You may have heard — or you may not have heard — some rumors circulating about what Sony’s newest OLED TV might look like. Some speculated that it was going to step away from QD-OLED into a new four-stack panel produced by a different display manufacturer, and a lot of folks were understandably a little unnerved by this.
I went out there and said, “I don’t think that’s what’s happening,” and I kind of put my name on the line with that. In fact, I made a little bet with Vincent Teoh, too, over this — we’ll see if he holds up his end of the deal. I am very pleased to announce the new Bravia 8 Mark II, available in both a 65- and 55-inch version, is indeed a Quantum Dot OLED panel.
So, not going to gloat, but I was right, and I’m really, really, really happy.
This is the latest generation of the Quantum Dot OLED panel, powered by Sony’s amazing processing. It’s going to be about 125% brighter than the A95L, and that brings us to where it sits in Sony’s lineup. This is the successor to the Sony A95L.
Now, if you’ll remember, last year, Sony shifted its naming convention strategy for its product line — not just in TVs, but also in their projectors and audio equipment. So, the Bravia 9 sticks around. That TV is going to remain at the very, very top of Sony’s mini-LED lineup.
We do have some new mini-LED TVs to talk about in another post, but for now, let’s focus on this guy right here. The Bravia 8 Mark II replaces — well, we’ll say it succeeds — the A95L. You’ll still be able to pick up an A95L for a little while if you want, but being at the Bravia 8 level does signify that we’re going to be looking at a little bit of a price adjustment.
We don’t have any details around that yet, but we can understand that Sony sees the Bravia 9 as the pinnacle of its lineup, representing the best mini-LED performance they can offer. And, indeed, it is probably the best mini-LED TV out there.
Now, with the Bravia 8 Mark II, we’re stepping away from the WOLED that we’ve normally associated with the Bravia 8. The original Bravia 8 will stick around for a while, though, so you’re going to have some options. But if you want the latest and greatest Quantum Dot OLED from Sony, the Bravia 8 Mark II is it. As I mentioned before, it’s going to be available in 55-inch and 65-inch — no 77-inch yet, but we’ll wait and see how things go.
For those of you who might be concerned, this is going to be the Quantum Dot OLED TV to get, especially if you’re not a big fan of the aggressive anti-glare that we’re seeing from some other TV brands. We know who we’re talking about.
I really couldn’t be more excited about this particular TV. With the latest-generation Quantum OLED panel — Gen 3 for consumers, Gen 4 if you’re in the inner circles — this is the best Quantum Dot OLED panel that’s been brought out so far. They increased the efficiency of the blue OLED pixel such that they can increase the overall brightness without any sacrifice to color purity, and color purity is at the heart of the story here. That’s really what makes Quantum Dot OLED different, and that is why I am so excited to hear that Quantum Dot OLED is sticking around in the Sony lineup.
This, my friends, is the OLED TV to beat. It’s official, and it’s here.
It’s coming later this year. We don’t have details around that just yet, but we will be sharing them as soon as we have them.
