged into your portable cassette player.

This reimagined modern series will be available from the second quarter of 2026 and will bring modern wireless technologies into the mix, while also reviving some iconic product names and that distinctive yellow design.

• Philips' new Retro range celebrates 100 years in audio by combining classic designs with modern versatility

The four-strong Moving Sound range includes The Tube (MS80) and The Roller (MS50) Bluetooth speakers, The Buds (MS5) wireless earbuds and The Bingo (MS1) on-ear headphones.

The Roller (pictured at top) is perhaps the most recognisable of the four: the modern version of this ghetto blaster features 60W of power, two tweeters, two woofers, two passive radiators and a Moving Sound Bass+ system. Bluetooth 5.5, Auracast and USB playback are available, while there is a colourful display that includes a moving cassette animation for the full retro effect.

It's worth noting that the versions we saw at the Philips showcase in Eindhoven, as seen in the photos in this article, were not fully finished models.

This new model is set to have a 24-hour battery life and IP67 rating so can be used outdoors and will withstand some rainy weather, and there is a built-in handle for portable use.

The Tube (pictured above) is even bigger and offers even greater power at 140W, with side-firing passive radiators, and while it has the same battery life as above, it can also be used as a power bank. It has the same features as The Roller, which includes a light show controllable via the Philips Entertainment App.

If you want retro design on your head, The Bingo lightweight on-ear headphones (pictured below) look just like the cans used with portable cassette players – but now feature Bluetooth connection. Each earcup houses a 40mm driver, the thin headband is adjustable and designed to be “grab-and-go”, and they have a built-in AI mic for clearer voice calls.

The new headphones are available in two colours – the iconic Moving Sound yellow or a black finish – and both feature pink-neon inserts for that full retro nostalgia vibe.

Finally, the completely new The Buds wireless earbuds feature hybrid ANC, Spatial Audio, six mics for noise cancelling and clearer voice calls, as well as 48 hours of battery life with ANC switched off.

Multipoint connection, Auracast and IP54 rating are on board, and the charging case has a display for controls plus – you guessed it – a cassette animation.

All new Philips Moving Sound products will be launched in the second quarter of 2026. We'll update you with prices as soon as we have them confirmed.

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Philips is returning to the home hi-fi market with an intriguing new product that combines physical media with modern streaming: a Bluetooth turntable that also plays CDs.

Looking rather like a standard modern turntable, the Philips Fidelio FT1 also features a CD player built into the chassis.

The turntable is a belt-drive design with two-speed playback, while the CD player is front mounted with a tray-loading mechanism. Philips says the two elements are mechanically separated inside, and found enough space inside the record player's chassis to fit a fairly compact CD player mechanism.

The aim was to offer something different from the rest of the popular Bluetooth turntable market.

See more photos of the FT1 in the flesh, in the gallery below.

The FT1 features a die-cast aluminium platter and heavy rubber slip mat to reduce vibration, an extruded aluminium tonearm that comes fitted with a replaceable Audio Technica MM cartridge, and has an auto-stop function that stops the record spinning at the end of a side.

The new deck has a built-in phono stage, with RCA stereo outputs to plug into a hi-fi amplifier or active speakers. A 3.5mm headphone jack is also included in the minimal, modern design.

Alternatively, you can go the wireless route: the FT1 features Bluetooth 5.4 streaming, so you can beam your records and CDs to compatible wireless speakers and headphones. Auracast sharing and the LC3 codec are also supported.

There are physical playback buttons as well as a dimmable LCD display on the unit to cycle through sources and show volume, while a Philips control app will also be available for controlling and customising your experience.

Alongside the FT1, Philips has announced the FA3 wireless active speakers. The compact speakers each have bi-amplification, with 2 x 50W powering a 5-inch glass fibre mid/bass driver and a 1-inch titanium tweeter.

Connections include HDMI ARC, USB-C, optical and RCA aux inputs, so they can be used with TVs, laptops and other sources, such as the FT1 turntable/CD player.

As above, the new speakers also feature Bluetooth 5.4, LC3 and Auracast sharing. The two new Fidelio products can be bought separately or used as a full hi-fi system when paired together.

We are told that the Philips FT1 Bluetooth turntable and CD player is expected to cost €299, while the FA3 active speakers are set to be €399 per pair – but both these products will be available fully in the first quarter of 2026, so expect finalised prices then.

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If you are on the hunt for a large TV screen to upgrade your home cinema experience, this deal could be the one for you.

The 77-inch Philips OLED809 is available for £1799 at Richer Sounds, an impressive £1700 lopped off its launch price.

While we haven't tested the 77-inch model, we have reviewed the 65-inch version and gave it a five-star rating. We would expect this larger version to perform very similarly to its smaller counterpart, but provide a more cinematic experience, of course, thanks to that extra 12 inches of screen real estate.

With a solid HDR performance and capable audio by TV standards, this deal is certainly worth a second look.

What's more, a free pair of Philips SHD-8850 headphones has been thrown into the deal to make it even sweeter.

In our review of the 65-inch model, we find, while watching Top Gun: Maverick, that it “delivers wonderfully natural skin tones, with a richness and warmth that oozes authenticity.”

The picture is vibrant and bright, too. In fact, we go as far as to say that during bright scenes the levels of detail, colour accuracy and range the OLED809 offers “match if not beat the best OLEDs we’ve tested at this price.”

Although the OLED809 does not have upward firing speakers to provide a Dolby Atmos performance, it still offers safe, neutral sound where each part of the frequency range is suitably represented for basic, casual movie watching.

We recommend budgeting for a separate soundbar, however, as this will provide a more immersive viewing experience.

This is a Philips TV, so it won't surprise you to learn that the 77-inch set features Ambilight – Philips’ unique rear-projecting light feature that aims to reduce eye strain and make the screen feel larger and more immersive by matching the ambient conditions the set is playing in with what’s being shown on screen. For example, if you’re watching football, Ambilight will shine green light onto the wall behind the TV, reflecting the colour of the pitch.

There’s also a “Ambient Intelligence V3” feature which uses the 8th Gen P5 AI processor to try to intelligently optimise pictures settings and output based on ambient light levels to improve HDR performance, even when watching TV in very bright conditions.

In terms of physical connectivity, you will find two HDMI 2.1 inputs, one of which doubles as an eARC connection.

So, for those on the hunt for a hefty TV to take their home cinema to the next level, the 77-inch Philips OLED809 could be just the ticket especially for this price at Richer Sounds.

