TCL’s 2026 TV Range Swims Against The RGB MiniLED Tide

It was clear in the run up to the recent (Jan 6-9) CES in Las Vegas that when it came to TVs, RGB MiniLED technology was going to be the biggest game in town. The early buzz from multiple brands was that they would be embracing the new RGB MiniLED TV approach (also called Micro RGB by some brands) for their 2026 ranges.

While TCL confirmed at the CES that it was going to be joining the RGB MiniLED rush, though, it surprised pretty much everyone by revealing that it wasn’t going to be focusing on that technology for its most premium 2026 TV offerings. That honor would instead go to a new ‘Super’ (to use TCL’s own terminology) grade of Quantum Dot screens TCL has developed.

The flagship examples of this new SQD MiniLED technology, and the most premium screens in TCL’s 2026 range, are going to be the X11L series. Set to be available in 75, 85 and 98-inch screen sizes, a key improvement introduced by these new QLED panels is their apparent ability (thanks to an enhanced Quantum Dot design and a new super condensed color filter, among other things) to cover up to 100% of the industry’s widest BT.2020 color spectrum. Something that’s previously typically been talked up as a specific benefit of RGB MiniLED technology.

TCL also explained in its reasons for choosing to stick with Quantum Dots for its top TV range that SQD MiniLED screens can hold more local dimming zones, which the X11Ls set about proving in pretty spectacular style by claiming up to 20,736 separate zones. That’s a vast number by the standards of any backlit consumer LED TV – and by comparison, TCL’s most premium RGB MiniLED TVs, the RM9Ls, “only” manage up to 16,848 zones.

TCL also claims that the brighter single-color backlight used in its Super QLED TVs enables higher brightness levels than RGB MiniLED’s system of separate red, green and blue LEDs can achieve, with the X11Ls claiming an eye-popping 10,000 nits of peak brightness versus 9000 nit peaks on the RM9Ls.

It’s not just in these major picture areas that the X11Ls offer a premium experience over the RM9Ls, either. The Super QLED sets also carry what’s essentially a front-firing soundbar attached to their bottom edges, the speakers of which – along with a pair of rear-mounted woofers – have been designed with famously high-end AV brand Bang & Olufsen. The RM9Ls do also benefit from a B&O-designed speaker system, but this one doesn’t have any direct forward facing elements like the X11Ls do.

TCL revealed at the CES, too, that its unexpected focus on new SQD MiniLED technology (backed up by a second generation of its impressive WHVA LCD panel designs) isn’t just being expressed with the X11L flagship sets. Its premium “mainstream” models, the C8L or QM8L (depending on whether you’re in the UK or US) series are also going to be fitted with the new Super QLED technology.

While TCL had multiple screen sizes (75, 85 and 98-inch) of the C8L/QM8Ls on show at CES, though, it wasn’t very forthcoming about these more affordable SQD MiniLED TVs’ full specifications. All we can say with confidence (from past experience of TCL ranges and impressions from the CES showfloor) is that they look set to only be around half as bright as the X11Ls, and will feature a fairly significant downgrade in the number of local dimming zones used to illuminate their pictures.

I’d also say, though, from both past and first-hand CES experience, that the brightness and dimming zone count of the C8L/QM8Ls will both be up on the numbers of last year’s equivalent models, and will stack up very well against similar rival model stats. Especially rival models at the very reasonable sort of price point the C8L/QM8Ls will likely aggressively target.

While it was TCL’s SQD MiniLED TVs that most grabbed my attention at CES 2026 because they went so against the RGB MiniLED trend most other LCD TV brands were touting, TCL’s debut RGB MiniLED TVs do also look full of promise.

While I think we can expect one or two more affordable RGB Mini-LED series from TCL to be announced later in the year, the only models TCL the premium RM9L series (a name the series currently looks set to share in both the US and UK) were the only RGB MiniLED TCL was prepared to share at CES 2026. These didn’t look quite as bright as the X11L SQD MiniLED sets, and perhaps exhibited a touch more backlight bloom, at least when viewing off axis. The range of color they seemed able to display, though, was truly spectacular – and the claimed brightness and local dimming zone deficit between these TVs and the flagship X11Ls really isn’t that much on paper, with 16,848 local dimming zones joining the 9,000 nits of claimed peak brightness.

All of the three TV series TCL unveiled at the CES offered strong secondary feature counts that include support for both of the HDR10+ and Dolby Vision premium HDR formats; built-in Dolby Atmos decoding; and the ability to play games in 4K at frame rates right up to 144Hz, or HD at frame rates up to 288Hz.

TCL hasn’t announced prices for any of the trio of 2026 TV series it’s unveiled so far, so keep an eye on my Forbes channel for further updates on both those and TCL’s wider TV offering for the year.

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