Philips announces first Mini LED TV, goes large with OLED

Philips will launch its first TVs using Mini LED technology, the 9636 and 9506 series in 65- and 75-inch screen sizes, later this year. Owner TP Vision confirmed the news, amid a slew of new TV announcements this week.

The brand also announced its first 77-inch OLED flatscreen. The ultra-large OLED806 model heads up a line that’s also available in 48-, 55- and 65-inch screen sizes. This 806 series will be joined by a cosmetic variant, the 865, in 55- and 65-inch screens sizes.

The OLED806 and OLED856 share the same zero bezel design, but are distinguished by their stand options.

Much like its OLED stablemate, the flagship 9636 Mini LED TV will use a 3.1.2 Bowers & Wilkins Dolby Atmos sound system with Tweeter-on-Top technology (pictured below). Prices have yet to be announced.

All these new screens will use the brand’s 5th generation P5 AI picture engine, which features enhanced AI and advanced Motion Clarity modes. The 5th Gen P5 AI also adds a new Film detection mode to the existing five AI categories and incorporates the TV’s light sensor to ensure that contrast for SD or HDR content is always optimised to the ambient light levels.

HDR support is universal, covering Dolby Atmos, HDR10, HLG and HDR10+ Adaptive, which uses real-time ambient light information to automatically optimize brightness levels, based on your viewing environment.

When Inside CI asked Philips picture guru Danny Tack whether it would adopt Dolby Vision IQ, he told us that Philips has developed something better. “Our Next gen AI processor offers a better solution,” he said. “Dolby Vision in Bright mode already uses an ambient light sensor, we have something better.”

Tack did confirm that Filmmaker mode would become a named preset on this years models though.

The new OLED and Mini LED screens will feature HDMI v2.1 functionality, including support for 4k @ 120fps. Gamers will also be pleased to hear that they have a low input lag of around 18ms.

Smart functionality comes from the Android 10 TV OS, with support for Google Assistant Built-in and Alexa.

There’s still no movement from Philips on 8k. “We have 8k in our R&D basket,” Tack told Inside CI, “but there’s hardly any content, and the market is very small.”

When asked if Philips has any plans to introduce MicroLED products, he suggested that the technology was at least three years away, in terms of mass market production.