- TCL’s new art TV has an advanced mini-LED panel
- Size from 55 to 98 inches, with super slim design
- Launching in China first, but expected in the US in early 2026
TCL has unveiled a new Nxtvision TV, the TCL A400 Pro, which is a direct rival to the Samsung The Frame Pro – but while it looks set to triumph in the technology department, it’s missing two of the key things that have helped make The Frame TVs so popular.
Let’s start with the technology. Behind the traditional matte panel that all art TVs have appears to be a high-spec mini-LED panel. The TCL A400 Pro is a quantum dot mini-LED, and looks to be one of TCL’s better panels – Samsung’s The Frame Pro uses its most basic mini-LED panel, which is apparently edge-lit.
TCL’s is a true mini-LED panel with light behind the entire screen, which means it’s likely to deliver a more accurate display – which is nice whether you’re watching a movie or looking at a piece of art.
What is missing in the TCL A400 Pro
However, there are two important things that Samsung’s art TV offers that the TCL A400 Pro does not. The first is the One Connect box, which in both its wired and wireless iterations (wired on standard The Frame TV, wireless on The Frame Pro) dramatically reduces cable clutter – important when buying a TV to hang on the wall like a picture.
With the TCL, if you have four HDMI cables, a power cable and a tuner cable working with it, then you’re dealing with six cables.
The other, and in my opinion more important, difference is that Samsung’s virtual art gallery is many times larger than TCL’s: according to FlatpanelsHD, TCL offers “over 100” works of art, while Samsung has over 4,000 works from major museums and institutions.
TCL is reportedly working on expanding the collection, though there’s no indication of when or by how much. And of course, art is the main selling point for an arty TV, so while it’s possible to supply your own images, it’s not that practical.
As for the rest of the specifications, they are very good: 144Hz refresh rates for gaming at 4K, which can be doubled at half resolution; variable refresh rate and Auto Low Latency Mode for gaming too; HDMI 2.1 and Wi-Fi 6; Dolby Atmos and DTS:X; and an Onkyo-manufactured speaker system.
There will be 55-, 65-, 75-, 85- and 98-inch models, and the A400 Pro will launch in China first before coming to the US and other territories next year.
We’ll no doubt get a lot more details on this and other new TCL TVs at CES 2026, which is just a few weeks away.
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