Konka brings OLED TV to the US to take on LG and Sony
The China-based TV manufacturer will also sell a selection of budget-friendly LCD TVs.
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The Konka X11 OLED TV will appear in the US in the spring.
Chinese TV manufacturer Konka will join LG, Sony and maybe more TV makers soon in selling OLED TVs to US customers. The new 4K OLED TV, the X11 Series, will be available in 55- and 65-inch sizes this spring. TV that use OLED, organic light-emitting diode technology, deliver superior picture quality to standard LCD and QLED TVs in CNET's tests, but are also very expensive. Konka did not announce pricing for the X11 series.
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The company will release four different ranges of TVs in the US in total -- the entry-level H3, the 4K U5 series, the QLED Q7 series and the OLED X11 series. All of the models will feature an Android TV interface and voice control remotes. While the OLED has inherent, per-pixel dimming, the company has confirmed that none of the LCD TVs launched this spring will have full-array local dimming.
Konka will also be introducing a smart speaker called the Karma that uses Google Assistant, pricing unknown.
The Konka Q7 55-inch QLED television will be available for $800.
The Q7 Series is a 4K QLED TV (LCD TV with Quantum Dot technology) and will be available in 50-inch ($700), 55-inch ($800), 65-inch ($1,200) and 75-inch ($2,000) sizes. Its features include:
- XC3 UHD Engine
- ColorWave Pro Wide Color Gamut
- ZeroBezel Pro Design
The Konka U5 55-inch LED TV will sell for $600.
The U5 Series is a 4K LED TV with four HDMI 2.0 inputs. Its picture quality features include:
- XC3 UHD Engine
- DynaBright
- AccuMotion 120
The series will be available in 43-inch ($400), 50-inch ($500), 55-inch ($600) , 65-inch ($1,000) and 75-inch ($1,500) sizes.
The company's entry-level H3 Series is an LCD model with DynaBright dimming and AccuMotion 120 motion compensation. It comes with three HDMI inputs and is available in a 32-inch HD (720p) for $200 and a 40-inch FHD (1080p) for $300.
The company is also exhibiting at CES 2020, where it will show off a number of 8K-resolution TVs. including an 88-inch OLED, a 75-inch LED TV and a product intriguingly named the "8K Chassis with Built-in 5G."
Is there room for another Chinese manufacturer in the US market? TCL was able to capitalize on the retreat of brands like Panasonic to become the second-best-selling TV maker last year behind Samsung , due mainly to the success of its Roku TV range. But instead of partnering with Roku, Konka's choice of the less-popular Android TV platform may play a role. It also remains to be seen whether US buyers will want to trust a relatively unknown brand, especially when buying an OLED TV that's sure to be expensive.
We look forward to hearing more about the OLED range when checking out the TVs at this year's CES.
