Hisense has launched a new 136MX MicroLED TV, claiming it is the first consumer-ready implementation of the next-generation screen technology, at CES 2025.
The Chinese tech giant unveiled the TV at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas (CES) late last night, marketing it as the first Micro LED display that is ready for normal home cinema fans.
The prime selling point is its use of Micro LED, a technology designed to dethrone OLED as the ultimate screen tech for cinephiles and holistic picture quality.
Not to be confused with Mini LED, which charges zones of a screen to create a picture, Micro LED works more like OLED. However, instead of individual organic emitting diodes, it creates a picture by individually charging non-organic LEDs, which are usually set in a three-per-pixel arrangement.
The ability to create pictures by charging these individually means a screen has much better control, letting it display completely different colours next to one another and offer much deeper blacks. The end result, in theory, is a screen capable of perfect contrast and colour control.
Hisense has made some bold performance claims about the specific panel used on the 136MX MicroLED, quoting it as offering 10,000 nits max brightness and 95 per cent coverage of the BT.2020 colour space favoured by filmmakers.
We haven’t seen the 136MX MicroLED in the flesh yet – though our team at CES is racing to try to get a hands-on session – but the tech has impressed us during past preview events. Our staff writer, Lewis Empson, had a hands on look at Samsung’s concept 65-inch Micro LED at a press event in September last year and came away impressed reporting:
“Micro LED has been touted by some as the successor to OLED, and truthfully this is a sentiment I can somewhat get behind. Micro LED looks nothing like OLED or Mini LED in many regards, as its mix of intense crispness and vivid brightness merge to create a truly next-generation picture experience – or at least that's what I've experienced in the handful of times I've seen one in action with Samsung's demonstration footage.”
However, we still don’t know a key detail about the 136MX MicroLED TV: if Hisense has any intention of ever selling it to consumers, or how much it will / would cost if it does. In its current state Micro LED is incredibly expensive to make, which is why many companies in the past, including Philips, told What Hi-Fi? it is currently ready only for lab research, not consumer release.
We have asked Hisense for clarification on both points.
That said, the 136MX MicroLED TV does come with all the features a consumer would need to use it to watch movies. The display is powered by Hisense’s Hi-View AI Engine X chipset, and supports common HDR standards, including Dolby Vision and HDR10+.
It also comes with a Filmmaker mode for movie fans who want an “as the director intended” experience. HDMI 2.1 and eARC connectivity are also confirmed, which means you could add a Dolby Atmos soundbar to it or run a current generation games console at 4k/120Hz should you so choose.
App support is solid, with the display coming with Hisense’s VIDAA OS installed. The OS has apps for all the common streaming options including Netflix, YouTube, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video and more.
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