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Check out out review of the 65-inch Phillips OLED809

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There are lots of questions we all have about Dolby Vision 2, the new HDR format announced yesterday.

After all, while the press release was long, it was packed with buzzwords and feature names but very little in the way of hard detail.

Naturally, the one question that's popping up in our inbox and on our forums more than any other is: "Will I need to buy a new TV to get Dolby Vision 2?"

Well, we have news, and it's not promising.

We've contacted Dolby itself and every major TV manufacturer with a load of questions about Dolby Vision 2, including that one.

And while most brands have said they will get back to us in time, one of them, Philips, has replied with a very interesting tidbit.

Here's what our Philips contact said:

"I can only confirm at this stage that Dolby Vision 2 will be included on sets from the Philips 2026 TV range, but I can’t identify which models yet – though I can confirm older sets cannot be updated to include Dolby Vision 2."

It is, of course, not surprising to learn that Philips will be adopting the new Dolby Vision format, as the brand has been a driving force in HDR ever since its inception.

What is perhaps a little more surprising – and certainly disappointing – is that Dolby Vision 2 seemingly won't be supported by TVs manufactured before 2026.

Now, it's important to note that this response officially applies only to Philips TVs, and it certainly doesn't mean for sure that other brands won't be able to add Dolby Vision 2 to TVs that are already on sale.

But, given how forward-looking Philips is in terms of TV technology, and how powerful its flagship TVs tend to be, my thinking is that if Philips can't add Dolby Vision 2 to its current models, it's unlikely that other brands will be able to.

I could well be wrong, and perhaps we'll get some pleasant surprise announcements at IFA 2025, which is kicking off in Berlin pretty much as we speak, but my expectation now is that if you want Dolby Vision 2, you will have to wait and buy a new TV in 2026.

If that turns out to be true, it's going to be a big disappointment to people who have recently forked out for a new TV, particularly a flagship OLED model.

But if you are one of those people, I would like to remind you that we currently know very, very little about Dolby Vision 2.

So far, we have just vague promises of better shadow detail, improved motion and more AI. None of that guarantees that Dolby Vision 2 will actually be good.

We also don't know how Dolby Vision 2 will be delivered. Will it be streamed, or on discs? And will you need new source hardware to play it?

What I'm saying is that Dolby Vision 2 might not turn out to be much of an upgrade (assuming it's an upgrade at all), and it could be a very long time before compatible content is available.

So don't fall out with your lovely current TV just yet. It was great before yesterday's announcement, and it's still great now.

That said, I wouldn't buy a fancy new TV this week. IFA will hopefully bring with it some more Dolby Vision 2 details, and then we can all decide on whether it might be worth waiting for.

We will bring you all of the Dolby Vision 2 news as we get it.

MORE:

Here's our Dolby Vision 2 news story

4 big questions we have about Dolby Vision 2

These are the best TVs you can buy right now

I've moved house recently, which is a bothersome process that I may have whinged about to the members of the What Hi-Fi? team once or twice in the last couple of weeks.

While I don't enjoy packing boxes, I do quite like setting up my home cinema system, and a new living room is a perfect excuse to try out some new gear.

What's most exciting is that my new living room is larger than my previous one, so of course my first thought was "should I get a bigger TV?".

I'm sure you can imagine the answer, hence why I boxed up my trusty 55-inch Philips OLED907, and traded it for the 65-inch Sony A80L; a legendary OLED that spent a sizeable stint as our reference TV in our AV testing facility.

After a careful set-up process and realising that my current TV unit might be a bit too small for a 65-inch set, I finally assembled my new home cinema setup and took a well-earned seat. It was then that I had the realisation – "that's a lot bigger than my old TV".

Now, I'm more than familiar with 65-inch TVs, and even bigger TVs that stretch up to 75-, 85- and even 100-inches or more. However, a 65-inch TV in our testing room seemed different to having a 65-inch TV in my home; perhaps because I was used to my 55-inch Philips.

After a few hours of acclimatising to the new TV – most of that spent catching up on Alien: Earth – I became accustomed to the larger screen size, and really started to appreciate how much more cinematic it felt.

Don't get me wrong, my old TV was perfectly cinematic and suited the previous space well, but it's taught me that if you have the space for a larger TV, then you should opt for the bigger screen size where possible – you won't regret it.

Now, there are some exceptions to the rule; the biggest being that if scaling up means downgrading the picture quality, then perhaps think twice.

Let's say you're choosing between a smaller OLED and a larger backlit set, it might be worth considering the smaller OLED on account of the improved contrast, black levels and all of the other benefits that OLED brings, even if you're not getting the biggest screen size.

However, if you're picking between the same or similar TVs in different sizes, and your budget allows for the larger option, then I'd be tempted to spring for the bigger size.

The gap between 55-inch and 65-inch TVs is still considerable, but it is beginning to close somewhat. Take the Product of the Year-winning Sony Bravia 8 OLED, which can currently be snapped up for £1499 at 55 inches, or £1999 at 65 inches.

It's an upgrade you'll likely need to think about, but if you're even considering the larger model now, chances are you'll be thinking about it for years to come until you decide to upgrade again. £500 now could save you from upgrading early and spending more cash.

There's also the argument regarding pixel density. I've been planning out a new home cinema setup with my stepdad, which will likely centre around the 65-inch Sony Bravia 8 II, which will be a noticeable upgrade over his current 55-inch Samsung QN95A.

He questioned if the lower pixel density of the 65-inch model would result in a softer and less detailed picture, which was a valid point to make – and while mathematically the number of pixels per inch is reduced, in practice this doesn't tend to impact picture quality to a great extent at these sizes.

I've spent a considerable amount of time in the AV testing room with the 55-inch and 65-inch Sony Bravia 8 II, and can confirm that both look equally stunning and sharp. Picture processing in modern TVs is very clever these days, and can therefore mostly offset the impact of a screen size increase.

Sure, if you start getting into the higher digit sizes like 77 inches, 83 inches and 100 inches, you're going to have to deal with a lower pixel density; however, in return, you get a much more immersive cinematic experience, so it's an understandable tradeoff.

So, if you're currently deliberating on whether to scale up to a 65-inch TV (or even bigger), then my advice would be to go for it. You'll regret going for a TV that's too small, but I certainly don't regret going for a size up.

MORE:

Read our full Sony Bravia 8 II review

Check out our picks for the best OLED TVs

And find the best TV deals here

Google TV is set to receive a huge update that should significantly improve day to day performance on Google, Sony, TCL and Philips devices – but there is a substantial catch to be aware of.

