TCL’s new flagship mini-LED TV promises to break the brightness barrier with an incredible 6,500 nits
TCL's next generation mini-LED is so bright that if you watch it at night your neighbors will think it's time to get up
What's 98 inches diagonally, boasts up to 14,112 mini-LED dimming zones and achieves a brightness level so high that you'll wonder if you should wear sunscreen? TCL's next generation flagship mini-LED TV, the TCL X11H.
The new TV is being launched in China first but is likely to make its way to the US and to Europe too. Despite the similar name it's not the same TV as the newly announced X11H Max, which is the firm's $110,000 136-inch micro-LED TV.
The specs, as reported by FlatpanelsHD, are seriously impressive. With 14,112 dimming zones in the 98-inch version and a still whopping 10,368 in the 85-inch model, the X11H can achieve up to 6,500 nits of peak brightness, TCL says.
It also says that its new mini-LED backlight achieves that brightness while being 40% more energy efficient than a regular mini-LED backlight like those in the best mini-LED TVs, so that brightness boost should not technically mean a big hike in your energy bills.
TCL X11H mini-LED TV: key features
The TCL X11H has more to offer than just retina-blasting brightness. The 4K VA LCD panel has a 144Hz refresh rate, and TCL says that the mini-LED zones communicate with that panel with zero latency. The new backlight doesn't mean it's a hefty TV either: TCL says it's as thin as a tablet, and as you can see from the side view in the image above it is indeed a very slim set.
As yet there's no indication of when this TV is likely to come to markets outside China, but when it does it's likely to be the replacement for the current 2023/24 QM851G in the US (the X955 in Europe). That's capable of 5,000 nits of peak brightness and has 4,000 dimming zones.
Given that the QM851G / X955 was only just unveiled at IFA in late 2023 (we also got to see it at TCL's Experts meet Experts conference in Poland last year), don't expect its even brighter sibling to arrive soon. The current model is part of TCL's line-up for 2024 so while the future may be bright, it's still some time away.
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Writer, broadcaster, musician and kitchen gadget obsessive Carrie Marshall has been writing about tech since 1998, contributing sage advice and odd opinions to all kinds of magazines and websites as well as writing more than a dozen books. Her memoir, Carrie Kills A Man, is on sale now and her next book, about pop music, is out in 2025. She is the singer in Glaswegian rock band Unquiet Mind.