T3 - UK (2021-03)

10 T3 MARCH 2021

Horizon

The 9636 packs

everything next-

gen consoles

need. That means

high-bandwidth

4K VRR running

at between

40Hz and

120Hz, FreeSync

Premium Pro and

an automatic

game mode on

top of previous

low latency smarts.

The best new tech heading your way

“TVs rarely come this

bright, immersive or

innovative”

Josh Russell, Editor

TECH-O-METER

PHILIPS

9636

PREMIUM

£TBC, philips.co.uk

Philips’ TV division has been growing fast in
recent years. The company’s patented
Ambilight tech allows it to offer something
completely unique to the market, its
partnership with Bowers & Wilkins adds solid
audio offerings to its TV lineup, and there’s no
shortage of exploration in the design
department, which is something of a rarity in a
sea of black rectangle TVs. Now Philips seems
to be placing itself directly ahead of the curve:
its latest LCD TV salvo, due in the summer
alongside a raft of OLEDs, totes mini LED tech.
Dropping at two sizes, really big (65-inch)
and probably too big (75-inch), the top-end
9636 Premium (to be released alongside the
same-sized but slightly downgraded 9506
Premium) certainly packs in the features, pairing
the mini LED array with a wide colour gamut
120Hz VA panel driven by the company’s new
5th-gen P5 processor. That panel might be
LCD-based, but it’s no slouch: 2,000 nits
brightness is an impressive spec, and tens of
thousands of little LEDs illuminating it mean it’ll
manage some of the most impressive isolated
blacks that it’s possible to get out of an LCD.
The 9636 also gets its own B&W 3.1.2 audio
system, with the Atmos-equipped soundbar
acting as a handsome stand for the TV, and
complements its Kvadrat-cloth covered looks
by offering the super-slim panel a brushed
metal frame and four-sided Ambilight. Philips is
keeping quiet on the price right now – though
we’d expect, given the size and the tech, for
this to fall on the costlier end of the graph.