TV | £1399 | View offers whf.cm/PhilipsOLED808
Over the past few years, Philips has produced some of the very best OLED TVs to grace our test rooms. It was with great sadness, therefore, that we learned back in August that the brand’s first 2023 model, the OLED808, would not only miss our annual Awards deadline but indeed wouldn’t make it into the UK until at least October.
The problem? Some sort of licensing issue between Google TV and Freeview Play was the reason given, with Philips apparently not wanting to launch the TVs in the UK without the full suite of terrestrial channel catch-up services.
Unfortunately, that issue hasn’t been resolved and the OLED808 has to do without the BBC iPlayer, ITV X and Channel 4 apps. Fortunately, though, the TV is now available and, having subjected it to our rigorous, comparative testing process, we can confirm that it’s a corker.
At launch, the 55in OLED808 was priced at £1800. That was a bit of an issue – its main rivals, most obviously the Sony A80L and LG C3, had already been available for some time and so had been discounted to well below the OLED808’s launch price.
Thankfully, this issue has been rapidly addressed and the OLED808 has already dropped to £1399, which means it is roughly on par with those rivals mentioned. In fact, at the specific time of writing, the Philips is £100 cheaper than both the Sony A80L and LG C3. Prices are very volatile at the moment, though, so
