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What Hi-Fi?

Technology

Alastair Stevenson

For the first time in nearly a decade, I'm not recommending an OLED TV to my friends during Black Friday

Black Friday (Topic) LG Yusef Amazon Sony Richer Sounds

What TV should I get during Black Friday? That sentence has been rattling in my head for the past month.

Not because I need one personally. No, this is because a steady stream of friends, extended family, readers and even a random dude I accidentally made eye contact with at my local pub (his name’s Yusef, nice chap) have been asking me for advice, constantly, in the run up to Black Friday 2025.

Browse all of Amazon's Black Friday 2025 TV deals here

And look, I get it. I made a deal with the capitalist gods when I became a professional chaser of shiny things.

In exchange for getting to test (play with) all the latest AV hardware and an industry-wide agreement that any t-shirt without cartoon characters counts as smart casual for work purposes, I would become the world’s tech support and personal shopper during Black Friday.

I made peace with that bargain many moons ago. But this year, as I was preparing to rattle off my standard advice to my circle of friends (and Yusef), who were waiting with bated breath for my pearls of wisdom as we enjoyed our monthly Sunday roast at the Forest Tavern, I realised something has fundamentally changed this year.

Specifically, looking around the table, I realised I’d already persuaded everyone (except Yusef, who was still on an Amazon Omni Fire TV Omni QLED) with the funds and general inclination to buy an OLED.

There was James with his 48-inch LG C2 (the same set I own) to my left, Ruth with a 55-inch Panasonic MZ1500 on my right, plus Michael, who pulled the trigger on a 65-inch LG G4 last year, across from me.

Each and every one of them had taken my advice and bought an OLED, either during a previous Black Friday or one of the multitude of sales that Amazon has run over the past few years.

And when James added, "Yes, but it’s been a few years now, is it not worth upgrading to the 48-inch LG C5?" My answer was a fairly blunt, “nope”.

"Why? Is it not very good?" He followed up.

The truth is, the C5 is still a very good OLED. Hence why the 55-inch LG C5 and 42-inch LG C5 both earned five-star ratings and What Hi-Fi? Awards this year.

But, as I noted earlier this week, I don't feel that the performance upgrades are big enough to merit buying a whole new TV.

We’re looking at incremental improvements for most step-down models – modest improvements to colour volume during low light scenes, higher peak brightness levels during incredibly bright ones. Nothing, “next generation".

And, as a result, while the improvements are obvious if you review products as we do – in dedicated, light-controlled viewing rooms with both models directly next to one another – in isolation, watching at home, many of you wouldn’t feel enough benefit to justify the upgrade.

The only true upgrade available is at the flagship level, where new next-generation QD-OLED and Primary RGB Tandem OLED panels do offer generational upgrades – so much so that our TV and AV editor describes Sony’s top-end Bravia 8 II as the finest OLED he’s ever tested, period.

But, here the cost is prohibitive, and more than any of my friends would be willing to pay – even Michael, who describes himself as a cinephile, remains “perfectly happy with the G4.”

Which is why, for the first time in years, I found myself not recommending any new OLED TVs to my friends.

Does that mean no one should consider an OLED? Of course not. The latest sets we’ve tested remain top performers thanks to their pixel-level light control and ability to create perfect blacks.

So if, like Yusef, you’re yet to make the jump to OLED and have the money to get one, then it makes sense to consider one of the many Black Friday deals on a five-star we tested.

I personally recommended the current deal at Richer Sounds that lets you get a 65-inch LG C5 for £1299 (save £1400), as it's a solid all-rounder with punchy but immersive picture quality and flawless gaming specs.

But for everyone else who’s upgraded within the past three to five years, it’s a tough sell, as, unless you’re willing to spend flagship money and are coming off an older step-down model, it’s simply not worth it, at least in my professional opinion.

Not convinced by my argument, or got more questions about which TVs and soundbars to look out for? Jump over to our Black Friday 2025 Live Q&A and you can chat to What Hi-Fi?’s experts directly.