Summary of Key Points
TCL has filed a lawsuit against Samsung in the United States, accusing Samsung of packaging ordinary LED TVs without hardware-based local dimming capabilities as “Mini LED” TVs, misleading consumers and stealing market share. The core issue at dispute is the definition of “Mini LED” – do TVs without local dimming technology qualify as Mini LED? Behind this is the intense competition between the two companies in the Mini LED TV market: Samsung has managed to overtake TCL with its lower-priced, non-local dimming M series, while TCL is using the same logic Samsung previously used against TCL’s QLED technology to counterattack. Essentially, it’s a debate about the standard that determines whether a product can use a particular technology name.
The Core Dispute: What Makes a TV “Mini LED”?
For the average consumer, a Mini LED TV should be a high-end model with clearer images and a deeper black color. However, the key to this lies in hardware-based local dimming technology.
For example, when viewing stars in the night sky, an ordinary LED TV will display a gray background around the stars due to the limited number of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and the lack of local dimming control (it’s like using a flashlight on a transparent surface, unable to illuminate only the stars). In contrast, a true Mini LED TV uses a large number of small LEDs (hundreds or even thousands), which can be divided into multiple zones for precise dimming – brightening the desired areas and turning off the others, resulting in brighter stars and a clearer night sky, as well as better image details.
This is exactly what TCL is pointing out in its lawsuit against Samsung: Samsung’s M series TVs do not have hardware-based local dimming, yet they are labeled as “Mini LED,” which is a case of misrepresentation.
Samsung’s “Cost-cutting Tactics”: Rebranding Ordinary TVs
TCL compared the Samsung M70H with its own ordinary TVs and identified several tricks Samsung used:
1. Fewer and Larger LEDs: The M70H uses only 52 LEDs (2 fewer than ordinary TVs), and the size of these LEDs is 0.5 millimeters (larger than the industry-standard Mini LED LEDs).
2. Lack of Core Hardware: There is no dedicated control chip or circuit for local dimming; the structure is almost identical to that of an ordinary LED TV.
3. Software-based Dimming: Samsung vaguely mentions in the product description that dimming is achieved through software, but software-based dimming cannot provide the same precise control as hardware-based local dimming. Reviewing agency RTINGS has stated that this is “highly misleading” and that the performance is even worse than that of TCL’s cheaper TVs.
The Market Battle: Samsung’s Rise at the Expense of TCL
The essence of this lawsuit is a battle for market share. Omdia data shows:
- Q1 2026: TCL still led global Mini LED TV sales with a 30.2% market share.
- In March, Samsung launched the M series (45-inch model for just $349, five times cheaper than true Mini LED TVs).
- Q2: Samsung overtook TCL, with a 28.2% market share, while TCL’s share dropped to 23.3%; 60% of TCL’s Mini LED sales came from the M series.
TCL believes that Samsung cut costs by removing core hardware (local dimming) and used lower prices to steal its customers.
The Turning of the Tide: Samsung Once Sued TCL, Now Facing the Same Strategy
Interestingly, in March of this year, Samsung won a lawsuit against TCL in Germany:
Samsung argued that some of TCL’s TVs were labeled as “QLED” without the actual quantum dot technology that would provide richer colors, and the court ordered TCL to stop making such claims.
Now, TCL is using the same logic to counterattack: Samsung’s M series lacks the core feature of Mini LED (local dimming); why should it be called Mini LED? It’s essentially using Samsung’s own tactics against them.
The Blame for Vague Standards: Why Can Companies Take Advantage of the Gap?
To date, there is no global standard for Mini LED technology. Unlike 4K TVs, which have clear pixel requirements, there is no consensus on the minimum number of LEDs or the number of local dimming zones required to qualify a TV as Mini LED.
In the industry, “Mini LED” is more of a marketing term. Samsung claims that using Mini LED LEDs (even if they are slightly larger) qualifies the product as such, while TCL argues that consumers expect local dimming technology to be included.
This lack of clear standards allows companies to exploit loopholes, offering cheaper products to gain market share at the expense of the consumer experience.
The ultimate outcome of this lawsuit is still uncertain, but it highlights an industry issue: without clear standards, new technologies can be easily misused by companies to their advantage. For consumers, when purchasing a TV, it’s important to go beyond the “Mini LED” label and ask whether the product includes hardware-based local dimming – this is what truly defines the value of a Mini LED TV.