Best 43-inch, best 42-inch and best 40-inch TVs 2024: superb 'small' TVs (2024)

With each passing year, manufacturers try to convince us that we need to buy bigger and bigger TVs. This year has seen the launch of the first 115-inch TV, in fact. Big TVs are great, but let's not forget that just a few years ago 40 inches was considered very large for a TV – and for many people, it still is.

Not long ago, those people were rather poorly served by manufacturers, who were reserving all of their top tech for their larger sets, but the LG C2 ushered in a new dawn for 'small' TV quality when it became the first 42-inch OLED TV to go on sale. Now, you can get premium OLED and QLED TVs aplenty at this size.

But this is also a size where you can get quality cheap TVs – just check out the Hisense model below. And this is a great size for a gaming TV – you can now buy 42- and 43-inch TVs with HDMI 2.1 sockets that support specs such as 4K/120Hz and VRR.

Each model we recommend below has been through the full What Hi-Fi? review process, which involves comprehensive, comparative testing in our dedicated test rooms. Our reviews team has decades of combined experience in testing TVs and we have a stockroom full of reference products for benchmarking, so you can trust our verdicts. You can read more about our testing process below, or simply scroll down to find your new 42- or 43-inch TV.

The quick list

Written by

Written by

Tom Parsons

I’mWhat Hi-fi?’sTV and AV Editor, and I’ve been reviewing TVs (as well as soundbars, AVRs, speakers and a lot more besides) for over 17 years. In that time, 40-ish-inch TVs have gone from being considered huge to now being considered small. This is a great size for a small living room or second room, though, or as a desktop monitor for gaming. While quality was very poor around five years ago, you can now get flagship-level 42-inch OLEDs and 43-inch QLEDs, so you’re really spoiled for choice.

The best 40-43-inch TV overall

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See Also

Best 43-inch TVs in 2024: Tested and ratedThe 4 Best 48-49-50 Inch TVs - Summer 2024Best budget TVs of 2024: Tested and ratedThe Best 40- to 49-Inch TVs

While the new LG C4 is now available, we've not yet had the opportunity to test the 42-inch version and until we have, the 42-inch C3 is our recommendation as the best 'small' TV you can currently buy. It may well remain so even when we have reviewed the C4 simply because it's now so heavily discounted.

What we have here is a near-perfect intersection of price, features and performance. There's simply no better-specified TV available at this size, with all four of the set's HDMI sockets being 48Gbps 2.1 affairs with full support for 4K/120Hz, VRR, Dolby Vision gaming and ALLM. Gamers will also be pleased to discover that there's excellent HGiG implementation that results in more accurate HDR with many games.

The new version of webOS is slicker and quicker than before but just as app-packed as ever, and it's exceptionally easy to get the TV to produce its best picture performance.

Said picture performance features the sort of stunning contrast that only OLED can deliver, and the C3 is much punchier than rivals such as the Sony A90K (below). Colours are vibrant but natural, and there's plenty of subtlety to shading. The increased pixel density of having a 4K resolution crammed into a 42-inch display makes for superb sharpness and solidity, too.

Our only significant complaint about the 42-inch C3 is that it sounds very dull, but seeing that we almost always recommend budgeting for a dedicated sound system (such as a soundbar) with almost any TV you buy, we're not going to hold that against the little C3 unduly.

Read the full LG OLED42C3 review

TOP TIP

TOP TIP

Tom Parsons

One of the best things about the LG C3 is how good it looks right out of the box, but do avoid the AI Picture and AI Sound modes that you're presented with during first-time setup. They might look and sound good in the demos LG provides, but we find the TV works best with real content without them. You can always switch them back on at a later date if you'd like.

The best 40-43-inch TV for sound

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There are very few TVs out there that aren’t easily improved by the addition of a soundbar, but if you really can’t spare the space for a Sonos Ray or Sony HT-SF150, the Sony XR-42A90K does a better job of tying the audio to the on-screen action than any other TV of this size.

