Related Articles
The focus of much of Kogan’s business model is about offering affordable alternatives to brand-name high-ticket items.
(Credit: Kogan)
It’s a model that’s served the company fairly well — critics may argue that build quality is being sacrificed, but we’ve maintained that for many Kogan products, it’s a case of “horses for courses”: a AU$500 55-inch TV might not be your primary screen, but it’s probably a solid option for the rumpus room, gaming den or converted garage.
Kogan’s brought this philosophy to world of Ultra HD, using CES 2014 to show off a 55-inch 4K TV that’s priced at just AU$999.
To put that price in perspective, back in July 2013, we reported on TCL selling its 55-inch 4K TV for AU$4999, which at the time was the cheapest RRP for an Ultra HD TV. (Hisense had it beat with its 65-inch Ultra HD at AU$4998, but that was JB Hi-Fi’s special price — the RRP was actually AU$6499.)
The Kogan UHD TV has a 3840×2160 resolution, is Smart TV-enabled with Android 4.2 as the OS (including Google Play access), has both Ethernet and Wi-Fi support, and even sports an in-built HD upscaler.
We can’t comment on the quality, as we’ve not had a chance to play with the TV in the labs yet, but it’s prices like this that will get 4K into the hands of more people, and in turn, it’s that saturation that will put pressure on studios and broadcasters to start offering some genuine 4K content.
