TCL dramatically reduces price of true microLED TVs

[Paul2]

Are microLED TVs finally becoming viable? TCL's new 163-inch model could be a game-changer, costing just one-third of the company's first microLED from 2024.

Remember Samsung's first 110-inch microLED TV, priced at over $150,000 in 2021? Or its 89-inch model for $100,000?

TCL's first 163-inch microLED TV in 2024 also cost around $110,000, while Hisense's first 136-inch microLED launched last year for around $100,000.

After a decade of development and eight years after Samsung unveiled 'The Wall', this promising display technology had begun to feel like a dead end due to the extremely high costs. Until this week.

163" microLED for $36,500
In China, TCL has launched two new 163-inch microLED TVs, Max163M and Max163M Pro, priced at 250,000 yuan ($36,500) and 350,000 yuan ($51,000), respectively. They are available to buy now.

In other words, the Max163M costs just one-third of TCL's first 163-inch microLED in 2024. This dramatic price reduction changes the conversation around microLED technology for TVs. It is the first significant price reduction.



Not to be confused with "micro RGB"
After "LED", "QLED" and "QNED", it is unfortunate that this extra section is necessary for clarification. All three terms once referred to promising new display technologies before being hijacked as marketing terms for LCD TVs.

In 2026, we are witnessing the launch of "micro RGB" models, but once again these are LCD TVs, now with an RGB LED backlight.

Yes, it is still very expensive, but now roughly in line with flagship home projectors from brands like Sony or JVC. With the 163-inch microLED you get true blacks, 100% BT.2020 colors, extremely high contrast and up to 10,000 nits brightness, according to TCL. Projectors cannot deliver HDR, but this TV can deliver HDR in spades, providing picture quality that far surpasses even the best cinema projectors.

The Max163M Pro adds 4K 120Hz support and over 10,000 nits, according to TCL, which added that the RGB microLEDs are each driven at 22-bit.

True microLED is entirely different. There is no LCD panel; the picture is made up of 28.88 million tiny red, green, and blue LED sub-pixels for 4K resolution. MicroLED is a self-emitting display technology like plasma, OLED and QD-OLED (and true QNED and EL-QD).

If TCL can deliver this 163-inch model at $36,500, we hope other TV brands will follow quickly, reviving the dream of ultra-large microLED TVs for home cinema and eventually living rooms.

One challenge remains: These TVs are still assembled from smaller microLED modules, and in our experience the seams are visible under most lighting conditions.

https://www.flatpanelshd.com/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=1773908110

163" True MicroLed TV starting at $36,500 sounds so good.  hope it gets cheaper than that as year by year goes by.  perfect black level and contrast ratio of oled, but this microled tv can get as bright as 10,000 nits which is great for hdr compare to the latest oled which can only get as bright as 4,500 nits so far.

so far, the biggest obstacle is you can see the seams of the smaller microled modules under most lighting conditions.  but still $36,500 is not bad for a 163" true microled tv.  makes me wonder how the smaller sizes microled tvs will cost though if they make one in the future such as 120" to as small as 100" or smaller than that.

[Titan]

So microLED is supposed to surpass OLED?

[Paul2]

there are pros and cons of both technologies.

the pros of microled are that it can get brighter than oled, no screen burn-in, and no reflection i think.

the cons of microled compares to oled is that can get very expensive but price seems to be starting to falling down significantly i think.  so far the seam of smaller modular connected together to make one big screen tv is still visible.  and lastly, so far i think, microleds are mostly only available in very large screen tvs.  they still haven't shrunk the leds down small enough to connect them in 4k in screen smaller than like 100" or smaller than that.  so for now, most microled tvs will be in 100"+ in 4k screens.  that might change in a few years from now i think where it will be available in sizes smaller than 100".

[Titan]

I'm sure the technology will improve and shrink. Remember how expensive OLED was in the early 2010s? A 13 inch screen was thousands and thousands of dollars. I'm interested in seeing where this goes. I'm very satisfied with my OLED (just played Halo 4 on it on my Xbox 360 and it looked absolutely amazing) but curious to see if this shrinks down.

[Paul2]

yeah.  about 5 years ago, samsung sells 89" microled tv in 4k for $100,000.  Samsung managed to shrink down the leds to 89" in 4k there.  maybe that means samsung is the first company to managed to shrink it down to 89" 4k microled tv there which is under 100".  Not sure if other companies manage to shrink it down to under 100" screen sizes beside samsung though.  but it does sounds promising.  hopefully that also means much cheaper than $100,000 for the 89" by now or in a few years from now.

sony first sold the world first oled tv in 11" in 540p in late 2007 and early 2008 for $2,500.  it has comes a long way since then and now you can get 4k oled tv in 10 bit color and 120 Hz with HDR in 77" say like the lg 77" C5 for under $2,000 which still cheaper than the world first oled tv.

i am also very satisfied with my oled tv too but my middle brother scratched my oled tv when he was angry at my mom yelling at her that he became violence and that he accidently scratched the upper and middle right side of my precious oled tv in early september 2025 which is over 7 months ago.  There are 2 scratch marks there.  when watching tv, i couldn't see the scratch marks though sitting about 3 feet away and beside i am near sighted.

nearly a year prior to that, i could see a small row of line of color banding on the upper screen and a small column of line of color banding on the left side of the screen too.  i also noticed some dead pixels mostly at the edges of the screen too.  when i first notice the black dots on the right edge of the screen a few years prior to that, i thought they were dust until a few years later after i noticed the color bandings on top of the screen and on the left side of the screen, i tried to wipe the dots on the edges of the screen (and also notice all 4 sides of the edge of the screen have black dots on it) but it didn't come off, so i realized they were dead pixels.

my suspicion was my oldest brother when he was alive probably squeezes the whole 4 sides of the screen looking for the power button to turn on the tv so he can watch porn in it when i was away from home not long after i bought the oled tv.  he squeezed the edges of the screen so hard that it probably broke the screen somewhat that it caused it to have a small row of color banding on top and a small column of color banding on the left side of the screen and caused some dead pixels around the edges of the screen too.  that was probably over 5 years ago.  i hid the tv remote control when he was alive though.  its been so long but i think i also hid the 4k blu-ray player's remote control too during those time.

around that time, i suspect that he also dented the center lower right side of the 4k blu-ray player cover that i hooked up to my 4k oled tv.  maybe he tried to look for ways to turn on the 4k blu-ray player in hoping it will turn on the tv so he can watch porn there or something like that.

but i try to live with it.  it does makes me tempted to upgrade to another oled tv but even if i did bother upgrading to a new oled tv, i am afraid sooner or later either my brother or my mom or anybody might ruined it in one way or another so i try to live with it for a few more years to decide if i want to upgrade or not.