It’s all down to actuators that imperceptibly vibrate the screen in order to create sound. The result is very clear, detailed, direct audio, although it’s a bit thin and light on bass, so we’d still recommend adding a budget soundbar if you can.

The A90K uses the same panel as the LG C3 (above), so you get flagship picture performance that majors on authenticity and accuracy, particularly in regard to colours, which are rich and vibrant when required, but also subtle and nuanced. It's not quite as outright punchy and bright as the LG, but it’s brilliantly detailed and sharp, with Sony's processing including a feature that automatically enhances the depth of the image, resulting in excellent solidity and three-dimensionality. Motion-handling is still peerless, too.

Gamers will be pleased to learn that the A90K has HDMI 2.1 sockets, albeit just two of them (the LG C3 has four). These support 4K/120Hz, VRR and ALLM. There's no HGiG mode, which is a slight shame, and despite supporting Dolby Vision for movies, there's no Dolby Vision game mode. In short, the A90K is very good for gaming, but the LG C3 is even better. For movies, though, this is a great but expensive option.

If you're wondering whether there's a replacement for the A90K on the way, there isn't at this stage. While it came out in 2022, it will remain Sony's only small OLED until at least 2025.

Read the full Sony XR-42A90K review

The best cheap 40-43-inch TV

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Considering it costs just £229 in the UK, the Hisense 43A6KTUK really has no business being as good as it is.

Just because it’s cheap doesn’t mean the spec sheet is sparse either. The 4K panel supports HDR including Dolby Vision, AI is on hand to help out with picture processing, and it runs Hisense’s unfussy VIDAA smart TV interface, which means you get all the main streaming and catch-up services. Support for Apple Airplay and Google Home devices is handy, too.

Of course, all of that would be pointless if the picture quality was no good, but it delivers surprisingly good colour and contrast for a TV at this price, with balanced and realistic tones. It’s not particularly bright, motion can be a little soft, and viewing from too much of an angle can introduce some patches of greyness, but the all-round impression is one of a TV that punches above its weight.

Sound is also pretty good for such a cheap TV, with a wide soundstage and a decent amount of volume, and while the design is on the chunkier side, it’s mainly the back that carries the extra weight, so you won’t see that once it’s in place anyway.

All things considered, it’s hard to be too harsh on this incredibly affordable all-rounder.

Read the full Hisense 43A6KTUK review

Also Consider

LG OLED42C4: We've tested the 65-inch version of this TV and are eagerly awaiting for the 42-inch model to land in our testing room. We strongly anticipate this being the best TV for gamers to buy with its four full bandwidth HDMI 2.1 sockets and suite of gaming features. If the picture upgrades seen in the 65-inch model translate to this 42-inch version, then we could be in for a real treat here.

Samsung QN90D 43-inch: An alternative to OLED, Samsung's upcoming Neo QLED set features Mini LED backlighting, a stylish-looking pedestal stand and an impressive suite of gaming features. We gave last year's QN90C a glowing review, so we're looking forward to seeing if Samsung can deliver a follow up that's equally impressive.

Philips OLED808 42-inch: We haven't tested this size of the Philips OLED808, but the larger 55-inch model thoroughly impressed us when it landed in our test room. This is Philips' first OLED at this size, as the company has opted for larger sets traditionally. We're not saying that picture performance will be identical at this size, but we're confident that this pint sized OLED should impress, especially if you're a fan of Ambilight.

How to choose the best 40-43-inch TV for you

The first thing to consider when buying a TV is what panel technology you want. OLED and QLED are the two main panel technologies competing in the world of TVs currently, with both featuring on this list.

OLED, the premium panel technology that powers many of our favourite TVs, features perfect blacks and striking contrast. It's capable of producing these thanks to the self-emissive pixel technology in which each pixel can light and switch off individually. The tradeoff here is brightness, as standard OLED sets struggle to hit the brightness figures of the best LED-backlit models, and QD-OLED and MLA OLED TVs don't come in 42-inch sizes (yet).

QLED uses LED or Mini LED backlighting based on the set and uses Quantum Dots for enhanced colour vibrancy and enhanced brightness. Although, it does so at the expense of black depths in most cases.

