LG's OLED TV lineup often gets the most press among its peers, but Sony's high-end OLED TVs get positive reviews as well. Today, Sony announced pricing and release timing for its flagship 2021 OLED, the A90J.
Preorders have already started in Europe and the UK, and the US is expected to follow any time now. But regardless of the staggered preorders, the TVs will ship this month in both regions.The A90J will be available in 55-, 65-, and 83-inch sizes. The 55-inch model will cost $3,000 in the US, while its 65-inch counterpart will cost a whopping $4,000. US and EU pricing haven't been announced for the 83-inch model, but it costs £7,000 in the UK, so let that be your guide.
Announced around CES in January, Sony's A90J has all the standard features for a premium TV: 4K, Dolby Vision HDR, a smart TV software suite (Google TV 10 in this case), and HDMI 2.1.
And like LG's OLEDs that were revealed around the same time (Sony uses LG's panels), the A90J will get brighter than its predecessor. Unfortunately, we don't know exactly how much brighter. But that's something reviewers will start to learn and report as these TVs ship.
Sony says it was able to get higher brightness than before not just because of new and improved panels, but with a new lamination approach that provides additional cooling, allowing the TV to push a little harder.
The claim here is that the TV can maximally use its red, blue, and green phosphors along with white simultaneously, in contrast to predecessors that couldn't achieve that.
As has become standard for high-end TVs, part of the pitch for this new model is also about the chip inside. Sony calls the A90J's chip "Cognitive Processor XR," and like similar chips from LG, Samsung, or others, it uses AI and machine learning to optimize the picture in various ways.
Inputs include four HDMI (one on the side, three on the bottom), three USB (two on the side, one on the bottom), one Ethernet, one RF, and one RS-232C. There's also a digital audio out and a headphone jack, as you'd expect. The TV supports both Chromecast and AirPlay, and those HDMI 2.1 ports of course facilitate 4K at 120 Hz as well as eARC, VRR, and ALLM.
For a while, LG and Sony were the only significant players in the OLED TV game in most regions, but that has begun to change. Panasonic has upped its game, and Philips, Vizio, and TCL have entered the fray, so OLED seems poised to hit the mainstream in a market still dominated by mostly cheaper LCD sets—or at least, that's what these manufacturers would like to see happen.
Listing image by Sony
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