LG announce US prices for 2019 OLED TVs

OLED still commanding premium prices

by Andy Bassett
A mere week after LG confirmed rollout plans for their 2019 OLED and NanoCell LCD ranges, the South Korean company has announced the prices of some of the OLED models on their US website.
Branded by LG themselves as ‘Ultra Premium,’ which gives an early indicator of the ballpark figures to expect, a handful of models from the midrange C9 series and the superior designed E9 series are clearly priced.

Starting with the smallest screen, the C9s start at $2,500 for the 55-inch OLED55C9, $3,500 for the 65-inch OLED65C9 and $7,000 for the largest 77-inch OLED77C9. The 55 and 65-inch models largely match the starting prices for the 2018 models.

LG announce US prices for 2019 OLED TVs
Moving onto the sleeker, thinner E9 series which sports LG’s ‘picture on glass’ design but to all intents and purposes has the same internal specification as the C9s, the 55-inch OLED55E9 comes in at $3,300 and the 65-inch OLED65E9 will set you back $4,300. Again, this is in line with the 2018 models when they were released.

While not yet on the US website, it has been reported that the high end Wallpaper W9 models will be $7,000 for the OLED65W9 and $13,000 for the OLED77W9. As with the E9 models, these premium prices get you superior design, premium stands and improved audio but the image quality remains the same across all OLEDS sporting the Alpha 9 second generation chipset.
LG announce US prices for 2019 OLED TVs
Missing from this handful of prices is the entry level B9 series, which for many casual TV purchasers may well be their gateway to OLED. It’s reasonable to expect the B9s to start at $1,999 to give the consumer a psychological ‘under £2K’ feeling and an expected $500 price jump to the same screen size in the C9 series.

Rollout was announced as March, though this does not necessarily immediately translate to TVs in shops ready to be bought. Shipping seems to have been confirmed as April for the new 55 and 65-inch C9s and the larger 65-inch E9, while the OLED77C9 follows in May and the smaller 55-inch E9 and both the high end W9 models coming in June. There’s no evidence of pre-orders being taken yet, so expect another announcement for this.

UK prices have yet to be confirmed and conversion rates in the current economic climate are difficult to predict but the dollar to sterling translation is doing Brits no favours these days.

Price comparisons against Samsung’s recently announced 2019 QLED range do show OLED still commands a price bump for the technology which LG are presumably happy to continue to market as a superior technology and therefore worth the higher outlay.

Samsung in the other hand will be pushing their latest QLEDs as an affordable way to get your hands on the latest TV technologies in a package where superior brightness outplays the contrast and deep blacks of OLED.

Yet to see a price tag are the OLED 8K 88Z9, the Signature OLED R rollable model and the NanoCell models, so there’ll be future proclamations to trumpet their appearance in the coming months.

The name of the game is very much a drip-feed of information to keep awareness and anticipation high; first the rollout, then a few prices, then shipping confirmation, then pre-orders then a final ‘They’re here’ announcement.
It’s frustrating that it’s not all at once but that’s marketing for you.

One thing to look out for though is possible price drops for the 2018 models as they start to make way for the new models.

Source: LG US website and various online resources.
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