Sony's fancy QD-OLED TVs are only available in two sizes: 55 inches and 65 inches. Does that mean that those buyers looking for a smaller TV are starved of a true flagship TV? It does not, because for those people Sony has this A90K model.
Its OLED panel might lack the Quantum Dots of its limelight-stealing sibling but the A90K, here reviewed in 48-inch form, is still supremely premium and brilliantly capable, even over a year since its launch.
Price
For reasons unknown, Sony didn’t launch a new 48-inch OLED TV in 2021. Instead, the previous year's A9 (A9S in the US) was tasked with holding the fort against increasingly large ranks of rivals for almost two years while we waited for this XR-48A90K to arrive.
Originally priced at £1899 / $1500 (around AU$3350), the 48-inch A90K can be picked up for £1599 / $1400 / AU$2290 in July 2023.
If you're thinking that the A90K should have been replaced by now, we hear you, but Sony has once again decided that its 'small' OLED models should have a two-year lifecycle, so the 42-inch and 48-inch A90K will continue through this year and into 2024, when they'll presumably finally be replaced.
Despite being over a year old, the A90K is still more expensive than LG's brand-new 48-inch C3 (£1499 / $1250 / AU$2595). Last year's 48-inch C2, meanwhile, has been discounted down to just £999 / $975 / AU$1900.
Design
Design-wise, Sony has set out to keep the A90K as compact as possible. The display itself is surrounded by a black bezel that’s just 8mm thick at the top and about 12mm on the sides and bottom. The bottom also then has a dark grey chin with a subtle Sony logo on the far-left. The low-profile stand is just 50cm wide and 23cm deep, making it easy to find furniture with the necessary surface area for the TV.
In the default stand position, the bottom edge of the TV is raised by just half a centimetre, but a pair of stilts are included in the box that, once attached, create a gap between stand and shelf of about 7cm – room for a soundbar or, if you’re eyeing up the TV as a gaming monitor, perhaps a console or your keyboard and mouse.
At 5.9cm, the A90K is thicker than LG's 48-inch C2 and C3 (both 4.7cm), and the plastic enclosure that houses the processing hardware, speakers and connections covers more of the screen’s rear, leaving only a small section of OLED TV super-slimness with which to wow your friends. That rear has been given some attention, though, with an etched grid pattern covering the whole surface and plastic panels provided, with which you can hide most of the connections – though those on the side remain exposed and therefore more readily accessible.
