Hisense 2026 TV Lineup — From Wild RGB to Real-World Value

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:00]So, we've waited a long time to hear about Highens's full 2026 TV lineup, right? We saw that massive 116 UXs at CES with the RGB plus cyan thing going on and like that was wild. But also, where were the TVs that people are actually going to buy? That was the weird part of the show. No details, nothing to really dig into. Well, now we've got those details, and I'm going to walk you through the whole lineup top to bottom. Well, at least from RGB down to miniLEDD. And I'm going to tell you what I think about them as I go because I got to see a lot of this stuff in person at that very over-the-top, very colorcoded launch event that Highense just put on.

[00:00:50]Welcome back to Calebated, everyone. I'm Caleb Dennison, and I don't know which video you're going to see first. It might be this one or it might be the one where I walk you through that outrageous super fun spring launch event that High Sense put on to announce these TVs. So, this is the rundown and we're going to keep it real simple as we go. What it is, what changes between the models as you step down, and what actually matters for each TV. But, I do have to say this one thing before we move on. Even though the 2026 TV landscape looks really mysterious to me right now, there's one thing that I'd bet the house on.

[00:01:27]Highsense will have the most attainable high-performance TVs on the market this year. They usually do. Their RGB and miniLE TVs will have the most aggressive pricing. And based on what I'm seeing from the UR9, they're going to look really good. But as promised, we have to start at the very top. And that would be the 116 UXs.

[00:01:51]Not only is this the biggest TV that Highense makes, it's kind of an experiment. It's the what happens if we push everything to the absolute max TV.

[00:02:01]Just the one size, 116 in. And yeah, it's absolutely enormous. But the real story isn't about the size. It's in the backlight system because this is RGB miniLEDD plus a cyan LED. And I know the first reaction for most of you when you heard about this from CES is, "Hey, that's cool marketing." But that one extra backlight color actually changes how the TV works. Normally, you get blue LEDs and they hit quantum dots that makes a white, which goes through a color filter that makes the picture that you see.

[00:02:38]That's what we've been doing with mini LEDs for years. Then we get the RGB version which has red, green, and blue back lights and relies less on the color filter. Still, what that means is better color purity and the most important part to me, brighter colors, not just brighter whites. But now, if we add the cyan on top of all that, what they're doing is they're basically taking the pressure off of the blue backlight. Blue has been doing way too much heavy lifting in traditional systems. So, they split that load off and suddenly what you've got is cleaner color mixing, better accuracy, and color that actually stays bright when it's supposed to be bright. That's because the cyan actually takes a load off the blue. It makes the blue color more pure. Now, I haven't been able to compare this to the original 116 that had just the RGB backlight, but the processing has also changed, so it'd be hard to make a direct comparison, and it's hard to know just how much that cyan backlight is actually doing. What I can say is it's not doing anything bad that I've seen.

[00:03:44]So, it's probably at least an incremental improvement. And then you've got to layer in all the other stuff that's going to be for second gen RGB.

[00:03:52]You've got tons of local dimming zones, very high brightness, improved anti-glare this year that's not a matte finish, but it still knocks down reflections really well, and black levels that are honestly better than you would ever expect from an LCD TV. For HDR formats, you get all of them. Dolby Vision, HDR10 Plus, HLG, IMAX enhanced.

[00:04:15]And then for the audio, this TV gets a full WLA system. That means WLA amps, WLA drivers, WLA tuning, which we'll talk about more in a little bit. Um, this is the real deal. Dolby Atmos, DTSX, the whole thing. This is the only TV where you might hesitate before buying a soundbar. That's the level that the audio is at right now. I've heard it. It's really, really good. Now, if we step down from the 116 UXS, which I feel like is more of a moonshot TV, you lose the cyan, but then you keep the RGB backlight. That really matters. The next one on the lineup is what I consider to be the real flagship for most people, and that would be the UR9. It's available in 65, 75, 85, and 100 inch sizes with pricing that is expected to land somewhere between $3,500 and $9,000.

[00:05:10]Now, like I said before, on paper, it's technically a step down from the UXS, but really, I think this is the one competing against everyone else's best TV. Now, as for the panel, you're looking at 165 Hz native panel with something they're saying is up to 180 Hz. uh depending on the mode that you're in. There's also the fake motion rate 480. You get game booster freeync premium pro. Uh the processing is what Highense calls High View AI engine RGB, which is basically their best processor tuned specifically for RGB backlight system. As for HDR, you get the full Monty, Dolby Vision, HDR10 plus, HDR10, HLG, IMAX enhanced. There's no compromises there for uh HDR. As for audio, uh, this is where it technically steps down from the UXS, but it still sounds very good. It's got a 4.1.2 audio system, 90 watts of claimed power, and it's Devi tuned, which means that Deviolet basically voiced this system to sound its best. Dolby Atmos, DTSX, DTS Virtual X, it's all supported. I think it sounds really good, just not skip the soundbar good. As for connectivity, uh, we've heard this before. where you get three HDMI 2.1 ports, not four. Uh the fourth one is actually a display port input, which we saw last year. PC gamers kind of snubbed their noses at it last year. Uh but we don't have the full specs on that display port uh just yet.

