TechTvsLG G2 vs Sony A95K: 2022’s biggest OLED TVs explainedThe LG G2 and Sony A95K will clash this year as the top-end OLED TVs from two of the world’s biggest brands – but what are the key differences? Here’s what you need to knowWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
TechTvsLG G2 vs Sony A95K: 2022’s biggest OLED TVs explainedThe LG G2 and Sony A95K will clash this year as the top-end OLED TVs from two of the world’s biggest brands – but what are the key differences? Here’s what you need to knowWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
The LG G2 and Sony A95K will clash this year as the top-end OLED TVs from two of the world’s biggest brands – but what are the key differences? Here’s what you need to know
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: LG, Sony)
(Image credit: LG, Sony)
If you’re looking at what the hottest TVs of 2022 will be, you need to be looking at the battle between the LG G2 and theSonyA95K: the flagship 4K TVs from two of the biggest and best TV makers.
After years of consistently great picture quality, lots of processing improvements but relative stagnation on the hardware front, the world of thebest OLED TVssuddenly exploded back into life in 2021.
Multiple brands launched OLED models sporting shiny next-gen panels designed to deliver significant picture quality enhancements – and that included LG and Sony. TheLG G1andSony A90Jwere two of thebest TVsavailable last year, but obviously these TV makers aren’t resting on their laurels.
LG G2 vs Sony A95K: Price and Models
The LG G2s will be available from spring 2022 – most likely March – in 55-, 65-, 77-, 83- and 97-inch screen sizes. And no, that wasn’t a typo; there really is going to be a 97-inch G2, breaking new size ground for LG’s OLED offering.
The appearance of the A95K on Sony websites already, though, alongside the words ‘coming soon’, make a spring/early summer launch seem more likely, but because it uses an all-new TV technology (as we’ll come to), it’s hard to be sure.
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At the time of writing, pricing for both the LG G2 and Sony A95Ks hasn’t been confirmed. We can probably expect, though, the G2s to track fairly close to the prices of last year’s G1s, which launched at £1,999/$2,199 for the 55-inch, £2,999/$2,999 for the 65-inch and £4,799/$4,499 for the 77-inch.
The A95Ks will likely attract a significant premium over Sony’s flagship 2021 OLED TVs, the A90Js, for reasons we’re about to get into, but current indications are to expect the 55-inch model to cost around £3,000/$3,000.
This family is enjoying the 97-inch LG G2 wall mounted in their very chic home.(Image credit: LG)
This family is enjoying the 97-inch LG G2 wall mounted in their very chic home.
This family is enjoying the 97-inch LG G2 wall mounted in their very chic home.
(Image credit: LG)
LG G2 vs Sony A95K: Picture quality
While both the LG G2 and Sony A95K introduce new hardware innovations, the nature of those innovations is quite different.
The big story with the G2 series is that it adds an extra heat-sink layer to the configuration of last year’s already brightness-boosted ‘Evo’ G1 series. This will enable the G2 to run brighter still, without increasing its susceptibility to screen burn. Heat is the main danger to OLED TVs for burn-in, so having a more advanced way to absorb heat away from the panel means you can push the brightness further.
Assuming this extra brightness comes without spoiling the black-level prowess LG OLED TVs are renowned for, the G2s should deliver some of the most impactful and accurate high dynamic range (HDR) pictures ever seen on an OLED TV.
The Sony A95K, however, uses a whole new category of OLED technology based around the Quantum Dot colour system previously found only in LCD TVs, includingSamsung’s famous QLED TVs. So whereas the OLED TVs we’ve been used to seeing for the past decade or so have all been based around a structure that combines white, red, green and blue OLED pixel elements, the A95K’s QD-OLED system uses a blue OLED light-emitting pixel layer that feeds its light into red and green Quantum Dot layers.
Removing the white pixel element from the mix enables QD-OLED to potentially deliver richer, purer, brighter colours. In fact, Sony claims that the A95Ks can produce 200% more colour brightness than ‘regular’ OLEDs.
Sony also claims the A95K delivers better viewing angles, despite regular OLEDs hardly being slouches in this respect.
Incidentally, while we call this new panel technology QD-OLED, Sony has so far referred to it as ‘New OLED’ – an annoyingly vague term. So we’ll mostly call it QD-OLED.
Both the LG G2 and Sony A95K feature improved versions of impressive existing picture processing engines. The G2 will carry the fifth generation of LG’s Alpha 9 processor, while the A95K will get the second generation of Sony’s Cognitive XR processor.
