Sony QD-OLED TV Starts at $3,000, Available for Preorder in June

Sony unveiled its new TVs in January and on Monday we found out how much they'll cost. They skew huge and high-end, with 85-inch behemoths as expensive as $10,000, and promise better picture quality than ever. Sony will sell its first mini-LED models, including a version with 8K resolution, beef up its gaming chops with the PlayStation 5 and even roll out a remote finder. And in a first for any TV-maker, Sony has two kinds of OLED TV.

TVs that use OLED screens have the best picture quality available, and Sony's lineup includes three series of OLED. The most intriguing is the A95K series QD-OLED, which Sony says is its best OLED TV yet. I got the chance to check out the A95K in person earlier this year and from what I saw, that claim holds water. It's one of just two QD-OLED TVs announced this year, after the Samsung S95B. 

Watch this: Sony QD-OLED Eyes-On: Early Look at (Maybe) the Best TV Ever

08:08

I won't know which QD-OLED performs better until I can review them -- or whether they're worth the extra money compared to conventional OLED TVs like the LG C2 -- but one thing I now know for sure: the Sony is really expensive. The A95K will cost $3,000 for the 55-inch and $4,000 for the 65-inch when they go on sale in June. The Samsung costs $2,200 and $3,000 respectively for the same sizes. That's not a misprint: You can get a 65-inch Samsung QD-OLED for the same price as a 55-inch Sony.

Sony also announced pricing on its other OLED TVs. Here's how they stack up.

Sony said that its non-QD-OLED models -- the A90K and A80K -- would perform basically the same, and as well as the flagship A90J OLED TV from 2021. The A90K OLED series only comes in 42- and 48-inch sizes, which Sony aims, in part, at gamers.

Pricing for the Sony's A90K and A80K OLED TVs matches that of the LG C2 in the 42-, 48- and 65-inch sizes, and is slightly higher than the C2 in the 55- and 77-inch sizes. 

Watch this: Check Out Sony's New 2022 TVs, From Big to Bigger, 8K to QD-OLED

04:23

Remote finders, webcams and VRR enabled (finally)

Meanwhile, Sony's best LED-based, non-OLED TVs are the Z9K with 8K resolution and the X95K with 4K, both of which use mini-LED technology and Sony's "backlight master drive" for precise control of the full-array local dimming backlight. Sony is also packing in its latest version of the "cognitive" processor it introduced last year, promising improved color and depth mapping.

Beyond picture quality, the company is introducing a couple of interesting conveniences. Its highest-end TVs come with a remote finder function, similar to a feature we love on the Roku Ultra for example, that causes the clicker to emit a tone when you lose it (and it's a remote, so you will lose it). 

There's also a new camera dubbed the Bravia Cam, included with the two most expensive models and optional on the others. In addition to video chat from apps like Google Duo, the cam can help adjust the picture and sound according to room conditions and seating distance, spawn a pop-up or block the screen if someone (like a kid) approaches too close, engage power saving if you leave the room and (wait for it) even respond to rudimentary gesture controls. People who don't like the idea of a TV with a camera can engage the built-in privacy shutter or simply remote the camera completely. 

All 2022 Sony TVs will ship with variable refresh rate enabled, rather than relying on software updates to add the feature later. A new extra called Auto HDR Tone Mapping allows a PS5 console to automatically detect the model of the Sony TV it's connected to and select the best HDR settings. Another new addition, called auto genre picture mode, lets the PS5 tell the TV whether it's playing a game or other content, such as a streaming TV show or movie, and toggle the TV's game mode on or off accordingly.

Here's how pricing for the rest of Sony's 2022 TVs shakes out, followed by a comparison of features across the line. We look forward to testing Sony's new TVs soon.