We witnessed some incredible OLED TVs this year pushing out serious specs and some of the most advanced features yet. There’s a lot to love about this new generation of OLED designs (with Samsung’s QD-OLED and LG’s MLA panels being industry highlights), and it can be hard to choose between them.
But I’m not here to talk about Samsung or LG — nor even Sony. Each of these manufacturers delivered some great OLEDs this year, namely the LG C4, Samsung S95D, and the Sony Bravia 8. But none of those were my favorite OLED of the year.
The Panasonic Z95A, which launched earlier this year at a market price of $3,199, is a true icon in the OLED class. Here's why.
Why I love the Panasonic Z95A
For starters, the Z95A is built on LG Display's MLA OLED design, a panel that's typically only available on the most premium LG OLED TVs, like the LG G4 OLED. You'll see a ton of this next-level thinking when it comes to the overall design of the Z95A.
For instance, check out its swivel stand, which is something I've yet to see on any other TV. This stand makes it super simple to place on practically any surface around the home. It lets you position the screen in such a way that makes it easy for really anyone to see the screen (and can even hide the cables in the back of the set).
And then there's the brilliant sound system — a testament to Panasonic's continued innovation and a gut punch to competitors. Its speaker commands a 5.1.2-chnnel system on a 160W output. Offering up to 160W of total output on a 5.1.2-channel system with both upfiring and sidefiring speakers is pretty unheard of, but it's not just the system itself; its underlying software (namely its Sound Focus feature) is where the real ingenuity lies.
Sound Focus allows the Panasonic Z95A various ways of outputting its sound, making it incredibly easy for users to customize their home entertainment audio setup. You can choose from several different presets, including Sport, Area, Pinpoint, and Ambient, but also even fine-tune these on a 120-degree axis.
The Panasonic Z95A is also one of the best gaming TVs to play on due to its incredibly robust gaming dashboard. This makes it super easy to make tweaks to the screen on the fly, like turning on VRR or ALLM, or changing audio to various presets, like RPG or FPS.
It even has an ATSC 3.0 tuner, a spec that many alternative brands (like LG) decided to forgo this year.
And yet, despite my immense praise for the Panasonic Z95A, it's not a perfect system. There are several ways the Z95A can be improved, and it starts with getting rid of Amazon's Fire TV.
What could make it even better
There's a slew of reliable TV interfaces in the market, including Samsung's Tizen OS, Google TV and Roku. Amazon Fire TV is absent from this list, as it's simply one of the worst interfaces to use in terms of navigation and even general functionality.
I'll give Panasonic some credit though, as saddling up with Amazon probably isn't a bad idea, especially when you're returning to the US from an eight year hiatus. That being said, choosing Fire TV as the Z95A's main interface wasn't the right call. Many major brands, including Sony, Hisense and TCL, are siding with Google TV — and that's for good reason.
It's not just Fire TV that diminishes the Z95A's appeal, though. It's also one of the only premium OLEDs that has just two HDMI 2.1 ports, a major miss on Panasonic's part. With just two high-bandwidth ports (one of which serving as the Z95A's eARC input), people with multiple consoles and a soundbar will have to juggle their devices.
If the rumors of an HDMI 2.2 spec being announced at CES 2025 are true, Panasonic should jump on that. On its next build of the Z95A, I'd love to see four HDMI 2.2 ports on a panel that features a 165Hz refresh rate. Obviously, this will only pertain to those using the best gaming PCs, but it gives users more freedom to leverage their tech the way that they want. Plus, if the rumors we heard earlier this year are true, brands might soon be introducing sets with higher refresh rates.
Panasonic should also extend the size options for the next Z95A. While 65-inch is definitely the sweet spot, it's pretty obvious that TVs are getting bigger and consumers are gobbling these XL TVs up like never before. A range of 55-inch, 65-inch and 77-inch would work, but even bigger might be nice, too.
Despite these constraints, I still think the Panasonic Z95A is this year's best all-around OLED TV. I'm thoroughly excited to see what Panasonic has in store for its next flagship OLED, and I'm hoping it's got serious spunk (but not too-high an asking price).
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