Where have all the Panasonic OLEDs gone? If you’re asking that question, you’re not alone.
We have had a wave of emails flood in from you, our eagle-eyed cinephile readers, pointing out that it’s pretty much impossible to buy most models, unless you’re willing to go second-hand.
And, blow us down, you are right. Richer Sounds, Peter Tyson, John Lewis, Sevenoaks Sound and Vision, Amazon and more all seem to have run out of stock of most of them. This is certainly strange, as Panasonic TVs usually remain on sale for at least a year, sometimes two, after launch.
In fact, going through all the usual suspects, we found it next to impossible to find many sizes of the firm’s current-generation Panasonic Z95B and Z90B OLEDs in stock. The 48-inch Panasonic Z90B, which not only impressed our reviewers enough to earn a five-star rating when we reviewed it less than a year ago, but also went on to win a What Hi-Fi? Award, is particularly hard to find.
We reached out to our contacts at the big AV retailers as well as Panasonic itself to find out what’s going on with its current-generation OLEDs. Sadly, the news isn’t great.
Commenting off the record, every store spokesperson we spoke to had pretty much the same response when we asked when and if the TVs will go back on sale: “We don’t know.”
When we went to get information straight from the horse’s mouth, Panasonic was similarly wary to give any concrete information, simply telling us that it has nothing to share about the OLED drought.
We haven’t, then, had any official word on the cause. It could be they are just really popular and sold out fast. Or, possibly more likely, it could be to do with the supply chain, and imminent deal with Skyworth. This will see the Chinese brand take over production, research and development, and sales of Panasonic TVs in numerous territories, including the UK and Europe.
We have chased for further information and will update this page when we hear back, but whatever the answer, the loss of two great TVs so soon is undeniably a bummer, especially the smaller Z90B.
While the 42-inch LG C5 is still a good alternative, there’s a reason we recommended the Z90B over it: the Panasonic set offers better picture quality. Losing it so soon after launch is more than a little disappointing, especially with the football World Cup, which will have many of us glued to our sets, coming up.
Fingers crossed we get good news about Panasonic stocks soon. If not, you can check out our picks of the best OLED TVs we have fully reviewed, recommend and can confirm are still on sale, using the attached guide.
We also expect to get a number of this year’s new sets, including the smaller LG C6, Samsung S90H and Samsung S95H, in for testing soon. So the gap left by the Z90B may well get plugged in the not-too-distant future.
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