The company announced that it will introduce 64-bit application support in an upcoming update to the operating system, transitioning from the current 32-bit apps that are available on Google TV devices today.

This upgrade is set to introduce a swathe of performance improvements to the platform, with Google TV Product Manager, Fahad Durrani, announcing “improved performance, shorter start times, and new viewing experiences on upcoming 64-bit Google TV and Android TV devices.”

While the focus here is clearly on current and future devices, Google assures us that there will be no changes to older devices, which are limited to 32-bit applications. Durrani adds that Google will not be making “any changes to 32-bit support, and Google Play will continue to deliver apps to 32-bit devices".

Speaking of future devices, we already have a theory or two as to what Google could be hinting towards here. A more responsive Google TV Streamer could be on the horizon, which is good news considering we had this to say about the current version's performance in our full review:

"Clicking through menus too quickly can cause the Streamer to stick, requiring it to take a moment to compose itself and move on; if we were pushing the hardware to the limit with a graphically intensive game, we’d understand – but we’re just browsing the home menu."

The transition to 64-bit applications, it is claimed, will allow apps to use more of the system's RAM too, bringing improvements to 4K and 8K performance. It should also enhance the Gemini AI features found on Google TV, according to FlatpanelsHD.

It's worth noting that the Apple TV 4K, which happens to be the best streaming device on the market, already uses 64-bit applications; in fact, it completed the switchover back in 2019, so Google is playing catch-up here.

We promised a catch, however – so here goes. Google TV fans who are eager for a snappier UI are in for a long wait: the update isn't scheduled to hit Android-powered AV devices until August 2026; that's 12 whole months away.

The wait should be worth it, however, as we could see snappier Sony OLEDs and speedier TCL Mini LED TVs launching next year, and maybe even that new Google streamer that we're already anticipating.

MORE:

Read our full Google TV Streamer review

Check out our picks for the best streaming devices

And the best TVs in 2025

It's our inaugural sustainability week, which means we're highlighting some of the best eco-friendly developments from the world of hi-fi and home cinema.

TVs don't tend to be the most eco-friendly devices in our homes; they're cumbersome and constructed (mostly) of plastic, which makes them hard to recycle. Therefore, when you get a new TV, you'll likely want to hold onto it for as long as possible.

Sounds logical, right? However, that's easier said than done, due to the inclusion of smart operating systems.

These are integral parts of practically every TV on the market right now, as we seldom see a TV that doesn't feature one of the various smart operating systems, such as Tizen (Samsung), webOS (LG), Vidaa (Hisense), FireOS (Panasonic) or Google TV (Sony, Philips and TCL).

The issue is that consumers are at the mercy of TV manufacturers to maintain these smart platforms for the years to come, as otherwise they can slow down and, in some cases, lose support for some key streaming apps.

Before now, TV updates have been sporadic at best. Promised support has never been necessarily guaranteed, rather expected from the biggest TV manufacturers.

However, in the last year or so, a few key players in the TV market have come forward to announce extended support, which should make your TV last longer without having to worry about losing software support.

Leading the pack is Hisense, which is promising up to eight years of software support on its Vidaa-powered TVs, which it announced in July of this year.

Considering studies show that, on average, consumers will replace their TVs every 6.6 years (based on data gathered in the US from Circana), it's great to see Hisense support its TVs for an extended period that exceeds this average.

Next up is Samsung, which promises a similarly impressive seven years of software support for its Tizen software platform, which also covers the average TV lifespan. Samsung gets bonus points for extending this to its smartphones, meaning devices such as the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra and Z Flip 7 will, in theory, still be supported into 2032.

And following fairly close behind is LG, which offers "over five years" of software updates as part of its Re:New scheme. That's not quite as long as Samsung or Hisense, and it's slightly more vague, but five years of promised upgrades at the very least is decent.

Simply put, if you're looking for a TV that won't be bogged down by outdated software in the coming years, these three brands are your best bet, but what about the others?

Sony, TCL, and Philips haven't committed to a fixed number of years for which their respective TVs will receive software updates. That's likely down to the fact that they don't have their own software systems and instead rely on Google TV for a majority of their respective lineups.

It's a similar case with Amazon's Fire OS platform, which Panasonic has recently adopted and which TCL features on some of its cheaper sets. There's no guaranteed minimum period for which TVs running this operating system will get support, leaving Amazon responsible for ensuring it keeps the platform updated and compatible with older models.

Asking these companies to whip up their own smart platforms out of thin air and promise to keep them supported for seven or eight years is, perhaps, a tall order.

However, it would be good to see Google and Amazon join the likes of Samsung, Hisense and LG to establish some confidence with consumers, so that they know their TV won't be bogged down by outdated, slow and unsupported software in the years to come.

Most importantly, TVs lasting longer reduces the frequency with which people will need to replace them, which is an instant win when it comes to sustainability.

MORE:

Check out more Sustainability Week articles here

Read our full Samsung S90F review

As well as our picks for the best Mini LED TVs

The last week of my life has consisted of sitting in our AV testing facility, evaluating the performance of three 48-inch OLED TVs; what a way to spend the summer.

All jokes aside, this has been an interesting period of TV testing, as we seldom see OLEDs in this size. LG submits its 48-inch C-series model each year (with the 48-inch C5 being no exception), while the other manufacturers have tended to shy away.

Thankfully, that era has ended, as Samsung and Panasonic have both been eager to show us what their compact OLED TVs can do to steal LG's spotlight.

And, no spoilers, as a couple of our reviews are yet to be published, they do a pretty good job of snatching LG's thunder. Both the S90F and Z90B (from Samsung and Panasonic, respectively) are shaping up to be worthy adversaries to the longstanding Award-winning model.

I won't disclose any scores; you'll have to wait for our full reviews for that, but testing these TVs has opened my eyes to the world of smaller OLED TVs.

Comparatively speaking, 48-inch OLEDs are a niche in a market where 100-inch sets are becoming increasingly normalised. The sweet spot remains at 55- and 65-inches for now, while the smaller sets, namely the 42-inch and 48-inch sizes, aren't quite as popular.

That being said, they still deserve appreciation, and I'm glad to see the three manufacturers mentioned above remain committed to the form factor. LG gets bonus points, as last year it launched a 48-inch version of its entry-level B-series OLED, while this year we saw the flagship G-series get scaled down to 48 inches too.

