Philips’ press conference at IFA 2013 illustrated just how confident the newly reinvigorated company is.
There was plenty of talk about Philips’ amazingly rich design and innovation heritage, but the brand is facing squarely forward – and the range of products it announced illustrates just how positive the company is.
The headline grabber is undoubtedly the Philips 65PFL9708 TV (above). A 4K design, available in 65 or 84 inch sizes, it’s ambilight-equipped (on three sides) and features Philips’ Ultra Resolution and Ultra Pixel HD Engine to deliver non-4K content with (it’s claimed) the same sharpness as native 4K content. The 65in version will sell for just shy of €5000. Exactly how much that translates to in sterling remains to be seen.
Equally intriguing (although not quite the technological tour de force of the 9000-series) is the 60in ‘Elevation’ TV (below).
Thanks to ambilight on all four sides (despite a depth of just 14mm), the Elevation really does appear to produce ‘a floating image in a halo of light’ (as CEO of TPVision Maarten de Vries described it).
Elsewhere, Philips intends to build on its current rich vein of headphones form with the Fidelio L2 (€280) and Fidelio M1 aptX Bluetooth (€250) headsets.
There’s also the defiantly oddball looks of the SoundSphere loudspeakers (intended to complement the DesignLine TV range), and also Fidelio SoundTower.
This is a tall-ish pair of two-way stereo speakers, one of which incorporates amplification, aptX Bluetooth streaming, CD drive, FM radio, USB socket and Lightning iPod/iPad dock. Yours for €800.
There are also two models in the new SoundStage range, which follows the current trend for soundbars big and strong enough to directly stand a TV on. If you only want the 2.1 channel stereo version, expect to pay €250. To incorporate a 3D Blu-ray drive and Smart TV features, that rises to €350.
It almost goes without saying that reviews of all these exciting new products will appear here and in What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision just as soon as possible.
MORE: Philips 65PFL9708 review
by Simon Lucas