There are too many small similarities and differences between these systems to sensibly cover in detail here, but their overall approaches can perhaps rather crudely be summed up as both increasingly using AI systems to provide superior automatic picture optimisation, while LG focuses more on trying to recreate pictures as they were mastered and Sony seems more interested in making images look closer to how our eyes see the real world.
To be clear, though, there are some pretty big areas of crossover in these image philosophies. Neither is necessarily better – it’ll depend on how they’re applied in practice, and how well they combine with the panels once we’ve tested them properly.
One final intriguing picture feature the A95K gets that the LG G2 doesn’t is the Bravia Cam. This magnetically attached camera can monitor your viewing position, taking into account how close you are to the screen and adjusting the image’s brightness accordingly to enhance the experience.
The Sony A95K uses the screen itself as a speaker, effectively. It’s a very clever, great-sounding system.(Image credit: Sony)
The Sony A95K uses the screen itself as a speaker, effectively. It’s a very clever, great-sounding system.
The Sony A95K uses the screen itself as a speaker, effectively. It’s a very clever, great-sounding system.
(Image credit: Sony)
LG G2 vs Sony A95K: Sound quality
The A95K look as if it’s got more going on in the audio department than the G2s. For starters, it continues to run with the Acoustic Surface technology that’s been exclusive to Sony OLEDs for generations now. Actuators placed behind the OLED panel make the TV’s screen produce sound, resulting in audio that pushes directly forward into your room much more effectively and immersively than the rear-mounted speakers you get with most of today’s TVs.
The Acoustic Surface approach also typically delivers a very open, smooth mid-range, and can also get sounds to track the onscreen position of noisy objects as they move around the image.
As you’d expect, the A95K gets the premium version of Acoustic Surface sound, where the two 20W actuators (which have been optimised to suit the new QD-OLED panel) are partnered with two 10W subwoofers to boost bass.
The G2 OLED deploys a more standard audio system where the speakers are integrated into the TV’s svelte bodywork.
Let’s be clear, with TVs like this, you should be combining them with one of thebest soundbarsorbest surround sound systemsanyway.
The G2s and A95Ks will all benefit from systems for upmixing stereo soundtracks so that they sound more three-dimensional and Atmos-like.
The Sony A95K’s reversible stand is slim and gives a cool modern-art look.(Image credit: Sony)
The Sony A95K’s reversible stand is slim and gives a cool modern-art look.
The Sony A95K’s reversible stand is slim and gives a cool modern-art look.
(Image credit: Sony)
LG G2 vs Sony A95K: Design and Features
The G2 benefits from an elegant new refinement of LG’s distinctive wall hanging-friendly ‘Gallery’ design. This reduces the frame round the screen to just 6mm across, and replaces the previous chamfered sides with a sleeker-looking, flatter, dual-layer effect that makes the G2 look even more elegant and futuristic than its predecessor.
LG has also switched to a new composite fibre material for the G2’s bodywork which, for instance, knocks 6kg off the weight of the OLED65G2 versus the OLED65G1. This makes the latest Gallery design even more well-suited to wall hanging. We assume that, as with last year, the G2 won’t come with a stand in the box – it’sthatfocused on being wall-mounted.
The Sony A95K looks pretty similar in some ways to last year’s A90J. So that means extremely slim, black-framed screens designed to deliver subtle, understated elegance rather than the slightly showier look of the G2.
The A95K can be wall hung, though it’s not as specifically designed for that as the G2. In fact, a key feature of the A95K design is the way it can be slotted into either the front or back of a distinctive flat metal plate desktop mount.
One final area of major difference between the G2 and A95K TVs is their smart systems. The G2 uses the latest version of LG’s renowned webOS platform, while the A95K usesGoogleTV.
LG G2 vs Sony A95K: Conclusion
Both the LG G2 and Sony A95K look set to deliver substantial picture performance improvements respectively over any previous LG OLED and any previous OLED TV, period.
Based on what we know and can surmise now, though, the Sony A95K is looking the most likely to find themselves right at the top of the wish-lists of serious AV fans who simply want the absolute best picture quality available in 2022 no matter how much it costs.
With 2022 shaping up to be a year of shrinking disposable incomes, however, the G2 may end up being the best TV that most AV fans can actually afford. The extra gaming-friendly inputs and experience may win over gamers, too, while the larger screen size options might also attract consumers looking for more of a home cinema experience.
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