However, there is one company that has very recently changed its stance. Philips, which has previously offered its mid-range 800-series OLEDs in a wide variety of sizes, has axed its smaller OLEDs in favour of launching the OLED810 in only a sizable 77-inch size.

My newfound appreciation of these pint-sized sets has me questioning if this is the right call. Personally speaking, I'm a big fan of Philips TVs, and the OLED809 was a TV I spent a considerable amount of time admiring last year; and yes, Ambilight is a major draw for me, as I'm sold on its immersive qualities.

Offering the OLED810 at 77 inches will appeal to those with larger living rooms, and I understand that Philips has its reasons – namely that it will price its OLED760 model very competitively.

That entry-level OLED will come in a 48-inch screen size option (though UK availability hasn't been made official yet), but it will use a less-powerful processor and a panel that doesn't reach the same claimed peak brightness as the step-up OLED810 model.

Now, it's not the only company to somewhat neglect the screen size. Sony, which has been on an OLED hot streak these last couple of years, is still relying on the A90K (which launched back in 2022) to serve as its smaller OLED model.

While it's unquestionably a good TV, it's also really quite outdated and, even worse, still pretty expensive. The A90K runs Android TV, which has now largely been replaced by Google TV, and Sony has made some significant picture processing upgrades in recent years with its newer processors, which means the A90K is starting to lag behind.

This is quite the divide. On one hand, two of the biggest TV manufacturers are pushing 48-inch OLEDs, whereas Sony and Philips are refocusing on the bigger, more premium sets.

Contextually, Philips and, to a lesser extent, Sony tend not to sell as many TVs as Samsung and LG; both of which remain juggernauts within the industry. This could hint towards why the companies are hesitant to commit to newer 48-inch OLEDs, as, based on our knowledge, they make up a fairly limited proportion of overall TV sales.

Personally speaking, I appreciate that these TVs can deliver a truly cinematic experience without taking up too much space, so I'm all for more models on the market.

Regarding Philips' XL OLED gamble, we'll have to wait and see whether it will pay off; in the meantime, we can wait for Sony to announce a successor to the A90K.

MORE:

Read our full LG OLED48C5 review

As well as our Sony A90K 48-inch review

And check out our picks for the best OLED TVs

Philips has confirmed that its upcoming midrange OLED TV will come in only one screen size here in the UK – and it will suit only larger living rooms.

The OLED810, which serves as a rival to the likes of the LG C5, Samsung S90D, Sony Bravia 8 and Panasonic Z90B, will officially be available only in a 77-inch screen size here in the UK, which is a shock departure from 2024's OLED809.

We awarded that TV five stars after reviewing the 65-inch model, though we noted in our full review that it was also available in 42, 48, 55 and 77 inches. That is no longer the case, as Philips has ditched the core sizes in favour of bringing only the largest option to the UK market.

Technically speaking, this means that Philips no longer offers an OLED TV in a size smaller than 55 inches, as its entry-level OLED comes in that size alongside a 65-inch and 77-inch variant.

Speaking of the entry-level model, the OLED760 is officially the reason for the OLED810's reduced screen size availability. We've had word from TP Vision, which licenses and produces Philips TVs, to confirm that the OLED760 will be the primary focus for the brand in 2025.

It claims that it will be priced very aggressively, which appears to be the case with the full range; last month, we reported on the official pricing for Philips' 2025 TV range, and were pleasantly surprised to see that the flagship OLED910 will start at just £2199 for the 65-inch model.

The OLED760 is currently available for £1199 for the 55-inch model, £1499 for the 65-inch version and £1999 for the 77-inch model, and it includes a few benefits over the pricier OLED810 model; notably, it has four full bandwidth HDMI 2.1 sockets rather than two.

We have, though, found references to OLED850 and OLED860 model numbers, which appear to feature a different stand that houses magnets to attach the upcoming B8200 soundbar.

These models seem to be available in more conventional 55 and 65-inch screen sizes; there is no official word on whether they will come to the UK, however. We have reached out to Philips for clarification on this.

So, where does that leave Philips? It is now the only OLED TV manufacturer not to offer a 42 or 48-inch OLED in its 2025 lineup, though there does seem to be limited stock of the 42-inch OLED809 around for anyone who wants a pint-sized OLED with Ambilight.

And for anyone contemplating the OLED810, we hope you have plenty of space: 77 inches will be your only option.

MORE:

These are our picks for the best OLED TVs

Read our full Philips OLED809 review

As well as our Philips OLED910 hands-on review

Golly gosh, the KEF XIO is a bit of alright.

KEF brought its new – and first-ever – soundbar in to show us a few weeks before it was announced, and I was immediately taken by the design.

I had expected something a bit more out there, with visible Uni-Q drivers and fancy colour combinations in the style of its LS range of desktop speakers.

Instead, the company has produced a Dolby Atmos soundbar that’s far more staid and subtle, and while that initially sounds disappointing, the XIO is so sleek, stealthy and stylish that you just have to admire its classiness.

Its super-thin design makes the XIO perfect for positioning in front of a TV, and it looks unbelievably good mounted on a wall beneath an OLED TV, thanks to it being mountable flat against the wall.

Set up is a doddle, too, and the really slick app makes general use truly enjoyable.

Of course, what matters most is the sound, and I had concerns here, particularly related to that slim design. If the move towards super-slim TVs has taught us anything, it’s that space-starved speakers struggle to produce satisfying sound.

But I need not have worried. The XIO is, of course, thicker than most TVs, but KEF has also produced several new drivers that I won’t detail here (read our KEF XIO review for the full technical lowdown), other than to say they’re able to move much more air than one would expect of drivers in such a slim chassis, as well as being very cleverly controlled.

The resulting sound is exceptionally crisp and detailed, but also satisfyingly deep and punchy in the bass. The XIO fills a room admirably as well, delivering Dolby Atmos soundtracks with spaciousness and placing effects with rare three-dimensional precision.

All told, this is a truly lovely soundbar – probably the best I’ve ever heard – and I’d love to have it for my system at home. But there’s just one nerdy feature missing that means it won’t work for me.

Yep, I’m talking about HDMI sockets.

The KEF XIO has just one HDMI connection – an eARC port that connects it to your TV. The idea is that all of your sources are routed into your TV as normal, then the eARC connection handles the transmission of sound from TV to soundbar.

That’s great for most people, in that it keeps things nice and simple (though it can be tricky to ensure your TV is outputting sound in the right format), but it’s a pain in the bum for someone who has more than one high-spec games machine and a TV with just two HDMI 2.1 sockets.

