Philips OLED+986 flagship OLED TV tops the 2021 TV range

Gaming-ready Philips OLED+936 TVs go live ahead of launch
(Image credit: Philips)

Philips has taken the wraps off its flagship OLED TV for 2021. The 65-inch Philips OLED+986 promises four-sided Ambilight, "20% more peak brightness" and an improved 3.0-channel Bowers & Wilkins soundbar built in.

The OLED+986 supports all the major HDR formats, including Dolby Vision, HDR10+, HDR10 and HLG. HDR10+ Adaptive – a first for a Philips TV – further optimises the picture based on the lighting conditions in your room. There's also a new Home Cinema picture preset to offer a shortcut for the best settings for watching films.

The Dolby Atmos-capable TV features B&W's proprietary Tweeter-on-Top driver (poking out of the soundbar), which, according to B&W, ensures more of the signal reaches the listener directly. The hope is for crisper dialogue.

Philips says the new twin-chip P5 Intelligent Dual Picture Engine system offers "better sharpness, more accurate colours and skin tones and better contrast" for all sources, but we'll let you know how well it works after we've conducted a hands-on.

Gamers will be pleased to note the presence of HDMI 2.1 sockets with support for 120fps gaming at 4K resolution on the Xbox Series X and PS5, with eARC, VRR, ALLM and AMD FreeSync too.

The 65-inch OLED+986 joins the OLED+936, which is available in 48-, 55- and 65-inches. Both models feature LG's top Evo OLED panel but differ in terms of form factor and their built-in soundbars. 

Both feature Android 10, Chromecast, Filmmaker Mode and AV1 video decoding. There's also the option to connect an external active subwoofer, should you have the urge to beef up the bass.

The OLED+986 will be available from October, a month after the OLED+936. Philips is yet to reveal prices for the 986, but expect it to be north of £3000 / AU$5500. You can compare that to the rest of the 2021 Philips TV line-up here.

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Tom is a journalist, copywriter and content designer based in the UK. He has written articles for T3, ShortList, The Sun, The Mail on Sunday, The Daily Telegraph, Elle Deco, The Sunday Times, Men's Health, Mr Porter, Oracle and many more (including What Hi-Fi?). His specialities include mobile technology, electric vehicles and video streaming.