Chinese TV brand Hisense says it will soon start selling its OLED TVs in the UK and parts of Europe, following their launch in Australia late last year. 

The company currently offers a single OLED model in two sizes – 55-inches and 65-inches – boasting 4K resolution and support for HDR in the Dolby Vision format. The TV also features support for Dolby Atmos, and sports a slim design with wide viewing angles and pixel-level luminance control that’s able to deliver “absolute black”, according to the company. 

The TV runs Hisense’s custom-built Vidaa 3.0 operating system and provides access to streaming apps such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Rakuten, YouTube and FreePlay. 

Best of all the TV is cheap as chips as far as OLED is concerned, with the 55-inch version set to retail at just £1,600 when it launches in the UK. There’s no word on pricing for the larger model, however. 

"The Hisense OLED display offers striking contrast and deep blacks, making it a great choice for Australians that enjoy regularly watching movies at home,” the company said when it launched the TVs in Australia last year. 

Still, consumers should be aware that Hisense’s OLED TVs are unlikely to match the picture quality of this year’s models from more prestigious brands such as LG. That’s because they’re built using LG’s first-generation OLED displays rather than its newer versions, and they also lack the A9 intelligent processor that comes with LG’s more recent sets. 

Hisense’s move into OLED comes despite the commitment its made to advancing a rival technology developed by Samsung called QLED, which is combines quantum dot technology with regular LCD displays and is seen as an alternative to OLED. The Chinese firm was one of the founding members of the QLED Alliance that was formed in 2017 along with Samsung and TCL to try and compete against the rise of OLED. 

Hisense was at one time a vocal opponent of OLED, talking down the technology in favor of QLED, which is branded as “ULED” on its own TVs. But it seems that Hisense has decided that OLED is here to stay, and that it makes sense for it to embrace the technology rather than fight against it. Its decision comes at a time when LG is making a major push into China with OLED, having opened its second manufacturing plant in Guangzhou, China, last year. Hisense therefore seems to be hedging its bets that both technologies have a promising future. 

What’s also strange is that Hisense’s OLED TV doesn’t support the HDR10+ format, despite being a part of the HDR10+ alliance, which is a separate group that was formed last year to take on Dolby Vision. 

Hisense said its OLED TVs are already available in Italy, and will begin taking pre-orders for the sets in the UK from July 1st.