TCL QM9K TV review: an excellent flagship TV, but who is it for?

TCL has been a solid competitor in the midrange TV market for years, going head-to-head with Hisense. Not only are TVs from both manufacturers competitive on features, they even use similar nomenclature to categorize their TV lines — the TCL QM8 and Hisense U8, QM7 and U7, and QM6 and U6. But with TCL’s new flagship QM9K, its sights are set higher, toward Sony and its flagship Bravia 9.

This year, TCL launched its Ultimate Series, which includes the QM8K (dubbed “The Ultimate Choice”) and the QM9K (“The Ultimate Performance”), billed as the best TCL TV ever released. The QM9K is available in four different sizes: 65 inches ($2,999.99), 75 inches ($3,499.99), 85 inches ($3,999.99), and 98 inches ($5,999.99). It was the first TV to launch with Google Gemini, it has a presence sensor that can turn on its ambient mode to show artwork (much like an art TV), and TCL claims it’s capable of up to 6,500 nits of brightness.

But beyond those specs, the QM9K is remarkably similar to the QM8K, which is $500 less across all model sizes except the 98-inch, where it’s $1,000 cheaper. (The QM8K will get Gemini in a future update, which brings its features even closer to the 9K.) Both models have 144Hz native refresh rate with FreeSync Premium Pro support, use WHVA panels for wider viewing angles than regular VA panels, and utilize improvements to TCL’s backlighting introduced in 2025 to minimize blooming (although the QM9K has up to 6,000 dimming zones while the QM8K has up to 3,800 zones).

Both the QM9K and the QM8K include four HDMI ports: two HDMI 2.1 and two HDMI 2.0 (one with eARC). They both use the same AIPQ Pro processor, have built-in Bang & Olufsen speakers, support Filmmaker Mode and all types of HDR, have NextGen ATSC 3.0 tuners, use the same excellent backlit remote, and run Google OS. They also have similar design elements, such as a pedestal stand and a zero-border design that leaves almost no space between the edge of the image and the bezel.

So what gives the QM9K its “Ultimate Performance” moniker? The obvious answer is its brightness capability. The height to which both TCL and Hisense have pushed in TV brightness over the past couple years is nothing short of astounding, and the QM9K is the brightest so far. In Filmmaker Mode (its most accurate picture mode) with the Peak Brightness setting at Boost, I measured a maximum light output of 5,844 nits — nearly 2,200 nits brighter than what I measured on the QM8K in the same mode earlier this year, and nearly 900 nits higher than that TV’s brightest measurement, in the far less accurate Vivid mode. I have no doubt that with some mix of settings, the QM9K would reach the 6,500 nits TCL lists in its specs.

All those nits make the QM9K great to use in a bright room and deliver excellent specular highlights, such as fireworks exploding on a dark night. And the highlights really pop; the QM9K’s black level performance is exceptional for an LED TV. TCL made significant improvements to its backlight system in 2025, which has restricted light blooming in dark scenes. It’s not the pixel-perfect blacks of an OLED like the LG G5 — when those fireworks are close together, you can still see some blooming in the space between them — but it’s the best performance you’ll find on an LED TV.

The backlight does have some issues, though, likely due to TCL’s zero-border design. Aesthetically, it looks sleek to have the image extend all the way to the edge of the screen, but the design causes slight vignetting. This makes the edges of the screen look a little darker than they should in bright, full-screen images — a blue sky during the day, for example.

Out of the box, grayscale and color accuracy in Filmmaker Mode are both very good. Color temperature leans a little warm (which I tend to prefer over the very cool presets on many TVs), and colors with SDR content are vibrant and realistic, especially skin tones. HDR performance is similar, with movies like Ford v Ferrari looking true to life and others like Mad Max: Fury Road wonderfully vivid.

One issue I did notice in Ford v Ferrari, though, was the processing during the car races throughout. The QM9K had trouble handling some of the fast motion, and there were moments of judder that I don’t usually see from other TVs. Turning on motion smoothing at a low setting does help to fix the issue, and doesn’t add the unnatural soap opera effect (although a keen eye will still notice the extra processing, and you should still turn it off most of the time).

I also saw some screen tearing while gaming, which I didn’t encounter on the QM8K. This generally happened during quick movement, either with driving games or first-person shooters. It wasn’t overly distracting, but it was enough that I noticed it on a few occasions.

The TCL QM9K is a fantastic TV. In most content, the issues I encountered were relatively minor, and anyone that gets one is sure to be impressed with its picture and happy with the purchase. The thing is, I’m not entirely sure who should spend the extra $500 on this over the QM8K. Google Gemini will be added to the QM8K soon enough, and the presence sensor is a nice bonus that works well if you plan to use the art screensaver, but isn’t worth the extra cost. And with movies currently being mastered at a maximum of 4,000 nits, the extra brightness of the QM9K isn’t necessary.

Even though high-end OLED TVs have improved their light output, the brightness capability of mini-LED is still one of the main benefits of the QM9K and QM8K. Not only do mini-LED displays have punchier specular highlights, they can maintain higher brightness than OLED over larger areas, so they’re better at combating ambient light. Mini-LED TVs are also generally less expensive than OLED — although with sales, the QM9K is currently only a few hundred dollars less than the LG G5. The QM8K is nearly $1,000 cheaper, though; that’s another reason to consider it over the QM9K.

The TCL QM9K is certainly a flagship TV. It’s a bold declaration of TCL’s intent to compete in the high-end market. But this first entry isn’t quite the Ultimate Performance that was promised, which in turn makes the QM8K the real Ultimate Choice for a TCL TV.

Photography by John Higgins / The Verge