The 32-inch TV used to be considered huge.
There were CRT sets of that size, which required two people to lift and a reinforced cabinet to sit on, but now we have flatscreens they’re considered small. In fact, they sit at the point where computer monitors and televisions start to blur into each other.
While they may give up something in size, they still have a full range of features. You’ll find the same smart platforms and streaming apps in these smaller TV sets as you do in the 60-inch behemoths that dominate our living rooms, just in a more compact package that’s ideal for bedrooms or kids’ playrooms, or even campervans.
What you won’t find at this size are the bright OLED panels that have taken the larger TV market by storm. LG makes a lot of OLED panels, and while the company will sell you a 32-inch OLED gaming monitor, it uses a panel made by a different company. It’s not a TV either, though if you put a streaming stick in one of its HDMI ports, it can come close.
In the absence of colourful and contrasty OLEDs, things to look out for include LED backlighting and HDR screens, to really get the best out of a smaller TV. The sets of this size also tend to be 1080p, or Full HD, rather than 4K or UHD.
Even HD Ready TVs, which don’t quite hit the 1080p resolution, are available, and often cheaper. All the TVs on this list have a Freeview aerial connection and Wi-Fi, however, so you won’t be short of something to watch.
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Toshiba 32WV2353DB
We’ve put this one in first place because people looking for a 32-inch TV are generally not looking to spend a fortune. There’s an even cheaper 24-inch version too, but it only shaves £40 off the price, so this size version seems better value.
This is a 720p ‘HD Ready’ TV with Amazon Alexa built-in and a lot of the other features you’d expect from a modern smart TV. Around the back, there are three HDMI 1.4 ports, plus a pair of USB ports, an Ethernet socket, optical out, and some composite connections if you want to hook up a VHS player or older games console.
There’s Wi-Fi and Bluetooth built-in, and the panel uses an LED backlight with micro-dimming, which means pictures are really pretty good for such a small and reasonably priced screen. It even does HDR.
As you’d expect, the speakers are tiny but will be sufficient for a small room, and you can augment them by coupling the optical output to a soundbar if you need to or connecting to a Bluetooth speaker or headphones.
Place one of these on the worktop or in a study, and you can use voice control from across the room. It’s cheap but mighty and offers exactly what a smaller TV should.
Buy now £145.00, Amazon
LG 32LM6300
Offering 1080p and HDR, at least from built-in apps, this LG TV is slightly more expensive than the entry-level models on this list, but worth it if you’re going to be sitting close to the screen.
LG’s WebOS system is a top-quality smart platform, helped here by the quad-core processor built into the TV to keep it responsive. It comes with the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth you’d expect, plus three HDMI ports - but note that they hit the 1.4 standard, which means they you won’t be able to feed an HDR signal from an external player. Still, pictures are sharp and contrasty, helped by the LED backlighting.
LG’s TVs have a useful satellite input alongside the more usual Freeview, so you can hook it directly up to Freesat without needing to buy a decoder box. There’s a USB port too, for your hard drives full of home movies.
Buy now £217.99, Amazon
Samsung The Frame (2023)
Designed to be hung on the wall like a picture, this 32-inch TV makes much of its design and uses a One Connect box to separate most of its inputs from the TV itself, but beware: this size doesn’t come with the ‘near invisible’ slim cable that runs from the connector box to the TV set on larger versions, using a thicker one instead, and has its TV input on the back of the set, not on the box.
If you can get past this, perhaps by using its stand, or keeping the cable in a duct and relying on wireless streaming, the stylish 1080p QLED matte screen bridges the gap between TV and decor with some excellent image quality. There’s no HDR, but the Tizen smart interface has Google Assistant built-in, works with Alexa too, and has all the streaming apps you’d expect.
In standby mode, the Frame can display artwork from Samsung’s Art Mode app, which requires a small subscription, or from images you add yourself. There’s a range of clip-on bezel frames too, so you can customise its look.
Buy now £489.00, John Lewis
Cello Frameless LED 32 Inch Smart TV
Another HD Ready 720p offering, this TV from Cello, the only British manufacturer of LED TVs, uses Android TV as its smart platform and is fully steeped in Google with Chromecast screen mirroring and Google Assistant voice control.
While it’s a bit chunky and plasticky, the picture quality is good from the LED-backlit screen as long as you stay within its viewing sweet spot. As it’s a simple black rectangle with feet, the TV relies on its smart platform to help it stand out, and it’s largely successful, the recent integration of an Apple TV+ app rounding out a comprehensive offering.
You get three HDMI ports and a USB (into which you can plug some storage for recording), and there are optical audio and headphones ports to avoid using the built-in speakers. Cello also sells a 12-volt adapter for its TVs, allowing you to power one from the lighter socket of a vehicle.
Buy now £159.99, Amazon
Sharp 1T C32BB3IE1NB
Top value here from Sharp, with an LED-backlit 720p screen and loads of inputs, including three HDMIs, plus component and composite video for those older games consoles.