I am one of those someones. I own a PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, and I want to be able to access the 4K/120Hz gameplay of both, which is dependent on HDMI 2.1 sockets.

Unfortunately, my Sony A95L TV, like all Sony, Panasonic, TCL and Hisense (and most Philips) TVs, has just two HDMI 2.1 sockets – and one of those doubles as the eARC port.

If I connect a soundbar such as the KEF XIO to the eARC port, I have just one HDMI 2.1 socket left for a console. Which means my other console will have to be connected to a 60Hz socket – or I’ll have to mess around and switch cables whenever I want to switch between them.

Many soundbars, particularly premium models, have additional HDMI 2.1 inputs to compensate for this. Some have just one, so you’re at least not losing out by connecting them to your TV, but others (the Samsung HW-Q990F and HW-Q990D, for example) have two, so that’s an HDMI 2.1 net gain.

The KEF XIO isn’t unique in omitting dedicated HDMI inputs and 4K/120Hz passthrough functionality – the Sonos Arc Ultra is another infamous example – but it feels particularly egregious at the XIO’s £1999 / $2500 / AU$3600 level.

Here’s hoping KEF’s second-gen XIO – or perhaps its sister soundbar, if such a thing is in development – fills in this feature gap so that gaming nerds like me can get fully on board.

MORE:

Read the full KEF XIO review

Here are the best Dolby Atmos soundbars you can buy right now

While we don’t want to dwell on the past with this review, understanding why the 65QNED93 is not just LG’s best LCD TV ever, but a great TV by any LCD TV standards, does require at least a brief history lesson.

For starters, while LG has traditionally used an LCD panel technology known as IPS for its big-screen TVs, the 65QNED93 joins last year’s 65QNED91 in using the alternative VA type of panel technology.

This matters because while IPS technology can deliver wider viewing angles than regular VA technology, it struggles more than VA technology to control how much light each LED lets through, meaning it usually comes up short with both contrast and backlight uniformity – two of most home entertainment fans’ favourite things.

While the 65QNED91 definitely delivered a step in the right direction, though, it still didn’t quite have enough control over its new VA panel to keep up with the LCD leaders.

Cue the 65QNED93 (or QNED92 in the US), which stays the VA course but this time unlocks the screen’s capabilities with a light control system so much better than that of its predecessor that it’s hard to believe it’s the result of only a single year of improvement.

Just don’t expect the 65QNED93’s successes, though, to be repeated across all screen sizes, since LG continues to use IPS panels for the other sizes in the range.

Price

The 65QNED93 / 65QNED92’s £1699 / $1700 / AU$2470 pricing makes it LG’s second most premium 65-inch LCD TV for 2025, only beaten to the top spot by the 65QNED9M, which adds a wireless 4K/144Hz video transmission system to proceedings.

It earns its premium status by virtue, chiefly, of its use of Mini LED lighting, premium Dynamic QNED colour technology, and a larger number of local dimming zones than any of LG’s more affordable LCD TVs for 2025.

The 65QNED93 is not cheap by any stretch of the imagination – though Samsung and Sony’s top-end 65-inch 4K Mini LED TVs, the QN90F and Bravia 9 respectively, cost significantly more. As does LG’s own 65-inch C5 OLED TV.

The 65QNED93’s closest rivals are really the Sony Bravia 7 and TCL C855K. Both of which are excellent TVs – though the TCL is in the process of being replaced by a new C8 series, so if you want one of those, you should probably be quick about it.

Design

In the UK, the QNED93 is supported on an unusual centrally mounted rectangular base plate, which is attached using two slender neck supports.

The resulting open-backed look to the stand, together with a pretty skimpy frame around three of its sides, helps you focus on the TV’s pictures – once you’ve stopped worrying about whether so small a stand can safely support so much screen (it can).

In the US, the QNED92 ships with a pair of more traditional (and less attractive) desktop feet instead of the base plate, hence the slight model number difference.

This isn’t the slimmest TV around, but the rear panel is at least flat across most of its surface area, making it a reasonably tidy wall-hanging option if you want to take advantage of its VESA standard attachment points.

The unusual textured silvery finish of the outer sides introduces a nice premium build-quality touch to proceedings, too.

Features

The VA panel found inside specifically the 65-inch QNED93 is arguably its single most important feature, given how it sets this screen size apart from LG’s usual IPS approach.

LG has backed this up this year, though, with not just Mini LED lighting but also a very promising 486 separate local dimming zones, in a 27x18 configuration. This is a really significant increase on the dimming zone count of its predecessor.

The QNED93 intriguingly switches its colour system from the proprietary LG Nanocell technology used on QNED models for generations now to a Dynamic QNED Pro Colour system.

This apparently replaces the old Quantum Dot-based technology with new fluorescent elements and the ability to absorb more ‘stray’ colour, resulting in supposedly purer colour reproduction and coverage of more of the HDR DCI-P3 colour spectrum.

Of course, just having lots of dimming zones and a fancy new colour system isn’t everything; it’s what you do with such features that counts. Cue the 65QNED93’s new Gen 2 version of LG’s Alpha 8 AI processor, which claims to bring 70 per cent more AI horsepower to the table than its predecessor.

As its name suggests, as well as taking charge of everything from backlight control to colour reproduction, upscaling of non-4K sources and motion compensation, this processor’s AI component includes improved Dynamic tone mapping for HDR playback, an automatic genre selection system to help the TV apply the optimal look to different content types, an AI Picture Pro option and a wealth of AI-powered smart features.

These AI smart features include the ability to distinguish between different voices in your household so that the TV can automatically activate the right person’s profile on its webOS smart platform; an AI Search feature that can actually deliver search results tailored to the person who issued the TV with a voice search command; an AI Chatbot that lets you ask the TV for help fixing or improving things in much the same way you would normally have to speak to a customer service agent; AI Picture and Sound wizards; and a new AI Concierge system that proves a kind of introduction to the TV’s AI and voice features by generating customised keywords and recommendations based on your past searches and viewing history.

WebOS is starting to feel a little complicated unless you really engage with its voice and AI features, in fact, so this Concierge feature – which gets its own new button on the latest LG ‘Magic’ remote control – is worth exploring.

At the time of our initial review, the 65QNED93’s webOS system in the UK wasn't quite as content-rich as we’ve come to expect. That issue has thankfully now been rectified, and the BBC iPlayer, ITVX, All4 and My5 apps are all now on board.

