Now that I’m back at home and I’ve washed the Vegas off of me and out of my clothes, I’m looking back on the absolute nut-fest that was CES. It was somewhat like a big family reunion.
There is the family of journalists running around trying to scoop each other, skipping dinner and fun parties to type frantically late into the night; the family of YouTubers armed with cameras and caffeine and, ultimately, cocktails; and the family of brand reps we’ve come to know over the years whose feet definitely hurt as much as everyone else’s, but you won’t hear them complaining about it.
Some of them are like long-lost cousins. Others are like that uncle who’s always trying to sell you something.
The TVs themselves feel like their own quirky — maybe even dysfunctional — family, with each one having a personality, a particular role, and a story to tell. This year’s lineup is a reunion for the ages, with big personalities, bold innovations, and, as always, a bit of drama.
Let’s meet the cast of characters that will be lighting up living rooms this year: the most exciting TVs of 2025.
TCL QM6K: The Reliable Crowd-Pleaser
First up at the reunion is “The Reliable Crowd-Pleaser” — the family member who gets along with everyone, shows up at every event, and somehow manages to bring a casserole that everyone loves. That’s the TCL QM6K .
TCL told me the QM6K uses their new QD-Mini LED tech, which involves, according to them, a Super High Energy LED Chip to deliver 53% more brightness. And their Condensed Micro Lens design is meant to keep blooming under control. Add in up to 500 local dimming zones and a 23-bit backlight controller, which is supposed to deliver up to 65,000 different levels of brightness gradation, and you’ve got a TV that reads like the most over-achieving budget pleaser we’ve seen to date.
TCL also claims the QM6K will cover 98% of the DCI-P3 color gamut and gamers get a 144Hz native refresh rate with AMD FreeSync Premium Pro. TCL has partnered with Onkyo for audio , and the TV has an Onkyo-branded 2.1-channel speaker system with Dolby Atmos — after all, no good family casserole is complete without the right seasoning.
Sizes range from 50 to 98 inches and pricing starts at $749.99. It’s pretty clear this TV maxes out TCL’s efforts to reliably deliver more for less.
TCL QM7K: The Overachieving Big Brother
Next, we’ve got “The Overachieving Big Brother” — the one who always has to one-up their younger sibling but still keeps things grounded enough to avoid annoying the whole family. That’s the TCL QM7K.
TCL takes everything great about the QM6K and dials it up. Available in screen sizes up to a massive 115 inches — the 115 is down in TCL’s 7-series now — this TV is for those who want a home theater experience without shelling out flagship dollars. TCL says it’s using the same QD-Mini LED tech as the QM6K, but with even more local dimming zones for more refined backlighting and contrast.
Again, it’s everything great about the QM6K, but bigger, bolder, and brighter. So it definitely earns the “The Overachieving Big Brother” title. That’s why I had to hand this TV an award at the show: I think it’s poised to deliver enthusiasts everything they want at a price that makes it achievable — over-achievable, even.
Panasonic Z95B: The Prodigal Comeback Kid
Next is “The Prodigal Comeback Kid” — the family member who disappeared for years to “find themselves” and now shows up at the reunion looking better than ever and with stories that put everyone else to shame. That’s the Panasonic Z95B .
I am fairly certain this TV uses LG Display’s latest-gen WRGB OLED panel with four emissive layers, allowing it to reach brightness levels that rival mini-LED TVs – up to 3,700 nits peak in HDR highlights. The side-by-side demos with last year’s Z95A suggested the brightness improvements in real-world content were significant. This means that the Z95B is going to stand toe-to-toe with the other top-tier OLEDs on this list.
Here’s the kicker about Panasonic’s announcement at CES. While LG remained curiously quiet on details about the new panel in their G5 OLED, Panasonic came out and said, “Here it is, y’all!” spilling the tech tea all over the place. When they made the announcement and showed a slide with the four-layer OLED panel, I did a Tiger-Woods-level fist pump. I was that stoked.
The Z95B combines beyond-MLA brightness with Panasonic’s color accuracy and processing, creating a TV that feels like it’s gunning for awards, not just praise. (I gave it an award because they did what LG wouldn’t.)
After years away from the US market, the Z95B is here to prove Panasonic has still got what it takes — that’s why it’s “The Prodigal Comeback Kid.”
LG G5: The Coy Prodigy
Let’s talk about “The Coy Prodigy” — you know exactly who I’m talking about. This is the family member who’s clearly the star but plays it cool, leaving everyone guessing. That’s the LG G5.
LG hasn’t confirmed all the details, but it’s obvious this TV is packing the next-gen OLED tech that Panasonic confirmed it was using. LG has some processing-based brightness boosting that could give the G5 an edge, if only a slight one, over the Z95B. Also, LG’s processing netted it some big awards last year, and since it uses the same processor, presumably tweaked for the new panel, LG could be poised to have the best TV of the year again, according to some experts.
Part of the Gallery Series, the G5 is designed to be mounted on the wall and includes a no-gap wall mount for all sizes. LG is not including a table stand for some of its smaller models, a decision they say that was based on customer preferences.
With everything LG is throwing into this model, it is well poised to dominate the competition. For sure, it effortlessly lives up to its title as “The Coy Prodigy.”
Samsung S95F: The Stubborn Trailblazer
Next is “The Stubborn Trailblazer” — that family member who’s brilliant and successful, and always insists they know best, even when everyone else disagrees. That’s the Samsung S95F QD-OLED.
Samsung has doubled down on its anti-glare and anti-reflection tech — they’ve tossed it into their flagship QLED TV lineup — even as enthusiasts have been screaming for a more traditional glossy finish. Samsung says their anti-glare stuff is the best choice for bright rooms and daytime viewing, and I tend to agree with them.
