Sony Unveils 2025 Bravia TV Lineup with Advanced AI Features and New Flagship QD-OLED

Sony unveils its 2025 Bravia TV lineup, and a new flagship OLED has me excited

The Bravia TV lineup, which consistently tops our list of best Sony TVs, is getting a little bigger. Sony just announced its 2025 Bravia models, and while some sets carry over from last year, three new additions -- including an OLED and a Mini-LED -- are joining the fold. Also: This Hisense 85-inch TV is still over $1,100 off on Amazon - and I highly recommend it Leading the way is the Bravia 8 II, a flagship QD-OLED that's the successor to the popular A95L from 2023 (the "crown jewel" of that year's lineup, in the words of my former colleague Rebecca Isaacs). Sony's XR Processor powers the Bravia 8 II and features an AI scene-recognition system that detects the type of content you're watching and adjusts the screen accordingly. ZDNET's Kerry Wan attended a private viewing session of the new TV, along with the other models in this story, and cited several improvements in clarity and detail thanks to the AI upscaling. "From the texture of a white dress to the improved noise suppression that makes older films appear more vivid and dynamic, there was a clear separation between what Sony is doing with its scene recognition tech and competing brands," said Wan. Comparing various scenes, including rock walls and digital signage at night, further demonstrated the Bravia 8 II's versatility. In most cases, the Sony displayed a more true-to-life color with defined subjects and images that didn't appear washed out. (Since the tests were hosted by Sony and done next to last year's models from Samsung and LG, we'll have to run a deeper analysis at our testing lab later on.) Acoustic Surface Audio+, a favorite feature of ours on previous Sony TVs, turns the whole display into a speaker that emits sound from various places depending on what's happening onscreen. Sony hasn't confirmed available set sizes, but the A95L has 55", 65", and 75" options. Also: I tested TCL's affordable Mini LED TV, and it made me forget about the OLED flagships While OLED TVs are all the rage, many manufacturers are leaning into Mini LEDs -- including Sony. Also new for 2025 is the Bravia 5, which Sony says will carry over the features of last year's model into a more affordable package. The Bravia 5 will be available in five sizes, ranging from 55" to 98", and boasts local dimming for better contrast and XR Backlight Master Drive, a backlight technology that Sony says makes for a brighter and more colorful picture. From our first-hand viewing, the Bravia 5 excels at fine-detail rendering and color separation; one scene, in particular, highlighted the TV's ability to isolate the twigs and branches in a garden and make each piece discernible. Also: How to disable ACR on your TV (and why doing makes such a big difference for privacy) The Bravia 2 II rounds out the new entries this year. Sony didn't offer many details on this LCD panel but calls the set "a great starting point for anyone looking to get an exceptional viewing experience." This TV, available in 43" to 75" sizes, will offer 4K upscaling and Dolby Atmos and DTS:X compatibility for immersive audio. All of Sony's new Bravia TVs will have Studio Calibrated modes for Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Sony Pictures films that adjust your screen to reproduce image quality intended by filmmakers. In fact, if you watch content in Cinema mode, the TV will automatically switch to Professional mode when the ambient lighting gets dimmer. The company said it will announce pricing and availability of these models later this spring, so stay tuned for that, as well as our full reviews when as units begin to arrive at our TV lab for testing.

Sony's 2025 Bravia TV lineup includes a new flagship QD-OLED model

There's also the midrange mini LED Bravia 5 and the entry-level Bravia 2 II. Samsung and LG got a headstart on Sony when they announced their new 2025 TVs a few months ago at CES. But now, the latter is catching up with the pending arrival of three new Bravia sets, including a refreshed flagship QD-OLED, a midrange mini LED option and an updated budget alternative. Before we get into the specific models, it's important to note that after revamping the naming scheme for all of its home theater gear last year, Sony isn't doing a full top-to-bottom overhaul of its entire lineup for 2025. Instead, it's introducing a handful of new TVs that will replace old models or slot into some existing gaps in its current portfolio. That means the Bravia 9 will continue to be the company's top-tier TV, with everything else falling in line under that. This brings us to the Bravia 8 II, which as you may have guessed, is the replacement to the Bravia 8 and will be Sony's most premium QD-OLED TV. Like the Bravia 9, it features the company's XR processor which supports AI scene recognition tech to help preserve details in tricky scenes. The way it works is that by analyzing your content, the TV can compare what's being displayed with a reference library of known backgrounds and patterns to help fill in any gaps the source material may not have fully captured. I had a chance to see this AI trick in person and while the effect is subtle, it definitely makes a difference during shots with lots of foliage, rocks or other challenging textures. I also noticed that the Bravia 8 II demonstrated improved tone mapping and much more accurate color gradients, which resulted in more detailed and realistic images, especially in very bright or dark shots. And of course, you get those lovely deep blacks and the excellent contrast that modern QD-OLED panels are known for. Moving down the line, there's the Bravia 5, which neatly fills the void between Sony's existing 7 and 3 series TVs. It features a mini LED panel powered by the company's Backlight Master Drive tech, which delivers reduced digital noise and improved contrast. The most noticeable example I saw of this was the almost complete lack of halos or light bleed when viewing bright objects on a dark background. Another important spec is that the Bravia 5 is available in sizes of up to 98 inches, which makes it one of Sony's largest TVs (including the 83-inch flagship Bravia 9). Finally we come to the Bravia 2 II, where the biggest change is the shift to full direct lit LED instead of an edge lit panel like the previous model. This delivers much more vibrant colors in addition to significantly wider viewing angles on sizes ranging from 43 to 75 inches. Like Sony's other TVs, its OS is powered by Google TV and it includes an upscaler to bring old content up to 4K. The one major limitation on the Bravia 2 II is that it features a refresh rate of just 60Hz. Unfortunately, official pricing and availability for all of Sony's new TV's won't be available until sometime later this spring. So if you're currently shopping for a new set, you may want to hold off for another couple of months.