Hisense is late to the game but the launch of its first OLED TV is notable because the company is one of the founding members of the QLED Alliance – a front against OLED. The TVs are now available in Australia, with more regions to follow in 2019.
R.I.P. QLED Alliance?
In April 2017, Hisense together with Samsung and TCL formed the QLED Alliance. By joining forces, the three companies hoped to turn “QLED TV” – an LCD TV with quantum dots – into a direct competitor to OLED. As part of the deal, Samsung would let TCL and Hisense use the “QLED TV” marketing term, although Hisense has preferred to stick with “ULED” for its LCD TVs.
Things have not exactly turned out the way the Korean-Chinese trio had hoped. The souped-up LCD TVs have failed to gain market traction and Hisense is now switching over to the dark side. The company’s OLED TV was first unveiled at CES earlier this year and is now available in Australia. Hisense showed off the TVs again at IFA 2018 in Berlin where it told attendees to expect a launch in other regions in the first quarter of 2019.
- “The launch of the Hisense OLED TV further demonstrates our unwavering commitment to brilliant design, technology and innovation, which are at the heart of everything we do. We’re very excited to be bringing this product to market,” said Andre Iannuzzi, Head of Marketing, Hisense Australia.
Hisense is the latest to join the OLED camp that now counts Bang & Olufsen, Changhong, Grundig, Loewe, LG, Panasonic, Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and others. Samsung and TCL are some of the only remaining top TV makers not to offer OLED TVs but Samsung is currently developing its own type of OLED TV. Hisense will continue to sell LCD TVs.
The 4K OLED TVs are based on panels from LG.Display and come equipped with the Vidaa 2.5 platform, with access to services such as Netflix, Plex, and YouTube. The TVs also support two HDR formats (HDR10 and HLG).
Hisense’s X series OLED TVs are available now in 55 and 65 inches sizes in Australia for $3500 and $5000 AUD dollars, with more regions to follow in 2019.
- Source: Hisense via EFTM