I’m confident the S95F uses Samsung Display’s Gen 4 QD-OLED panel, which improved the blue OLED efficiency enough that the TV could end up peaking at about 4,000 nits for HDR highlights and could do over 400 nits full screen. That means SDR content would look amazing in a bright room.
Here’s my position on the anti-glare technology. Some have accused me of loving it (to the degree of fan-boy status) but that’s not the case. I see it as a smart business decision. There’s this notion that only TV enthusiasts buy TVs like the S95F and that’s also not the case. Samsung is reaching a much bigger audience with this approach and is likely to make more money from it — if negative talk from enthusiasts doesn’t sour the minds of non-enthusiasts who research this TV.
However, seeing this as a smart business move doesn’t mean I’m fan-boying all over it. The TV has its place, and it could be my top choice for a super-bright room if I watched primarily during the day — a non-enthusiasts use-case. Otherwise, it would not be my top choice.
I understand enthusiasts who are upset that they can’t have Samsung’s best QD-OLED performance without having to accept the anti-glare they don’t want. I can also understand folks feeling unseen by Samsung, who must know it’s not what a lot of enthusiasts want. So the fact that they didn’t just continue the anti-glare but doubled down on it? That might feel downright insulting.
It definitely earns this TV the “The Stubborn Trailblazer” moniker.
Hisense 116 UX: The Mysterious Wild Card
Now we come to “The Mysterious Wild Card.” This is the family member who shows up looking like they’ve got it all figured out. However, is it genius or just bold ambition … hubris, even? That’s the Hisense 116 UX.
The 116 UX uses a new mini-LED backlight technology Hisense calls “ Tri-Chroma mini-LED,” which just means three-color. It’s essentially red, green, and blue mini-LEDs stacked together behind a lens so that the backlight itself can provide white light or color. What’s crazy about this: The backlight now has to coordinate with the color filter and it’s hard to imagine how that works correctly. It requires a ton of processing horsepower. Hisense says they’ve got it, but do they?
The technology of this TV is really exciting, and I have high hopes for it. However, I also have a ton of questions. How is color distortion not going to be a problem? As a matter of fact, this TV’s technology may make measurements useless because the way it produces color slides from a pattern generator will be vastly different from how it produces color for real content.
Also, this did not leap right out at me when I saw the TV in person. In our video footage, which was shot off-angle — which can expose backlighting effects already — in a dark space, and with the TV so insanely bright that we had to stomp down on the camera exposure, there appeared to be colored blooming or halo effect. I have to wonder: How visible will that be in real content (not demo footage) when the processor is also doing upscaling and image cleanup?
Never before have I been so simultaneously excited and skeptical. On paper, it’s exciting, but in real life, will it deliver? For now, we’ll call it “The Mysterious Wild Card.”
Hisense U7: The No-Show That Steals the Spotlight
Then there’s “The No-Show That Steals the Spotlight” – the family member who skips the reunion but still manages to have everyone talking about them because the rumors are flying. That’s the Hisense U7.
While we didn’t see it at CES, the Hisense U7 ’s legacy suggests it will offer stellar performance with features like intense brightness, aggressive local dimming, and insane refresh rates – all at mid-range prices. It will be taking on the TCL QM7K. While Hisense didn’t talk about it, I can use historical precedent to make a prediction: I know it is coming and I’m confident in what it will do. That puts it firmly into “The No-Show That Steals the Spotlight” role.
Sansui VO series OLEDs: The Hustler
Next, there is “The Hustler” — that family member who’s always scheming, with plans that sound way too ambitious to ever work, and yet, somehow, they always pull it off. That’s Sansui’s OLED lineup.
Sansui blasted into the US late last year with a 55-inch OLED TV running Google TV, which dropped as low as $600 during the holidays. In 2025, Sansui is coming in hot with 65- and 77-inch OLED options that, frankly, I think are going to be the OLED TVs for everyone.
Sansui is being somewhat ruthless, shooting to seriously undercut the competition. That approach, we know, tends to pry open wallets in the US.
The brand is not a known quantity yet, but if these TVs pick up good reviews — and I think they will because they are OLEDs and look awesome by default — Sansui might just pull off the biggest upset in US TV history.
The fact that they are even trying shows they are definitely “The Hustler” in this TV family.
Sony: The Mysterious Significant Other
Finally, we come to “The Mysterious Significant Other” — the one everyone in the family keeps hearing about, but hasn’t actually met. That’s Sony this year.
They didn’t show up at CES, but we know they’re coming with something big. It could be another QD-OLED, or that new panel from LG Display. Perhaps they somehow made their new mini-LED backlighting tech even more stellar than it was last year?
The details are scarce, but based on Sony’s track record, there’s every reason to believe that one of their TVs could end up being the best of the year. I have a feeling we’ll learn more sometime between March and May.
I’m really curious how they will pull off the naming convention. Are they gonna stick with Bravia 7, Bravia 8, and Bravia 9, relying on the new model year to distinguish them? They will have different model numbers, but will the common names stay the same?
Many enthusiasts have had fun passing around a supposedly leaked Chinese registration document, saying that it may suggest Sony is abandoning QD-OLED entirely. However, as a journalist, I’m not gonna take something as gospel if I can’t verify its provenance. Plus, that’s for China, not the US market, or even UK and Europe. We don’t have nearly enough information to know if that spells out their strategy. Sony also has a way of surprising us. They definitely did last year.
Until then, we’ll just keep wondering about Sony, the mysterious significant other. There is likely something cool coming, but we don’t really know any of the details and we’ll believe it when we see it.
