Sony - Page 5

Both Sony and Panasonic announced new OLED TVs for 2020. First up, and most interesting, is Sony's Bravia A9S Master Series - the company's first 48" 4K OLED TV. The A9S is based on Google's Android smart TV platform and features Sony's Acoustic Surface and the company's X1 Ultimate picture processor among other features.

Sony also announced the A8H OLED TV range that come in either 55" or 65" sizes and support similar technologies to the A9S.

LG Electronics says that it shipped over 5 million OLED TVs since it began offering OLED TVs in 2013. LGE's OLED TV sales are accelerating and it is currently shipping an average of 100,000 OLED TVs each month.

According to earlier reports LGE has asked LGD to provide it with 2.5 million OLED TV panels in 2020. LGE's is the world's leader in OLED TVs, but it is not alone - there are 15 brands that currently offer OLED TVs, including Sony, Panasonic, Philips, Skyworth and Hisense.

Sony announced two new high-brightness OLED microdisplays, the ECX336C and ECX335S. Both new microdisplays offer up a brightness of up to 3,000 cd/m² - these are Sony's most bright OLED microdisplays ever (the previous ones were up to 1,000 cd/m²).

The ECX336C is a 0.23" nHD+ (640x400) microdisplay while the ECX335S is a new model of Sony's 0.7" Full-HD (1920x1080) display. Both will enter mass production in Q1 2020.

HDTVTest, together with Crampton & Moore, organized the 2019 TV shootout, to find out what's the best TV of 2019. The test included four 65-inch TVs - LG OLED65C9, Panasonic 65GZ2000, Samsung 65Q90R, and Sony's 65A9G. The reference display was Sony's BVM-X300 OLED mastering monitor.

The audience (38 AV enthusiasts) chose LG's OLEDC9 as the best TV of 2019, followed by Panasonic's GZ2000. OLED TVs were the best in all categories, except the bright-room performance, for which Samsung won first place with its high brightness.

China-based All View Cloud consultancy says that OLED TV sales in China will reach 380,000 units in 2019, (up from 210,000 in 2018 and 120,000 in 2017) and will rise to 800,000 units in 2020. By 2021 or 2021 the sales will surpass 2 million units - which will make China the world's largest market for OLED TVs.

According to AVC, Skyworth is leading the Chinese OLED TV market with 46% of total OLED sales in 2017, followed by LG (16%) and Sony (14.9%). The penetration of OLED TVs in China is relatively low, compared to the US, Europe and Japan and there's much room for growth.

Sony officially announced the pricing and availability of its 2019 OLED TV range. Sony's flagship TV, the A9G, will start shipping in May 2019. The 55" will cost $3,399, while the 65" model will cost $4,499. Amazon already lists the new TVs. The 77" model, which will cost $7,999 will start shipping in June.

The A9G offers "consumer reference-quality image" and features Sony's X1 Ultimate Picture Processor, Pixel Contrast Booster and an automated calibration mode (including a dedicated mode for Netflix). The A9G features Sony's Acoustic Surface Audio - which means that the TV stand doubles as a high end speaker. The TV is based on the Android TV OS.

According to Business Korea, the demand for OLED TVs is increasing, which is helping OLED TV vendors, mainly LG, Sony and Panasonic to increase sales in the premium TV segment.

BK says that in 2018, LG Electronics sold 62.2% of all OLED TVs, followed by Sony (18.9%) and Panasonic (7.7%). Other OLED TV vendors include AOC/Tp-Vision/Philips (5.7%) and Skyworth (2.4%).

B&H photo is now listing Sony's 2019 range of OLED TVs. There's no shipping date yet, but there are prices for all of Sony's 2019 OLEDs. The mid-range A8G will cost $1,999 for the 55" model and $2,999 for the 65" model. The high-end consumer reference-quality A9G will cost $2,799 for the 55" model, $3,799 for the 65" model and $7,999 for the 77" model.

Sony' A8G features Sony's X1 Extreme processor, Android TV, Sony's Acoustic Surface Audio (the entire screen is the speaker), 4K upscaling (X-Reality PRO) and Motionflow XR for smooth fast action. The A9G adds Sony's Pixel Contrast Booster and an automated calibration mode (including a dedicated mode for Netflix).

Sony announced its 2019 TV range, with two new OLED TVs. First up is the Master-Series A9G, that offers "consumer reference-quality image" and features Sony's X1 Ultimate Picture Processor, Pixel Contrast Booster and an automated calibration mode (including a dedicated mode for Netflix).

The A9G will be available in 55", 65" and 77". The Android TV features Sony's Acoustic Surface Audio - which means that the TV stand doubles as a high end speaker.

According to its plans, LG Display aims to ship around 2.9 million OLED TV panels in 2018, and the Korean panel maker expects that its production capacity expansion will allow it to ship around 4 million panels in 2019.

LGD's largest customer is LG Electronics, but the company is also enjoying strong sales to Japanese TV makers. The Nikkei Asian Review says that in 2018 the company will ship 500,000 panels to Sony and 200,000 to Panasonic, and next year it expects to increase its shipments to Sony to 850,000 units and to Panasonic to 300,000 units. LG Electronics OLED TV market share will be around 50-60% in 2019.