The American arm of Sony prematurely listed a number of new high-end Android TV models ahead of their expected announcements in the second half of the year. As first spotted by a number of AVS Forum members, the Japanese tech giant’s online support website contained references to model numbers XBR-55A9F, XBR-65A9F, XBR-65Z9F, and XBR-75Z9F last Wednesday, May 23. The mentions of the four devices were removed in the meantime, though their monikers are indicative of new high-end offerings, with the XBR-65Z9F in particular being assumed to be the successor to the XBR-65Z9D, a 65-Inch 4K UHD model with support for Amazon’s artificial intelligence assistant Alexa.
One of the four models has also been mentioned by the Sony Encompass online parts service, with the proof of both premature listings being in the gallery below. The two A9F models mentioned by the first source are presumed to be OLED lineups, as suggested by the fact that Sony’s last family of OLED TVs debuted in the form of the A8F series. All devices are expected to debut with more processing raw power enabled by new chips, with the upcoming OLEDs themselves being predicted to improve upon the maximum brightness of their predecessors, widely considered to be their main shortcoming.
Sony unveiled a number of 4K HDR Android TV prototypes at this year’s iteration of Consumer Electronics Show in January, having arrived at the Las Vegas, Nevada-based trade show to debut a concept range powered by the X1 Processor Extreme. As the Tokyo-based original equipment manufacturer is expected to stick with Android TV and Google’s app ecosystem moving forward, support for Google Assistant appears to be a given in the context of the spec sheet attached to its upcoming TVs. Sony recently concluded the most profitable year in its 72-year history, having recorded $6.6 billion in operating income on $77 billion in revenue over the fiscal year 2017 which ended this March.
