With What Hi-Fi?’s 48-inch Panasonic Z90B review now live, my group test of this year’s small-ish OLED TVs has come to an end – for now.
And to be clear, it is an utterly fantastic set. So much so that, as well earning a five-star rating from the team, it’s also the one I would 100 per cent pick if I was on the market for a new set this year.
Why? The answer stems from a key part of Panasonic’s approach to tuning its sets. Specifically, its overt goal to deliver an “as the director intended” experience.
This means that, though it doesn’t have four HDMI 2.1 slots seen on the 48-inch LG C5 or 48-inch Samsung S90F we tested it against, or push its panel quite as bright, I couldn’t help but be drawn to its consistent, controlled picture.
Whether it was its able handling of a dark night-time battle during Civil War or watching heated debates during Oppenheimer, the Z90B’s balanced, accurate colours and consistent light control and contrast kept drawing my eye during the testing process.
Hence our glowing verdict describing it as: “One of the best 48-inch OLED TVs we have tested, especially for serious movie fans.”
But despite all its perks, I still don’t plan to buy one and wouldn’t recommend many others do so right now for two key reasons.
First, it’s too expensive. Panasonic OLEDs tend to cost a premium and don’t get massive discounts as fast as rivals, including LG and Samsung. This remains the case with the new 48-inch Z90B which at the time of writing is selling for £1499 at most stores.
That makes it slightly more expensive than its main rivals. Doing a quick check, the 48-inch S90F is currently available on Samsung’s official store for £1299. The 48-inch LG C4 is also currently enjoying a modest discount, selling for the same £1299 on the LG store.
But more importantly, the Z90B is much more expensive than the older 48-inch LG C4, which we continue to recommend to most people in our best OLED TV guide. The older C4 is currently available for £849 on the LG store.
Why the older model? Because, though the newer sets, especially the Z90B, offer better picture quality, they’re not as good from a performance-per-pound / dollar perspective. The C4 also remains more than enough OLED for most people, which brings me to my second point.
Though we’ve seen year-on-year improvements in quality to step down OLED TVs, none of them have been as revolutionary as that which we’ve seen in the flagship space – where new panel technologies have radically, rather than incrementally, improved key performance metrics including peak brightness and colour volume.
If you want a night and day upgrade you’ll need to spend flagship money – I know this as we’re currently doing a shootout comparing the LG G5, Samsung S95F, Sony Bravia 8 II and Panasonic Z95B in our viewing rooms.
This means that even I, as someone who loves getting the top performance possible from my home cinema hardware, don’t feel the need to upgrade my 48-inch LG C2 to one of the new models.
The improvements are welcome for those yet to make the plunge to OLED, or on a very old, potentially first generation, set.
But, as I’ve said before, from my perspective the upgrades are not big enough to justify dropping another £800, let alone £1499 on one of 2025’s models, when my C2’s performance is still more than good enough.
Even if you insist on the Z90B being your next set, you’ll be better off waiting for a good deal on the set to appear, which with Black Friday only a few months away and Amazon constantly running unexpected deals events, shouldn’t take long.
Which is why, for now, I don’t recommend investing in the new model, despite its obvious allure.
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