TCL democratized the MiniLED and has now improved it to make it premium

A few years ago, if you wanted to see first-hand the features that were included in the new televisions you had than go to Japan or South Korea. CurrentlyShenzhen has become the R&D laboratory from which the technologies that will reach living rooms around the world emerge.

In this context, we have gone to China to see first-hand what has turned TCL in one of the rivals more serious for traditional brands. Its 2026 flagship, TCL at a much lower cost than other manufacturers. This is our first contact with the top television in the TCL catalog.

Its design does not go unnoticed

It cannot be denied that the TCL X11L does not go unnoticed in a room. Its imposing size and the depth of the colors it displays captured all eyes in a room full of TCL screens and devices. No wonder, it was a pantalette with a diagonal of 98″ Not suitable for all salons in Spain.

Three things catch your eye when you get closer. The first is that, to be a television with MiniLED technology with backlighting, they have managed to reduce the thickness of the television to only 20 mm. In addition, its rear is completely flat, giving it a monolithic appearance. The exposed unit rested on inverted V-shaped legs to facilitate its mobility and display without the need to install it on a piece of furniture, but the version that reaches homes will have smaller legs.

On the other hand, the absence of frames on the screen is striking. That is, the pixels reach almost from edge to edge of the panel, without leaving the narrow 6 mm black frame usual on these screens. Ultimately, the X11L is TCL’s high-end and he doesn’t bother to hide it.

The unit we had access to was the 98″ one, with an impressive presence. It is also available in 75- and 85-inch versions.

The undisputed star: the SQD MiniLED panel

The biggest argument of this television is, without a doubt, that of the new SQD MiniLED screen that debuts with several technologies that make it the first of a new generation of MiniLED technologytogether with the development of a new formulation for nanocrystals Quantum Dots.

On the one hand, the array of MiniLEDs that backlight this panel have reduced their size compared to the previous generation and a new encapsulation designed in silicone instead of polycarbonate has also been developed that acts as a “mini lens” that prevents the dispersion of light and concentrates it on the LCD panel.

Thanks to this new design, TCL has managed to raise the brightness above 10,000 nits of peak brightness. That is to say, although the screen is one of the brightest that I have had in front of me, it does not reach that brightness on the entire screen all the time, but those levels are only reached at specific moments and only in flashes or specular brightness.

The construction of the panel itself has been improved to reduce the optical distance between the MiniLEDs and the panel, so that not only is the concentration of the light improved, but it is closer to make the most of it. This reduction is also one of the reasons why TCL has been able to manufacture a television MiniLED with a thickness of only 20 mm. It doesn’t reach the levels of thinness of OLEDs, but it’s not bad at all for a backlit TV.

Parallel to this improvement in brightness, the new panel receives its name from the SQDs (Super Quantum Dots), a reformulation of the nanocrystals with which better results are achieved in terms of power new chemical formulation of the Quantum Dot nanocrystals which improves color representation and enhances its intensity.

This new formulation patented exclusively by TCL allows the color volume, that is, the number of different shades of the same color that the panel can represent, to also grow, reaching 100% of the BT.2020 color space used in cinematographic environments.

The sum of one large format screencrazy brightness and a greater volume of color results in one of the best visual experiences offered by the current market.

The greater richness of color makes the images acquire greater depth and realism, with vivid colors and maintaining control of the highlights to avoid what is called “clipping” or excess lighting in the brightest areas, preventing them from becoming a white spot on the screen and continuing to show details and vivid colors.

The miniaturization of LED diodes and their encapsulation has made it possible to increase the density of light points, thereby increasing the attenuation areas. Depending on the diagonal of the screen, the number of zones varies between 20,736 local dimming zones of the 98-inch model, to the 14,400 of the 85-inch televisions or the 11,520 zones of the 75-inch model.

Something that also surprised me, and even more so on such a large screen, were the viewing angles. Typically, screens based on VA technology tend to wash out colors and lose contrast as the viewing angle is tilted. However, the X11L has managed to maintain the type and no changes in intensity are seen until practically 90° is reached. Still, the loss is not significant either.

A control designed for the user

In reality, the remote control is one of the accidental reasons why you may be reading these first impressions today. I asked the person in charge of the demonstration to see the remote control and he kindly gave me control of the television. One thing led to another and, almost accidentally, I was able to test the image quality with different image modes, settings and lighting.

I’m not going to fool you, the operating system Google TV It was in Chinese, so I didn’t dare to delve too deeply into its menus, but enough to get an idea of ​​its quality beyond the limited demo mode adjusted by TCL to leave its television in a good place.

The sensations with this controller are very good, it is a simple controller, without too many buttons and backlit in white, but without the extreme minimalism of Samsung controls. Built in what looked like metal (if it was plastic it was very successful) and with the peculiarity of adding two buttons on the side that allow you to change the brightness of the screen and the image mode, without having to navigate through different menus to change it.

For example, when switching from watching a movie or series with the mode Filmmaker To watch a football game with Standard mode, just press that button and select it, you don’t have to navigate through two or three menus of image options.

This button was what prompted me to change the “perfect” image mode for the demos, so I could form a more realistic idea of ​​how colors are represented in other image modes. I’ll tell you: he does it very well. With the Filmmaker They are not purists and TCL has adjusted it very well, maintaining balance in the calibration, and avoiding that feeling so common in this mode that it is too dark. All this taking into account that the place where we were was a very illuminated space.

The extraordinary brightness of the

Regarding sound, an unusual situation occurs. We have been able to see the speakers, but We couldn’t hear them. The television has a sound system Dolby Atmos compatible and tuned by Bang & Olufsen distributed in a 4.2.2 channel configuration.

Curiously, in one of the technical demonstrations of the All of them made up of two tweeters and one mid-range. The components were promising. For some reason, it didn’t occur to anyone that maybe it would be interesting to see them in action.

The demos available on the

At the debut of the X11L, the price of this model was also revealed. It is TCL’s flagship and its sizes already indicate that it is aimed at a very specific customer profile. He recommended selling price for the 75-inch model it is 4,299 euros for the 75″ model, 6,499 euros for the 85-inch model and 8,999 euros for the spectacular 98″ television that we have tested.

In Xataka | TCL has entered the television market by doing what seemed impossible: democratizing the Mini-LED