It's a slight shame that those UK catch-up apps aren't wrapped up in the Freeview Play umbrella app, as they were in previous versions of webOS, but the most important thing is of course that they are there.

As usual with LG TVs, the 65QNED93 supports the HDR10, HLG and Dolby Vision high dynamic range formats, but not the HDR10+ system developed as an ‘open source’ alternative to Dolby Vision. LG’s choice does cover the most common three HDR platforms, but there are rival TV brands, including TCL, Hisense, Panasonic and Philips, that support all four HDR formats.

The 65QNED93 provides excellent gaming support. It can support 4K/120Hz gaming, for instance, across all four of its HDMI ports.

In fact, it can run all the way up to 144Hz if you have a PC capable of going there, with VRR (including the AMD FreeSync Premium standard) available up to that 144Hz top rate.

The TV can automatically switch to its fast-response Game mode, too, thanks to support for ALLM, and there’s a Dolby Vision game mode to ensure you don’t have to put up with excessive lag with game sources that support Dolby’s premium HDR format.

In its Game mode, the time the screen takes to render game graphics at 60Hz drops to an extremely speedy 9.6ms.

Picture

Compared with previous LG LCD TVs, the 65QNED93’s picture quality is nothing short of a revelation. Particularly when it comes to its ability to handle those dark scenes, even in HDR, that play such a big part in so many of our favourite film and TV test sequences.

For starters, dark scenes contain blacks that actually look black. Not grey, not green, not blue, but genuinely black. This instantly gives dark scenes a credibility and naturalism that we’ve never seen from an LG LCD TV before. In fact, the 65QNED93 can portray blacks as convincingly as really any of its rivals in the upper mid-range LCD TV world.

Despite this, in most picture presets, LG’s screen holds on to just the right amount of shadow detail, ensuring dark scenes contain as much depth and detail as bright ones, while also not bringing out more picture information in dark areas than you’re supposed to see.

The 65QNED93 does blacks so well, too, without typically generating significant blooming side effects. So bright highlights of dark shots, even in HDR, don’t typically appear with large or bold areas of backlight clouding around them.

All of this would have been unthinkable on any previous LG LCD TV we’ve seen; even last year’s QNED91, with its debut VA panel, suffered with sometimes-forced black levels that either lacked shadow detail or else exhibited high levels of blooming light pollution.

While the 65QNED93’s usually compelling handling of dark scenes is the initially most surprising good news about its performance, though, over time, the way it handles bright HDR content impresses at least as much.

Bright HDR scenes look nothing short of gorgeous, in fact, managing to combine impressively high levels of brightness for a TV at its price point with gorgeously rich and expansive but also remarkably natural-looking colours.

We’ve had the rare opportunity to see the 65QNED93 running alongside a number of other LCD TVs and even a professional Sony mastering monitor, and it gets closer to the mastering monitor during bright scenes than almost any other LCD TV we’ve tested.

Even in its default Standard preset, it delivers a combination of brightness, light control, colour toning, colour balance, and banding- and blocking-free tonal subtlety that feels as accurate and immersive as it is eye-catching.

The screen’s excellent light control enables it to deliver the lightest peaks of bright HDR clips with exceptional intensity too, while the apparent ease with which the 65QNED93 is able to deliver its many picture charms also means that bright scenes in the TV’s Filmmaker Mode look about as enjoyable as we’ve ever seen them look on an LCD TV.

The 65QNED93’s colour finesse and fine light controls contribute to a very detailed-looking 4K picture too – and this detail holds up superbly during action scenes thanks to the TV’s outstandingly natural Cinematic Movement motion processing option.

While there are moments – many of them – where the 65QNED93’s pictures attain five-star status, though, there are just enough niggles around to cost it a picture mark.

First, the Filmmaker Mode goes a little too dark at times, which can also cause some shadow details during the usually excellently presented dark scenes to get crushed out of the picture.

The usually excellent presentation of shadow detail in Standard mode can also suddenly take a slight hit with shots that contain unusually extreme levels of contrast.

There can be minor baseline brightness fluctuations during cuts between bright and dark shots, too, and the very brightest HDR highlights can look slightly clipped of subtle shading details.

Also, where a relatively dark object appears against a very bright HDR backdrop, the dark object can look a little too much like a silhouette at times, while the usually well-controlled blooming can suddenly slip into showing the occasional cloud during shots that contain really complex mixes of light and dark content.

And finally, while the image helpfully mostly avoids the ‘dirty screen effect’ with camera pans during bright shots (which was a major problem with 2024’s QNED91), there is still a faint narrow band of muddiness around the very outside edges of bright clips.

All of these relatively small niggles tend to crop up fairly irregularly, though, making them far from constant concerns. So, for the vast majority of our time with the 65QNED93, we found ourselves marvelling at how good it is and drooling at the prospect of what LG might be able to do with its LCD technology going forward.

Sound

The 65QNED93 talks a pretty good talk on the sound quality front.

Its features, for instance, include LG’s WOW Orchestra system for combining the TV’s speakers with those in a compatible LG soundbar, as well as support for LG’s WOW interface, where the TV’s remote and menus can control a connected LG soundbar.

An AI Sound Pro system is on hand to increase the size and power of the TV’s soundstage by upgrading incoming sound – even if it’s only stereo – to a virtual 9.1.2-channel system.

This AI Sound Pro mode generally produces the most all-round satisfying sound, adding more volume, impact and bass potency, as well as projecting the sound further from the TV’s body to get more benefit from the TV’s built-in Dolby Atmos decoding.

Unfortunately, though, even the AI Sound Pro setting causes the 65QNED93’s speakers to break down into pernicious amounts of buzzing, crackling and humming interference when pushed. These are issues that also affect the TV’s default Dolby Atmos mode, despite this mode having far less volume, projection or bass presence at its disposal.

As with some of the brand’s OLED TVs over the years, the 65QNED93’s sound leaves us feeling that the basic audio hardware LG is using in this TV just can't do its ambitious processing proud.

Verdict

While this may only be true of a single model across LG’s latest LCD TV range, the 65QNED93 proves emphatically that LG is capable of making a splash at the serious end of the LCD TV world. There are times, in fact, when its pictures look nothing short of majestic.

A collection of relatively small picture niggles and inconsistencies, together with a flawed sound system, ultimately prevents us from being able to give the LG 65QNED93 an unbridled recommendation. Particularly if you can add a soundbar, though, for much of the time it really is nothing less than a joy to watch.

