With IFA 2024 going full steam ahead this week, we weren’t expecting much by way of news for U.S. consumers. However, Panasonic has sprung a major surprise, saying today that it’s finally returning its TVs to the U.S. market, following a ten-year hiatus.
The company said three of its high-end televisions this year will go on sale Stateside, and not only that, but they’re available to buy right now, this second, on retailers such as Amazon and Costco.
The Panasonic TVs launching in the U.S. as of today include the flagship Z95A OLED TV with Micro Lens Array technology and a fancy Dolby Atmos speaker, the step down Z85A OLED television with a standard OLED panel, plus the W95A Mini-LED TV. Unfortunately, U.S. consumers won’t be able to buy the Z90A, which is the company’s second-ranked OLED TV model, as that appears to be exclusive for European buyers only.
Panasonic said the Z95A will only be available in one size, 65-inches, meaning that the 55-inch option is also exclusive to Europe. Meanwhile, the Z85A will only be available in 55- and 65-inch sizes – the same as in Europe – while the W95A will be available in four sizes of 55-, 65-, 75- and 85-inches, also the same as Europe.
All three of the TVs were designed and developed by Panasonic in Japan, before being fine-tuned by Hollywood’s Company3 in the U.S.
There are a couple of small differences between the models being sold in the U.S. and their European counterparts. The U.S. versions will come with a Fire TV Stick-style remote, while the European models are sold with a more traditional style zapper. In addition, the U.S. models will support ATSC 3.0 for broadcasts, with that set to arrive via a post-sale firmware upgrade. Europe’s versions don’t support that, as it uses a different broadcast standard. Apart from that, the TVs will be identical, Panasonic said.
Panasonic’s return to the U.S. is perhaps not that surprising, as the company earlier this year announced that it's dropping its homegrown TV operating system, My Home Screen, in favour of Amazon’s Fire TV platform. The main reason for that switch is that, given My Home Screen’s relatively tiny market share, it’s more difficult for Panasonic to convince application makers to make apps specifically for its platform. By switching to Fire TV, which has a much bigger global share, it can access all of the best streaming apps, such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, as well as regional services. In turn, that allows Panasonic to focus on making its TVs even more sublime than they already are.
Another reason we’re not completely shocked by Panasonic’s return to the U.S. market is that it has had close ties with Hollywood for a few years now, specifically with Company3, which is headed up by the famed colourist Stefan Sonnenfeld. That company does the colourisation for numerous big Hollywood movies, and it mostly uses Panasonic’s OLED TVs as its reference monitors to perform that work.
Some might have found it odd that the TVs used to master most Hollywood movies couldn’t be bought – at least not easily – in the U.S. itself, but fortunately that’s no longer the case. As Panasonic explained, there is “strong latent demand” for its OLED TVs in that market.
Pansonic's reliance on Sonnenfeld has long helped it stand out in the OLED TV market, and today's return suggests that the company has genuine confidence in its latest models to stand out from the competition. We're inclined to agree. In Vincent Teoh's review of the Panasonic Z95A OLED TV published today, it's clear that the company is getting better and better with each year that passes. Check out the review to see why Z95A is truly one of the best TVs money can buy.
In a briefing with the media, Panasonic aptly described the news as a “once in a decade” event, which is true given that it quit the U.S. in 2014, shortly after it stopped making its once-popular plasma TVs.
In the last decade, Panasonic has remained a strong force in the European TV market, with its OLED TVs often rated as some of the best that money can buy, and in many cases its models were actually rated as superior to those sold by LG Electronics.
Paul Williams, an executive with Panasonic's Global Consumer Marketing Division, said the company quit the U.S. back then because it didn’t believe it was able to offer something that large numbers of U.S. consumers wanted.
“I think things have changed,” he said. “I think there is an appetite in the United States for TVs which really do focus on delivering really accurate picture quality, a really premium experience.”
Europeans and Brits might not think today’s news really affects them in any way, but if Panasonic can grab a decent share of the U.S. TV market, that could provide a significant revenue boost for the company. The money from those sales can then be reinvested into the TV business, and fund yet more innovation for future televisions. As such, we can expect Panasonic to remain at the forefront of the TV market for years to come.
