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TCL stunned CES 2025 by launching a TV you can preorder immediately
TCL QM6K TV at CES 2025
On Monday at CES 2025 in Las Vegas, TCL unveiled its latest QM6K series of TVs. The most important thing to know here is that TCL is bringing its high-end Mini LED technology to its entry-level product line at very aggressive prices. And for the first time we can ever remember at CES, the QM6K TV is immediately available to preorder. TCL is also on ZDNET's list of the most impressive products at CES so far.
Also: CES 2025: The 17 most impressive products you don't want to miss
Free soundbar with purchase
It will cost $999 for the 65-inch, $1299 for the 75-inch, and $1,999 for the 85-inch model. (Even its 98-inch screen is expected to sell for less than $3,500, although it's not available to preorder yet.) If you preorder one of the three main QM6K TVs, TCL will also give you a free 5.1.2-channel Q75H soundbar -- which retails for $899.
Also: The Best of CES 2025 awards are in, as selected by ZDNET and the rest of CNET Group
TCL proudly proclaims itself as the first company to release a Mini LED TV back in 2016 -- a product of the R&D springing out of its full-process Pangu Lab in China. This year, the Pangu Lab appears to be one-upping its own innovations.
For starters, its engineers have introduced a Super High Energy LED Chip, purported to boost brightness output by 53% while enhancing light efficiency by 10%. To optimize this effect, the Pangu team also developed the Condensed Micro Lens, an upgraded version of the 2024 UWA Dual Arch Lens. Together, the new chip and lens provide improved stability and a narrower light path for more precise dimming and brightness control. In fact, TCL refers to this 2025 deliverable as its "Precise Dimming Series."
The lab also redesigned TCL's backlighting system to reduce the optical distance (or "OD") between the backlight and the diffuser plate of the QM6K and its future models. With this "Micro OD" approach, images will suffer less halo effect, even between the contrast of piercing whites and oily blacks. Their testing data claims an 86% and 67% improvement in backlight uniformity and blooming control, respectively. We'll have to check those numbers ourselves when the TV arrives for testing.
Elevated performance
The QM6K also features a bi-directional 23-bit backlight controller aided by a high-contrast CSOT HVA panel with a stronger dark state to more efficiently block out light and provide over 65,000 levels of brightness as the LCD switches on/off. The result? A potential 7,000:1 static contrast ratio. That figure is nothing to sniff at, and TCL claims it's five times higher than competitor models in the same price range.
Also: I saw Samsung's 8K TV at CES 2025 - and these 3 new features stole the show
In addition to a new color optimization algorithm fitted into its OS, the QM6K incorporates enough quantum crystals to render over one billion colors, with up to 98% of the DCI-P3 color gamut. Further, a new Dynamic Light Algorithm optimizes the incoming video signal so that SDR signals render at a near-HDR level.
While all these elevated performance specs are exciting, what really caught my eye were the upgrades to the TCL AiPQ processor. What TCL has coined its "Zero-Delay Transient Response" ensures virtually no lag between the input signal and backlight reaction, creating a higher peak brightness without any afterimage or blur.
The QM6K also features a glare-free coating that greatly reduces light reflections on the screen.
Tech specs
Below are the specs we collected for the QM6K series:
- High Contrast HVA Panel
- Enhanced QLE
- Up to LD500 Precise Dimming
- 144Hz Native Refresh Rate
- Game Accelerator 288, for up to blistering fast 288 VRR
- TCL AiPQ Pro Processor
- Dolby Vision IQ (Plus HDR10+, HDR10, & HLG, and the new DLA)
- Dolby Atmos
- DTS Virtual:X
- IMAX Enhanced & AMD FreeSync Certs
- New Dolby Vision Filmmaker Mode
- New Sleep Sounds Mode
- New Hands-Free Voice Control
- New Onkyo 2.1 Speaker System
- Google TV
- Slimmer FullView 360 Bezel-less Design