SCORES

• Picture 4
• Sound 3
• Features 5

MORE:

Read our review of the Sony Bravia 7

Also consider the TCL 65C855K

Read our Hisense 65U8N review

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

Philips has announced pricing for its 2025 TV range, revealing a very pleasant surprise that could seriously disrupt the current OLED landscape.

The OLED910, which is a collaboration between Philips and legendary British speaker manufacturer Bowers & Wilkins, sports a price tag that undercuts a lot of its key rivals.

In fact, at £2199 for the 65-inch model or £3339 for the 77-inch version, this OLED TV doesn't just undercut its competition, it pulls the rug out from right underneath them.

With a next-generation Primary RGB Tandem OLED display that boasts a claimed peak brightness of 3700 nits, the Philips OLED910's rivals include the LG G5, Sony Bravia 8 II and Samsung S95F.

However, the 65-inch models of those TVs cost £3299, £2999 and £3399 respectively. That could put the OLED910 at a huge advantage, as we're talking savings in the region of £800 to £1200.

The OLED910 features an 81W 3.1 channel Bowers & Wilkins sound system, Google TV, and Philips' latest 9th Gen P5 AI processor. Ambilight is also featured, specifically in the firm's top, and rather glorious, four-sided configuration.

The OLED910 is set to go on sale at Amazon, Currys, AO and Richer Sounds in September, so you'll have to be patient if you want to snap this TV up.

Philips also announced pricing and availability for two more of its premium OLED TVs. The flagship OLED950 will officially release in October for £2799 at 65 inches and £3399 for the 77-inch version.

That also feels like a relative bargain considering it's also a competitor to the LG G5 and its aforementioned peers.

The OLED950 also sports a Primary RGB Tandem OLED panel, as well as an upgraded Dual Engine 9th Gen P5 AI processor and four-sided Ambilight.

Interestingly, the B&W sound system has been stripped, with a discreet 70W 2.1 channel speaker system, featuring a rear-mounted subwoofer.

This could be a good thing, however. We've been asking for a TV that includes a powerful OLED display without an expensive sound system that enthusiasts will inevitably want to replace with a soundbar or surround sound package for a while.

Philips' upcoming mid-range OLED, the OLED810, will also launch soon, though we currently only have pricing for the 77-inch model, which will cost £2199.

It drops down to an OLED EX panel, which should offer a touch more brightness over a standard OLED (Philips claims 1500 nits). It also sports a 70W 2.1 channel sound system and three-sided Ambilight.

The final model in Philips' 2025 OLED lineup is the OLED760, an entry-level model with a 1000-nit OLED EX panel, a slightly older 7th Gen P5 AI processor, and Titan OS instead of Google TV.

It also seems rather affordable, as it starts at £1199 for the 55-inch version. The 65-inch model will launch at £1499, and the 77-inch model will be available for £1999.

Both the OLED810 and OLED760 will be available towards the end of June.

Philips has also announced availability for its Mini LED and QLED models, with the flagship MLED950 looking like a prime offering for gamers thanks to its 144Hz panel and four full bandwidth HDMI 2.1 sockets.

It comes with Titan OS and a 60W 4.1 channel sound system, as well as three-sided Ambilight. Philips suggests that it will only come in 65 inches, which will cost £1199.

Finally, we have the PUS8500, which seems to be a basic 4K QLED model featuring Titan OS, Pixel Precise Ultra HD picture processing, and three-sided Ambilight.

It's available now in a wide variety of screen sizes, ranging from 43 inches (£369) to 85 inches (£1349).

MORE:

Read our Philips OLED910 hands on review

Primary RGB Tandem OLED tech explained

Here are our picks for the best OLED TVs

If you're using an Apple TV 4K and are wondering what you could possibly do to make the picture experience any better, then this setting is the one you're looking for.

The best streaming device on the market already delivers an excellent streaming experience; we especially approve of its 4K HDR image, and the fact that it supports both Dolby Vision and HDR10+ is the icing on the cake.

However, if you desire an even more dynamic picture, you'll want to find the Colour Balance calibration setting. You'll need an iPhone with Face ID running iOS 14.5 or later to complete this step, and it takes less than two minutes to complete.

To find this feature, simply navigate to settings, click on video and audio, then click calibration, and here is where you'll find the Colour Balance setting.

You'll need to position your iPhone in front of your TV screen; don't worry, your Apple TV 4K will walk you through the process. A series of colours will flash, and then you're done – simple.

From here, you should notice richer and more accurate colours, and Apple even includes a handy side-by-side test so you can decide if the difference is right for you.

It's worth noting that this system doesn't change your TV's settings directly, so any settings you've tweaked with other inputs in mind won't be affected.

I should also mention that the setting will not apply when Dolby Vision content is played, as the dynamic HDR format overwrites it for the duration of whatever you're watching.

I won't use my Apple TV 4K without this feature applied, and on the several TVs I've used in tandem with my streamer – including a Samsung Mini LED model and OLEDs from Sony and Philips – I've noticed the benefit every time.

Your mileage may vary, as I haven't tried it with every single TV brand on the market (that would take quite a while), but that two minutes to set Colour Balance up could unlock a serious picture upgrade; so it's definitely worth checking out.

MORE:

Check out our picks for the best OLED TVs

As well as our full Apple TV 4K review

And our Google TV Streamer review

Hisense has finally revealed everything about its 2025 TV range, and there's something special about these TVs that should put competitors on edge.

We already had confirmation of Hisense's 2025 lineup, with the announcement of new Mini LED models including the U8Q and U7Q, which replace the formidable U8N and U7N, respectively. There's even an OLED TV, if you can believe it, but that's somehow not the most shocking reveal.

What's really blown our minds is the fact that in certain markets, the U8Q (the flagship model that will come to the UK) and the UXQ (which won't be launching in the UK) will both feature three HDMI 2.1 sockets, which is quite literally game-changing.

While the U8Q hasn't launched in the UK yet, Hisense's listing for the TV on its US site confirms the inclusion of three HDMI 2.1 sockets, so we'd be surprised to see it omitted from the version that's set to launch soon on this side of the pond.

We've become accustomed to TVs from the likes of Hisense, TCL, Sony, Panasonic and Philips that are stuck with just two sockets. Now, this has never necessarily been a deal-breaker; plenty of TVs from those brands have been awarded five stars.

But it's always been a thorn in the side of serious gamers. All three current generation game consoles – including the recently released Nintendo Switch 2 – include support for 4K/120Hz gaming with ALLM and VRR via HDMI 2.1.

