Best 4K TVs You Need to Buy In 2023

LG's C3 is one of the best TVs you can buy this year, period. In fact, the C-series has been some of our favourite OLED tellys of recent years – with stunning colours, deep inky blacks and impressive contrast. Just like last year’s C2, this set uses a picture processing tech called “evo,” which is a fancy way of saying the brightness and quality are better than ever. Gamers are in for a treat thanks to the variable refresh rate (VRR) and the four HDMI 2.1 ports that support up to 4K at 120 frames per second (fps) – great for those lengthy PS5 and Xbox Series X sessions. User experience on the C3 is brilliant as ever with webOS, and the home screen is where you’ll find all of the usual streamers, and there’s a built-in mic so you control the set by speaking to Alexa. it doesn't matter whether you're having a movie night with your mates or watching sports with a cold one, the C3 is a top buy.

Let’s be honest: you splash out on a high-end TV for the picture and audio quality. Sony’s A80L is one of the best that you'll find in 2023, with a stunning OLED panel that gives you ultra-crisp images, lots of brightness, deep blacks and great contrast. The borders around the screen are tiny, and two of the four HDMI ports have 2.1 connectivity – meaning that you can play your PS5 or Xbox Series X in 4K resolution at up to 120 frames per second. We like that it’s powered by the user-friendly Google TV and comes with built-in voice assistance, plus Sony’s “XR” processor handles the backend tech wizardry: upscaling non-4K content, showing better-looking textures and auto-adjusting brightness and sound to your surroundings. It's not just smart on the inside: the legs of the telly can be changed to fit on both wide and narrow cabinets, or even increased in height you can pop a soundbar under the set.

Samsung Neo QLEDs offer some of the best visuals outside of ultra-expensive 8K devices and the QN90C is a stunner, with some of the best brightness around. These models use mini LEDs (which Samsung says are the smallest on the market) to light the display, giving you deep blacks and a clear, vivid image that works brilliantly for movies, streaming, sports and gaming – with all of that extra brightness being especially helpful for taking full advantage of HDR content in rooms that get more sunlight – although there’s no Dolby Vision support. Samsung's reliable UI lets you download all of your favourite apps, and the gamers among us will enjoy speedy refresh rates and plenty of HDMI ports to hook up any consoles, plus soundbars, and streaming devices in one go. This is a super-slim TV, too, with an extremely stylish design that’s sure to slot seamlessly into your living room – and we particularly appreciate that it’s available in so many different screen sizes.

If you care about your audio and want your explosions to sound as crisp as your dialogue, you’ll want to check out this Panasonic set, which has an improved setup that blasts out sound from the TV's integrated speakers. This allows for a big, wide soundstage, which means you’ll hear every boom of the jets while watching Top Gun: Maverick at home. Combo this with the built-in subwoofer that rumbles with deep bass for guttural explosions during action scenes and you’ve got yourself a great-sounding telly. Oh, and it also has a gaming mode and two HDMI 2.1 ports which helped us blast through a few games on Call of Duty Warzone. You’re slightly limited when it comes to screen size options compared to rivals such as the LG C3, but we think 55-inches is a sweet spot for living rooms and bedrooms, so that shouldn’t be a dealbreaker.

Samsung’s The Serif is the most unique TV design we’ve ever tested. The glare-free matte panel is a 4K QLED that offers great colours and solid contrast when watching films and gaming – plus excellent audio – but take one glance at the set and it’s instantly clear you aren’t buying this solely for its picture quality credentials. The thick casing is shaped like the serifs you’ll find in typography (think those fonts on your laptop), and it’s a large, bold design that will look stunning in a modern apartment setting.

The four legs screw into the bottom of the frame but you can also set it on a stand or cabinet if that better suits your decor. It has a pleasant Ambient mode that plays artsy designs when you’re not watching anything – helping it to become a focal point in your room. Of course, you get all the TV smarts you expect – such as streaming apps, smartphone control, voice assistance, Samsung TV Plus and HDR. We enjoyed the interface as it’s simple to navigate and fairly smooth when scrolling through apps. We reckon it’s important to note that there’s no VESA mount for wall mounting (cables are hidden behind the plastic back panel) and the slight instability of the four single legs may not be ideal for anyone with unruly pets or small children. Still, it’s a beauty.

You don’t have to pay £1000-plus for a 4K TV. If you’re willing to sacrifice some specs – in this case, HDMI 2.1, a variable refresh rate (VRR) and brightness – it’s easy to find a model for half that. To us, Samsung’s AU8000 is one of the best examples of affordable 4K. Times are tough, there’s no doubt about it. So whether you’re looking to save cash for your next holiday or need a second telly to put up in the bedroom, this model gives you a stylish design with small borders, plus access to all of the major streaming apps, including Netflix, YouTube, Amazon Prime and Disney+. It may not be the best option for gamers as it won’t work optimally with next-gen consoles, but you get lots of different screen size options and a slender frame that’s perfect for wall mounting.

If you want a TV that makes your interior design dreams come true, we recommend Samsung’s The Frame, which wouldn’t look amiss in the grandest of living rooms. This is an unobtrusive wall-mounted telly that sinks into the background as a picture frame and displays ultra-HD gallery images when in standby mode – showcasing the work of Hokusai until you want to flick on Sky Sports. There are customisable bezels so you can make your TV look like a literal picture frame, and under the hood Samsung’s software is smooth and easy to use. Navigate through your streaming services or connect your Samsung phone through Bluetooth and use that as a controller instead of a remote. There’s also a great selection of sizes, all the way from a snug 43 inches – perfect for a smaller room – to a vast 85 inches that won’t look out of place in a mansion.

Are you a long-term Sky user? Consider investing in Sky’s latest telly, which does away with satellite dishes and lets you stream content over wifi. Available for either a one-off fee (between £649 and £1,049 depending on the size) or spread across several months (up to £23 a month), Sky Glass comes in three sizes and five colours, delivering 4K viewing with HDR similar to those found on LG’s premium OLED models. It will be a part of your regular subscription so if you’re paying for ad-skipping, recordings and the full suite of streaming services, you’ll be able to access it all in the same way the Sky Q box works. The remote is voice-controlled so you can demand your favourite shows by talking to the controller. You’ll also find three HDMI ports for connecting extra gear.