While other brands are pushing ahead with 8K TVs, TCL has released a public statement as to why the brand won't be producing any in its 2024 TV lineup.
In short, there's little-to-no demand for them.
The amount of available 8K content is still limited, and we believe a premium 4K Mini LED TV delivers far more noticeable picture quality enhancement.
TCL
"So far, we don’t see high consumer demand for 8K TVs," a TCL representative said in an email to Tom's Guide. "The amount of available 8K content is still limited, and we believe a premium 4K Mini LED TV delivers far more noticeable picture quality enhancement."
That 'premium 4K TV' TCL mentioned is its new 115-inch QM89 Mini-LED that offers a peak brightness of 5,000 nits and 20,000 local dimming zones. One could argue that a TV of this size could really use the extra pixels but the representatives that we spoke to at CES feel confident that the company's new AIPQ Pro Ultra Processor is up to the upscaling task.
The TCL 6-Series 8K was a one-off
While others have speculated that it's too early for 8K TVs to really be relevant, TCL has the sales data to back it up — back in 2021 the company released the TCL 6-Series 8K, and it says that the interest wasn't there.
That being said, because TCL has its own panel fabrication company called TCL CSOT, company evangelist Bruce Walker told us at CES 2024 that TCL can turn the ship around when that demand for 8K TVs increases.
For now, though, the focus is on the company's next wave of 4K Mini-LED TVs.
Does that mean other companies feel the same way? Not necessarily. Samsung and LG don't seem to share that same sentiment given their continued expansion of 8K TVs in their respective lineups with the Samsung QN900C and LG Z3 OLED.
But TCL has long-targeted much lower price points than the competition, which could be a factor in why 2024 isn't the year for another 8K entry in its lineup.
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