So, if you own more than one console and an HDMI eARC-enabled audio system, you'd have to make a tricky choice to prioritise one console, while relegating the others to HDMI 2.0.

This, of course, limits you to 4K/60Hz and drops ALLM and VRR support, but if you don't make this sacrifice, then you're stuck with your TV's speakers.

Thankfully, Hisense is the first to tackle this issue head-on, and it's done so by upgrading from the currently available MediaTek Pentonic 700 to the new Pentonic 800 chipset.

That new chip will affect more than just HDMI availability. Picture and sound should also get a boost, but we'll have to assess that in our full review down the line.

Hisense has also confirmed that this third HDMI 2.1 socket is a full-bandwidth port, with support for up to 4K/165Hz signals, meaning all gamers should be catered for regardless of your preference for consoles or PC.

There is a slight catch, however. Those three HDMI 2.1 sockets are your lot, with the usual fourth HDMI socket being curiously swapped out for a USB-C socket.

This will make connecting laptops, smartphones and tablets easier if that's something you do regularly, but this could be hinting towards another new connectivity feature coming down the line.

We recently reported on the announcement of General Purpose Media Interface, or GPMI, which is a Chinese-developed competitor to HDMI 2.1. It's capable of supporting higher bandwidth signals alongside power delivery and data transfer, making it an all-purpose connector for video, charging and data.

Interestingly, the GPMI Type-C uses a standard USB-C connection, and Hisense is one of the companies confirmed to be backing the project with plans to include it on future TVs.

The decision to swap a fourth HDMI socket for a USB-C connection could, therefore, be laying the groundwork for GPMI.

Regardless, Hisense's extra HDMI 2.1 socket trend is something we hope that more manufacturers adopt soon, as it has been a sticking point for quite a few years now.

Sony, Panasonic and Philips have confirmed that their respective 2025 TV ranges will be limited to two HDMI 2.1 sockets, so is Hisense already at an advantage? It certainly will be for gamers, but the final assessment will, of course, be mostly down to picture performance.

MORE:

Read our full Hisense U8N review

As well as our Hisense U7N review

And check out our list of the best Mini LED TVs

Google's annual developer conference, I/O, took place yesterday, and it revealed the latest version of Android which is set to come to Google-powered TVs in the near future.

It was recently confirmed that Google will roll out major updates to its Google TV operating system using a two year cycle, meaning its jumping from Android 14 to 16, skipping over Android 15 in the process. So what's new for the latest edition of Google's TV operating system?

It confirmed that Eclipsa Audio will roll out to more devices with this update, which could spell trouble for Dolby Atmos.

The Eclipsa immersive audio format was developed in partnership with Samsung, which has already advertised support for Eclipsa Audio on its 2025 TVs and soundbars.

While this open-source alternative for Atmos should be on Dolby's radar, it needn't worry too much yet, as Google has confirmed that it will only work with YouTube at launch. However, there is always scope for it to expand to more streaming services in the future.

Furthermore, Android 16 brings a system called MediaQualityManager to Google TV, which will allow developers to amend picture and sound settings within their apps. This, in theory, should allow streaming apps to optimise vital settings to best suit the content shown.

This isn't technically a new phenomenon, as some apps already offer special calibrated picture modes that can tweak your TV's settings based on data sent over the air when you play content on a supported service.

Amazon Prime Video Calibrated Mode, which is available on Sony TVs now, and we saw in action on the upcoming Panasonic Z90B OLED TV, is a good example.

As this is a new Android update, there is, of course, AI aplenty. Android 16 brings Gemini to Google TV, which should handle voice requests and make smarter content recommendations too; something we've seen in part on the Google TV Streamer.

There is also a very subtle redesign as part of Google's new "Material 3 Expressive" design language, which rounds out some of the sharper edges and features a more contrasty colour scheme.

It's worth noting that this design enhancement only really applies to the main settings menu, and that the home screen will remain unchanged, according to 9To5Google.

Elsewhere, the updates coming to Google TV via Android 16 seem subdued. Google notes in its official Android developer spec sheets that we should see more reliable HDMI-CEC and improved playback stability.

Google also confirms that its TV operating system will work with Android XR, which is its new mixed reality software system that's set to power a swathe of upcoming smart glasses and headsets.

We'll admit, this isn't the most enthralling software update, though new features are always welcome. Android 16 will reportedly begin rolling out later this year, and we expect to see it on Google's latest TV streamer, as well as its older Chromecast with Google TV device.

We also expect to see the current handful of manufacturers that use Google TV for their TVs and projectors, such as Sony, Philips, TCL, Epson and Xgimi, to update their systems down the line; though no dates have been confirmed as of yet.

MORE:

Check out our picks for the best TVs

What is Google TV? Here's everything you need to know

Find the best OLED TV deals here

Do you fancy saving £1450 on the 77-inch version of the Philips OLED809? That saving brings it down to a record-low £1799 at Richer Sounds, which is £200 cheaper than the five-star LG C4 at Richer Sounds.

We've not actually tested the mammoth 75-inch model, but we absolutely loved the 65-inch version of the OLED809 TV. Its five-star rating was due to the impressive picture quality and solid HDR performance. If that wasn't enough, every purchase unlocks up to £100 off selected Philips soundbars. Sounds tempting doesn't it?

The Philips OLED809 is a direct rival to the five-star LG C4 and Sony Bravia 8. But it has a few key features differentiating it from its rivals. The biggest is the inclusion of Philips Ambilight. This is a clever bias-lighting system that is available only on Philips sets.

It works using smart LED lights around the TV’s frame to do things such as reduce eye strain while watching in the dark and improve immersion levels by using the lights to extend the screen – throwing up a gentle green aura that matches the colour of the pitch when watching football, for example.

This, plus its bold, punchy picture quality, which impressed our testers so much that they gave the 65-inch Philips OLED809 a top five-star rating when they tested it earlier this year, makes it an easy recommendation, especially at this price.

As we say in our Philips OLED809 review: “The Philips OLED809 is in many ways a fantastic TV. Philips has designed it with an overt focus on helping it deliver exceptional results in regular home viewing conditions, as well as the pitch-black environment favoured by cinephiles.” As we say, we reviewed the 65-inch version, but the same should hold true for the 77-inch alternative.

For £1799 at Richer Sounds, you should be treated to a big-screen OLED TV that offers a truly “blow your socks off” home cinema experience.

MORE:

These are the best OLED TVs we have reviewed

We rate the best gaming TVs

Our picks of the best TVs currently available