Philips' new 4K OLED TV is shockingly affordable

Philips OLED 705
(Image credit: Philips / TechRadar)

The new Philips OLED 705 has launched in the UK, and it's set to bring quality OLED TV pictures to an astonishingly low price.

The Philips OLED 705 will retail for just £979 at a 55-inch size, giving it perhaps the lowest launch price of any OLED TV to date.

Also available in a 65-inch size (for a slightly steeper £1,499), the new budget OLED is the latest entry-level screen from Philips to pack in both an OLED panel and high-spec P5 chip with AI processing.

Add to that Dolby Vision and HDR10+ dynamic HDR standards, and you're getting all the format support you need for a knockout movie night – especially with Philips' proprietary Ambilight technology, which throws onscreen colors into the wall behind your television for an immersive, ambient glow. (You are getting only three-sided Ambilight though, compared to the four-sided Ambilight found on the rest of Philips' OLED and Mini LED TVs this year.)

Unlike some entry-point OLEDs, the 705 will pack in a capable audio output of 50W across 2.1 channels, with compatibility for both Dolby Atmos and DTS Play-Fi too. It runs on the Android TV smart platform.

We're told by Philips that the screen "is on sale now in Curry’s, AO.com and Amazon".

Sweet spot

The pricing of OLED TVs continues to be a point of contention for many, with sets rarely dropping under £1,000.

OLEDs are gradually getting cheaper – somewhat helped by ramped-up production and the arrival of a new 48-inch OLED panel size last year, though only flagship (and therefore already expensive) sets have received a 48-inch iteration so far.

We know that there'll be a few other Philips OLED TVs coming this year, including new iterations on the OLED 805 and OLED 855 models we saw last year. There's no word on a successor to the OLED+935 flagship as of yet, but you can expect to see something at the high end appear in the near future. 

Henry St Leger

Henry is a freelance technology journalist, and former News & Features Editor for TechRadar, where he specialized in home entertainment gadgets such as TVs, projectors, soundbars, and smart speakers. Other bylines include Edge, T3, iMore, GamesRadar, NBC News, Healthline, and The Times.