ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J.—LG will begin shipping its 2019 line of OLED and NanoCell TVs this month, although it didn’t provide pricing as of this posting.
The company also announced that the TVs, first unveiled at CES in January, will receive a midyear upgrade to support Apple AirPlay 2, Apple HomeKit and Amazon Alexa.
Features of the W9 (model 77/65W9), E9 (65/55E9), C9 (77/65/55C9) and B9 (65/55B9) include Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, while select models support HDMI 2.1 for 4K viewing at 120 fps and have 4K high frame rate, automatic low latency mode (ALLM), variable refresh rate (VRR) and enhanced audio return channel (eARC).
They also feature LG’s second-gen Alpha 9 intelligent processor and deep learning technology, said to “recognize” content source quality and determine the best upgrade method for visual output. It also analyzes ambient conditions to achieve the optimal level of screen brightness, according to LG, as well fine-tunes audio and dialog settings.
While the TVs will receive support later this year for AirPlay 2, HomeKit and Amazon Alexa, they will ship with support for Google Assistant.
Sizes for the NanoCell TVs range from 49 to 86 inches.
LG’s OLED models will make up 20 percent of the company’s high-end TV portfolio, it said. It estimated that demand will reach 3.6 million units this year, 7 million units in 2020 and 10 million in 2021.
