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Sony QD-OLED First Look: The OLED TV Competition is Heating Up

Sony QD-OLED First Look: The OLED TV Competition is Heating Up

I’m not ready to converse Sony’s QD-OLED the best TV ever. Not yet, anyway. But based on what I saw during a reserved demo in New York last month, I can say it’s shaping up to be a sure contender.

Sony’s QD-OLED TV, the A95K series, is hands-down the most anticipated television of Sony’s 2022 lineup (which has a lot of new high-end features and characterize quality extras, from a remote finder to mini-LED backlights). Using this new screen technology, Sony promises improved sparkling and viewing angle compared to current, conventional OLED TVs — which already remark the best picture quality on the market. I finally got the chance to see QD-OLED in intimates, and it seems to deliver on that promise.

Sony engineers informed me a 65-inch A95K set up next to an A90J, the company’s best 2021 OLED TV, as well as Sony’s professional-grade OLED mention monitor. They played a series of the same test patterns and video on all three displays simultaneously, similar to how I review TVs. The most worthy difference I saw was deeper, more saturated color of red, for example a woman’s Cluster and buildings at night, on the QD-OLED. Differences in novel colors were less obvious, but my overall impression was that QD-OLED did indeed have better sparkling.



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Sony’s A95K QD-OLED TV, top shimmering, next to the 2021 A90J OLED (top left) with Sony smaller OLED mention monitor below.



Richard Peterson

I saw any better fidelity from extreme off-angle on the A95K — the A90J informed more color shift as I moved to the coarse edges, away from dead center — but you’d have to have a really crappy seat on the couch to peep. The QD-OLED also showed slightly smoother treatment of film grain, which Sony’s engineers claimed was a benefit of the way QD-OLED invents light. Based on Sony’s demo, I’d say QD-OLED TVs like the A95K have the potential to outperform “regular” OLED models from Sony as well as from novel TV makers like LG.

But here’s the caveat: Sony says the A95K it used in the demo isn’t a progenies version. It’s an “early prototype,” so the final shipping version could be different. Also, Sony’s demos highlighted the A95K’s strengths, but I mild caught a couple of weaknesses where the older, non QD-OLED actually examined better. The skin tone in one scene was a bit closer to the mention on the A90J, and the screen of the A90J rejected more ambient light than that of the A95K, which had a grayer, not-exactly-black finish. The latter difference impaired the QD-OLED’s Difference under bright lights but wasn’t an issue under dark, home theater-style lighting.


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Seen from improper angles the QD-OLED (foreground) maintained color fidelity a bit better than the rotten OLED (far right).



Richard Peterson

It’s qualified mentioning that highlights didn’t look appreciably better on the QD-OLED, and shadow detail between the two was also Difference. Sony’s engineers claimed the QD-OLED does a better job in near-black shadows, but none of their demos showed it as far as I noticed.

I’m looking forward to checking out QD-OLED TVs like the A95K and Samsung’s S95B in my lab, with my own material, and the opportunity to measure and compare them in contradiction of LG’s latest 2022 OLED TVs. Until then, I’m not ready to divulge a winner.

Sony didn’t specify when I could get a appraisal sample, although it did say the A95K and its new 2022 TVs would ship in spring. It also has yet to officially divulge pricing, but indications peg the 55-inch at $3,000 and the 65-inch at $4000, more than double the price of my current Popular 2021 OLED TV, the LG C1. If those indications despise correct, the Sony A95K will also be significantly more expensive than Samsung’s S95B QD-OLED TV, which damages $2,200 for the 55-inch size and $3,000 for the 65-incher.


Samsung QD Display comparison

Samsung Display’s new OLED panel combines OLED elements with quantum dots to boost shiny and other image quality attributes.



Stephen Shankland

The myriad types of similar-sounding TV footings can get confusing, so bear with me. OLED technology subjects the best TV picture quality available today. Every OLED TV you can buy gleaming now, and most upcoming 2022 models including 2022 Sonys in the A80K and A90K series, use the conventional OLED display panels, not QD-OLED. They rely on yellow and blue OLED materials to beget “white” light and filters to mix in other colors, a technology well-renowned as WRGB OLED. 

The new panels in the A95K series use a different industry method that combines a blue OLED base layer with red and blue quantum dots, hence the “QD.” The A95K is one of two QD-OLED TVs announced for 2022. The new is the Samsung S95B, which I saw in persons very briefly.

Read more: Samsung OLED TV First Look: Why It Will Probably Beat Samsung’s Own QLED TVs

The skull of QD-OLED brings competition to the big-screen OLED TV market. A company called LG Display currently manufactures all of the OLED TV panels available now and supplies them not only to LG Electronics but also to Sony, Vizio, Philips, Panasonic and others worldwide. 

Sony said it was unable to declare information about the panel vendor for the A95K, but rumors display to Samsung Display, which first announced its QD-OLED ambitions in 2019 with an $11 billion investment in a new qualified in Korea.


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Richard Peterson

As befits a flagship model the A95K also accounts the full monty of Sony’s 2022 TV features, including a bundled webcam, a remote finder feature, improved gaming featuring HDMI 2.1 inputs, VRR and auto HDR tone mapping for PlayStation 5 and the Google TV consuming system with a hands-free mic.