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Sony TV is thinner than your phone

Sony has announced what it claims is the thinnest LCD TV in the world. The 55- and 65-inch sizes of the X900C series have cabinets that measure just 0.2 inches thick at their thinnest parts.

David Katzmaier Editorial Director -- Personal Tech
David reviews TVs and leads the Personal Tech team at CNET, covering mobile, software, computing, streaming and home entertainment. We provide helpful, expert reviews, advice and videos on what gadget or service to buy and how to get the most out of it.
Expertise A 20-year CNET veteran, David has been reviewing TVs since the days of CRT, rear-projection and plasma. Prior to CNET he worked at Sound & Vision magazine and eTown.com. He is known to two people on Twitter as the Cormac McCarthy of consumer electronics. Credentials
  • Although still awaiting his Oscar for Best Picture Reviewer, David does hold certifications from the Imaging Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Standards and Technology on display calibration and evaluation.
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David Katzmaier
2 min read

Watch this: Sony's new 4K set is its slimmest LED TV to date

Just when you thought TVs were thin enough, Sony breaks off a little somethin' slimmer.

The company is calling its new XBR-X900C the thinnest LCD TV yet. Parts of the TV's cabinet, namely the top half of the set, measure just 0.2-inch thick. That's just 7.1mm, thinner than an iPhone 6 for example. The fact that the bottom half is a bit thicker to accommodate internal components and inputs, spoils the effect only a little.

The top corner of a 55-inch X900C is thinner than many smartphones. Sarah Tew/CNET

For everybody keeping score at home, LG's 55-inch OLED TV, model 55EC9300 , has a depth of 0.25 inches across most of its body. So the X900C is even thinner.

The Sony doesn't look too bad from the front either. It has an extremely thin bezel around the screen, making it seem almost all picture. Combined with the thin cabinet, it cuts a sleeker figure than many of the more aggressively styled curved TVs from competitors such as LG and Samsung.

That's one thin bezel. Sarah Tew/CNET

The X900C isn't as beautiful on the inside as some other high-end Sony TVs, however. It lacks the local dimming we liked so much on the X900B from last year, so it likely won't offer as impressive a picture. Meanwhile two other new Sony TVs introduced at CES, the X940C and X930C, do offer local dimming.

Equipped with Sony's latest processing and Triluminous color, however, we don't expect the 4K resolution X900C to be a picture-quality slouch -- although we're curious to see what kinds of issues, in particular uniformity problems, might be caused by the extremely thin cabinet.

The X900C comes in 55- and 65-inch sizes. There's also a 75-inch version, model XBR-X910C, that's a bit thicker. Pricing and availability were not announced, and they'll all ship in spring 2015.

For a full rundown of Sony's new TVs, as well as our first impressions of the new Android TV-powered operating system, check out our full roundup.