Small TVs are also not the best-equipped sets when it comes to the built-in audio department. We'd recommend pairing your TV with a Dolby Atmos soundbar or AVR and home cinema speaker package to combat the weak speakers in these TVs. However, if you'd like to cut the clutter and don't mind the dropoff in sound quality, then you can check the dedicated sound section in all of our TV reviews.

Gamers are likely drawn to these TVs thanks to their desk-friendly form factors, as these TVs are ideal monitor alternatives if you're keen on picture quality and feature sets. That being said, you'll want to check that these TVs support the latest next-generation console features; we make this easy by mentioning gaming chops in the features section of our TV reviews. Look out for 4K/120Hz support over HDMI 2.1, VRR support and ALLM if you want to get the most out of your Xbox Series X and/or PS5.

How we test TVs

Testing a TV is a much more involved process than it sounds, as TVs are much more advanced than they were a decade ago. There are a lot of picture formats to consider, with 1080p, 4K and even 8K TVs on the market, and that's before we dig into HDR which comes in a variety of formats. We aim to test every aspect of the picture performance, but let's not forget what else modern TVs offer.

Smart platforms like LG's webOS, Samsung's Tizen and Google TV (which features on a range of TVs from various manufacturers), offer a plethora of internet streaming apps including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney Plus, Apple TV+, BBC iPlayer, Channel 4 and more. We check thoroughly to ensure the TVs we review feature full compatibility with these apps. The only way to do so is by manually testing each app to ensure its outputting picture and sound in the correct formats, which can take a while. Just because an app supports Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, it doesn't mean it will output it.

We also connect one of the latest gaming consoles (PS5 and/or Xbox Series X) to a TV to confirm whether it supports the latest gaming features, such as 4K/120Hz, VRR and ALLM, as well as gaming-specific HDR formats like Dolby Vision gaming. Finally, we use a Leo Bodnar device to measure input lag.

We'd be foolish to evaluate a TV's performance with the 'out-of-the-box' settings applied, and while we don't calibrate the TV using professional specialist tools, we use our knowledge and expertise from testing hundreds of prior TVs to amend the settings. But why don't we professionally calibrate TVs? Simple, we believe you shouldn't have to go through this process to get the most out of your TV.

We've touched upon picture and streaming smarts, but the other integral part of the TV reviewing experience is testing the sound system. While we virtually always recommend an external option (a soundbar or AVR and speaker package combo), we understand that many people will opt to use the built-in speakers with their TV; so we test them thoroughly too.

We have dedicated testing facilities in London and Reading in which our expert team of reviewers test all of the latest TV, home cinema and hi-fi gear. These rooms are built to eliminate external factors that could influence performance variations, ensuring we have consistency across the board. We also ensure that each review verdict is agreed upon as a team, as to eliminate any personal preferences or potential outliers in the testing process.

Each product on this best buy list, as well as all of our other best buy lists has been through our thorough review process, so you can rest assured knowing any product you decide to purchase on this list is officially What Hi-Fi? approved.

FAQ

Recent updates

7th August 2024
Added a 'top tip' for the LG C3 and expanded the FAQ section.

12th March 2024
Updated our how we test, added "should you buy a 40-inch TV?" and added upcoming models.

28th February 2024
Added new information to the 'How to Choose' section, more photos of each TV and this 'Recent Updates' section.

7th February 2024
Converted to a new format with the 'Quick List' section at the top of the page, replaced the discontinued Samsung UE43AU7100 with the Hisense 43A6KTUK.

3rd October 2023
Replaced the LG C2 with the LG C3 as price cuts had made the newer C3 more affordable and therefore the better buy.

28th March 2023
Removed the Xiaomi F2 due to a lack of availability.

Useful links

• Not restricted for size? Here are the overall best TVs
• Hardcore gamer? These are the very best gaming TVs
• Need a certain size? We've rounded-up the best 55-inch TVs
• Need something bigger? What about the best 65-inch TVs