You’re going to have to give me a minute to pick my jaw up off the floor. See, my colleague Caleb Denison just sent me a message and I’m still in disbelief: “Guys, Walmart has the Sansui OLED at $600 right now — which is just bonkers.” And he’s right on all counts. Walmart (and Amazon) do indeed have Sansui’s new 55-inch 4K OLED TV, and it is currently selling for $600, and yes, this is bonkers.
When Sansui announced its 55-inch OLED TV in October for $800, it was already the least-expensive 55-inch 4K OLED TV on the market — by a huge factor. Now that Walmart is selling it for $200 less, we’ve entered new territory.
As a rule, OLED TVs have always been more expensive per inch than comparable QLED models. You can see this at play right now. LG’s OLED B4 model — until now the most affordable OLED TV you could buy — is currently $1,000 for the 55-inch screen size as part of LG’s Black Friday promotion. But even with that discount, Samsung’s 55-inch Neo QLED 4K QN90C (an excellent QLED TV) is less, at $900.
So having Sansui swoop in and offer a 55-inch 4K OLED for $600 is, let’s just say it again: bonkers.
I don’t want to make any promises. Caleb has received and unboxed a 55-inch Sansui OLED, and his initial impressions after turning it on were good. The TV exhibits many of the key benefits we associate with OLED panels, like perfect black levels and excellent off-angle viewing. But he hasn’t had time to do his usual, no-stone-unturned review, and he may still find issues with the TV when that happens.
But from what we can tell so far, this really is an exceptional situation as far as OLED TV pricing goes.
Here’s what Sansui’s specifications tell us about the S55VOUG (the official model number for this TV):
- Frameless design
- Dolby Vision, HDR10
- Dolby Atmos
- Google TV with voice remote
- Bluetooth listening via headphones
- USB, optical, and built-in Wi-Fi ac
- 2 HDMI 2.1 ports (one with eARC) with Variable Refresh Rate (VRR), and Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM)
- 2 HDMI 2.0 ports
- AI-Powered Karaoke
Sansui says the TV has four HDMI ports, but we’re not clear on how many of these support the HDMI 2.1 features listed above, or if there’s also support for 4K/120Hz.
It’s also fair to say that we should keep our expectations in check on the audio side of the equation. While Dolby Atmos support is a welcome feature, you’re likely going to be better off with a soundbar as the S55VOUG only has two, 10-watt integrated speakers — not a recipe for immersive Atmos sound.
We’re also still a bit in the dark on Sansui’s “AI-Powered Karaoke” feature. Sansui describes it as removing vocals from YouTube videos in real time, while displaying on-screen lyrics. Sansui’s product page for the TV initially included a graphic showing two wireless mics, but it appears the TV doesn’t ship with these accessories.
