Sky is working on a brand-new way to watch TV — here's everything we know about Sky Glass Air

So, what's different about this new model?

Sky Glass Air ditches the seven speakers (complete with a Dolby Atmos-certified soundbar) squeezed into the bulkier Sky Glass Gen 2 model in exchange for a thinner, lighter design …and a price cut too.

Sky calls this new hardware “the smarter TV for less”. We'll have to take their word for it though, since there's currently no word on exactly what the price tag for Sky Glass Air will be.

From the outside, Sky Glass Air looks very similar to the slimline 4K TVs you'll find lining the shelves of your local electronics store. It boasts a Quantum Dot display with a 4K UHD resolution and support for HDR standards. A built-in ambient light sensor will automatically brighten the image on-screen for a clearer, more vivid picture depending on your surroundings.

Just like the newly-launched Sky Glass Gen 2, this svelte new Smart TV will be powered by SkyOS. Previously called EntertainmentOS, this sleek software was created by Sky for its own hardware.

It’s designed to bring together live channels with the torrent of content from its own on-demand library and streamers like Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV+, and Prime Video.

SkyOS also runs on Sky Stream and boasts support for music streamers, at-home fitness services, AirPlay to wirelessly beam content from your iPhone to the big screen, and much more. It received over 300 updates last year alone.

One of the most recent updates to SkyOS introduces new viewing modes tailored to the content on-screen, including Movies, Music, Vivid, Extra Vivid, and Sports.

The latter was developed with input from the Sky teams responsible for the cameras inside sport stadiums nationwide — an advantage that Sky has over many of its rivals, which it refers to as “Glass to Glass”.

Despite its reduced price, Sky Glass Air keeps the same far-field microphone as the top-of-the-line Glass Gen 2, so you’ll be able to search for actors, directors and sports teams, switch channels, add shows to your playlist with a voice command.

That’s sure to prove useful if you’re the sort of person who regularly misplaces their remote control.

Glass Air keeps the same three screen sizes as its pricier, speaker-equipped sibling: Small (43”), Medium (55”), and Large (65”). It ships in three colours: Carbon Grey, Cotton White, and Sea Green.

Those are distinct from the three finishes released for Sky Glass Gen 2 (Volcanic Grey, Atlantic Blue, Arctic Silver) although Sea Green bears a passing resemblance to the Racing Green that launched with the original Sky Glass but didn’t materialise for its successor.

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There’s no word on exactly when you’ll be able to upgrade to Sky Glass Air. According to Sky, we should expect more details about the new flatscreen “later this year”.

With the introduction of Sky Glass Air, this is how the lineup from Sky stacks up:

• Sky Stream — the most affordable option, which can be connected to any television via HDMI. It’s powered by the same SkyOS software and shares (almost) all of the same features as Sky Glass TVs. Can be paired with an existing sound system. Only available in a single colour, but ships with the redesigned remote control introduced with Sky Glass
• Sky Glass Air — the most affordable flatscreen built by the engineers at Sky. On paper, this upcoming model looks set to compete with the slew of Smart TVs powered by software from Roku, Android TV, or Amazon’s Fire TV. It ships in three colourways (Carbon Grey, Cotton White, Sea Green) and three sizes (43”, 55”, 65”) with a colour-matched remote control
• Sky Q — the last remaining kit from Sky that relies on a satellite dish, Sky Q is starting to look a little long-in-the-tooth following its launch in early 2016. It’s also the last set-top box standing with a physical hard-drive that actually records — since Glass and Stream don’t store anything locally and instead stream on-demand versions of the show, film, or match after-the-fact. Sky still rolls-out updates to Sky Q with new features or support for new streamers …but these are few and far between compared to SkyOS. This box is also quite pricey compared to Sky Stream
• Sky Glass Gen 2 — the first major refresh to Sky’s unique all-in-one television design in four years debuted in February with a brighter QLED display, more speakers, and new colours. It ships in either Volcanic Grey, Atlantic Blue, or Arctic Silver with a 43”, 55”, or 65” display

Intrigued with Sky Glass Air? Stay tuned, GBN will bring you the latest information on this affordable, SkyOS-fuelled Smart TV as soon as we have it.