The built-in Harmon/Kardon speakers actually aren’t bad, considering how small they are, but there are optical and headphone outputs too. There’s no HDR compatibility, but image quality remains strong, particularly in the darker areas where many TVs fall down. There’s no smart platform so you’ll need a Fire Stick of the lights to make it so.
Alongside the HDMI ports, there’s a 60Hz refresh rate, plus both Freeview and satellite connectors. It’s a great choice if you need to hook a lot of external sources up to your TV.
Buy now £199.00, Amazon
Hisense 32A4GTUK
Hisense’s 32-inch offering gives you two HDMI ports for connecting external sources, and the home-grown smart platform, Vidaa, has a good selection of apps, including Disney and Apple.
It’s an HD Ready, 720p TV, with an LED backlight that doesn’t support local dimming or HDR. While the RRP of this TV is £249, we’ve seen it going for up to £90 less, so shop around and you can pick one up extremely cheaply.
The pair of HDMI ports support the 1.4 standard, and unlike many TVs on this list that have a refresh rate of 50Hz, which is used by most TV broadcasts, this one manages 60Hz, making it a better choice for gaming.
Resolution may be limited, but it has decent picture quality - watch out for reflections on the shiny screen if there are strong light sources nearby.
Buy now £165.00, Amazon
Sony Bravia KD32W800PU
This Google TV-powered 32-inch set from Sony is a bit more expensive than many on this list, but with Sony’s Live Colour technology, it manages to produce image quality that might make up for the extra expense. It’s LED-backlit, though without local dimming, and HD Ready, which means 720p, or more precisely 1366 x 768 pixels.
Despite this, it has three HDMI 2.0b ports, which can handle much higher resolutions, and all the usual USB ports, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and a headphone socket. Another interesting feature is that its stand is much more central than other sets, which tend to put their feet out on the edges of the frame, meaning the Sony can be perched on smaller cabinets.
Google TV means you get voice control via the remote, a broad range of streaming apps, and Chromecast built-in, so you can mirror your phone screen on the TV.
Buy now £318.98, Amazon
Samsung M8 32in smart display
Not exactly a TV, as it lacks the ability to display traditional broadcast signals, but a worthy contender all the same. What Samsung has done here is fit its Tizen smart platform into a 32-inch 4K monitor, meaning you’ve got something that can display your office work during the day and watch Netflix at night. There’s even a remote, which you don’t usually get with a computer monitor.
The smart display comes with a magnetic camera pack too, making it ideal for video chats. There’s a USB-C connection that delivers power, so you can connect it by a single cable to your laptop, charging its battery as you work, and the screen is a decent, though not exceptional, VA panel with HDR10 support and, being 4K, a lot of pixels.
It’s a nicely innovative screen, and it’s just a shame it’s so dreadfully expensive. You could achieve the same thing for less money by putting a streaming stick, such as an Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K, into the HDMI port of a 32-inch monitor.
Buy now £593.52, Amazon
Amazon Fire TV 32-inch
If you’re after a seriously smart TV, this should be your top pick. Amazon’s small but mighty 32-inch Fire TV is equipped with all the mod cons you would expect, including wireless Bluetooth listening so you can watch telly while your partner reads a book, access to all the streaming apps, and a remote that allows you to ask Alexa to find whatever show or film you’re looking for.
There are also games to play, and it can sync up with other household Fire devices so you can watch your show simultaneously even if in different rooms. With an HD 720p resolution, Dolby Digital audio and two standard HDMI inputs, it has everything you could want from a telly. If you fancy something a little bigger, the 40-inch is just £50 more.
Buy now £199.99, Amazon
RCA Roku TV 32”
The RCA Roku’s slim and lightweight design makes it perfect for any setting, be it the living room, kitchen or bedroom (or even the bathroom if you’re a bubble bath fiend). It has built-in apps including the BBC, Netflix, Freeview, and Disney+ among others.
The Dolby Audio offers crisp sound, and it includes two HDMI ports and two USB ports so you can use it as a second computer screen too if you wish. It’s one of our favourite budget buys, and with a 4.3 average rating across nearly 5,000 reviews on Amazon, it’s a hit with customers too.
Buy now £139.00, Amazon
Verdict
The smaller end of the TV market proves to be just as full of choice as the larger sets, just more compact and with fewer 4K screens. The range of HD Ready and Full HD TVs here show that it’s perfectly possible to get decent picture quality and a full range of streaming apps in a smaller package. In fact, if you’re limited for space, a 32-inch TV might be the perfect size.
Prices are low too. Much of the expensive technology manufacturers love to stuff into their larger TV sets often doesn’t filter down to the smaller screens, and because 32-inch 1080p and 720p panels have been manufactured for so long, you can get away with spending less than £200 and still walk away with something that you won’t mind staring at while you binge-watch Netflix series. Screens like Toshiba’s WK3C and (if you step up to 1080p) LG’s 32LM6300 are every inch as good as their larger and more expensive counterparts, just more likely to fit into smaller spaces.
