The sales season is upon us, and that means plenty of Black Friday deals to pore over in the coming weeks. And if you’re after an OLED TV specifically, we think this is going to be a very good time to adopt the technology for your home.
There’s plenty of reasons for that, including gradually dropping prices, new panel sizes, and improvements in OLED tech across the board – such as measures to tackle image retention, and ways to calibrate brightness according to the ambient light in your living room.
But the best reason for picking up an OLED TV is always going to be because it’s good. OLED is the pinnacle of premium TV tech right now – sorry, 8K – and there are some sets you really don’t want to sleep on.
With that in mind, we’ve brought together four OLED televisions that are really worth keeping an eye on over Black Friday and Cyber Monday this year – so you know to head to checkout if a good discount drops.
1. LG CX OLED
+ Gorgeous OLED picture
+ More deals likely
– Heavy bass can distort
– Cheaper OLEDs out there
The LG CX OLED was our favorite OLED TV this year, for a perfect price-to-performance ratio, gorgeous OLED picture, and implementation of the webOS smart TV platform.
Our only real complaint is that the bass can sound a bit distorted on the audio side, but otherwise this is a pretty exceptional OLED TV that a lot of people have no doubt already picked up. With successive price drops over the past couple of months, LG is clearly hoping to clear out the remaining stock, and you might well miss out if you don’t nab one of the earlier deals on this one.
2. Sony A9G OLED
+ Stylish 2019 OLED
+ Excellent motion control
– Not the latest model
– A8H/A8 outperforms in some areas
Sure, the A9G OLED isn’t talked about that much these days, what with the A8H/A8 being the talk of Sony TVs this year. But the 2019 television is still widely in stock – likely due to its high price at launch – and is competitively priced these days, costing around the same as the new A8.
Performance is pretty similar on both sets, even if the newer A8 comes with lower input lag and slightly higher brightness. TVs are also aesthetic objects on the outside though, and you may well prefer the A9G’s central TV stand over the A8’s two feet. The former model is a little bit slimmer, too.
Most importantly, it’s more likely we’ll see a price cut that’s truly tempting on the older Sony A9G – so if you’re not fussed about getting the latest Sony OLED, then the A9G might be the one for you.
3. Philips OLED 754 (UK)
+ The cheapest option
+ Three-sided Ambilight
– Fiddly motion settings
– Middling UI
The Philips OLED 754 is the cheapest OLED TV that we’d actually recommend you buy. You can find it for under £1,000, incredibly, though it’s also exclusive to the UK and Europe, so there’s no getting it in the US.
You do, however, get an OLED panel with Philips’ brilliant P5 processor – which in 2020 comes with a host of picture improvements to make images look more realistic.
Three-sided Ambilight is packed in too, meaning you can get a colorful light show displaying around the edges of your television, ensuring that movie night is as atmospheric as it should be.
4. Panasonic HZ980 (UK)
+ Cinematic picture
– No swivel stand
The HZ980 is a new entry-level OLED TV model from Panasonic, which got a surprise launch several months after its HZ1000, HZ1500 and HZ2000 siblings were announced.
It’s largely the same as the HZ1000, with an OLED panel and HCX Pro Intelligent processor, though it’s taken a hit to motion smoothing, and doesn’t come with the neat swivel stand (or ramped-up audio) of the step-up models either.
For a basic OLED television without the bells and whistles of more expensive sets, though, this is an OLED that’s already offering good value, and is definitely worth keeping an eye on over Black Friday.