[00:06:42]So holding out that maybe it's a little bit of an improvement from prior year.

[00:06:46]You get Eer Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.4.

[00:06:50]This TV is absolutely loaded. So it's a step down from the UXS. You do lose the cyan. You lose the full WLA hardware system. You give up some peak brightness and some local dimming precision, but you keep the RGB. That's the big takeaway. Now, if you want to step down to a slightly more affordable TV that still gives you the latest technology, that would be the UR8. Sizes go from 55 up to 100 in. Prices drop from here, and you're still in the RGB miniLEDD territory, but we do start to see some trimming back, right? Brightness is going to drop into a more typical high-end range, but it's still brighter than most others TVs, just not pushing the same ceiling as the UR9. Dimming zones will come down. That's expected.

[00:07:36]Processing is still strong, though. Uh maybe not as aggressive as the UR9. You still get all the HDRs. You still get high refresh rate, and you still get Devioleta tuned audio, Dolby Atmos, DTS support. All of that's there. Uh, as for HDMI, I'm optimistic that we will see four HDMI 2.1 ports. I think a lot of folks are using the latest MediaTek 800 SoC, and that does come with four full HDMI 2.1 ports. Uh, so the differences between the UR8 and the UR9 are the usual, right? You give up a little bit of the insane brightness, uh, and some of the precision in the local dimming, but you're still holding on to RGB. And frankly, I think this is the RGB TV that's going to make the most sense for the most enthusiasts. But I don't think it's the right TV for the most people.

[00:08:25]That title belongs to the next one on this list. That would be the U7SG, which is where we leave RGB behind and we go back to the traditional miniLEDD that we've always been used to. That's not a drop in quality. As you know, miniledd TVs look great. And as you've heard me say many times before, the U7 is usually the one that just nails the balance between premium performance and price, but also size and price. Sizes are expected to be 55 in up to 100 in starting around 1,300 bucks. That's MSRP, so we'll probably see it drop really fast. And if brightness is your bag, this is still a very bright TV.

[00:09:07]Around 3,000 nits peak is expected. Full array local dimming, tons of zones.

[00:09:13]Refresh rate is still strong at 165 Hz native. Uh gaming will be great on this TV. Processing shifts to what Highense calls the High View AI Engine Pro. Still very capable, just not optimized for RGB. HDR support is the same. You get all this stuff. Uh audio steps down uh to 2.1.2 system. You still get Dolby Atmos and DTS Virtual X, but there's no Deblay tuning anymore. Uh, so stepping down from the UR8, you lose RGB, you lose devi, and you lose some of that color brightness edge that you get from RGB, but you keep a ton of performance for the price. And historically, this is the one that I end up recommending for the most people. The one that most people actually end up buying, though, is the U6. Sizes go from 55 to 100 in.

[00:10:02]That's a lot of 100in TVs Highense has this year. But uh the U6 is your entry point into miniledd within High Sens's lineup. Brightness drops, dimming precision drops because it doesn't have as many zones, but it's still more than what most folks need, and it really does do HDR justice. It's still got full array local dimming. You still get quantum dot color. It's got a solid picture. Refresh rate drops to 144 hertz native. Uh, so from 165 on the U7 down to 144 here. Still going to appease uh PC gamers. I think if you're not a PC gamer, the most you need is 120 Hz. HDR support is still strong. Dolby Vision, HDR10 Plus, HLG. And depending on the version of this TV that you get, you might still see IMAX enhanced and filmmaker mode. Audio is simpler. You do get Dolby Atmos support. I'm not sure about DTS, but honestly, this is the level where you might want to think about getting a soundbar. Anyway, the smart TV platform though, that's going to vary. You're going to have a Google TV variant and a Fire TV variant depending on which model you get. I think the one with the F has the Fire TV. So, stepping down from the U7 to the U6, you lose a little bit of brightness.

[00:11:18]The refresh rate goes down a little bit.

[00:11:21]Uh, audio capability goes down a bit and you lose a little bit of processing chops, but you're still getting a very impressive, very respectable TV for the money. It's less expensive than the U7.

[00:11:33]It looks awesome, and I think that's why more people end up buying it. Okay, let's take a quick pivot over to projectors.

[00:11:40]This one's kind of fun. I think the PX4 Pro, brand new ultrash short throw projector that I think might take a bunch of awards this year and that's because the PX3 last year did super well. It sits almost against your wall.

[00:11:56]It has a really, really short throw distance that can throw a massive image up to about 200 in. I recommend ultra short throw projectors all the time because they're easier to get places where you can't get a huge TV. And this particular projector is going to offer that high-end picture and big screen for anyone who can't get a giant TV into their space. It's quoted to have around 3500 ani lumens, improved contrast with a new iris system that Highense developed, and Dolby Vision support, which still isn't super common in projectors. So, big image, minimal hassle for living room or home theater, and video file level video quality. Now, this last one is pretty interesting, but in a different way. The XR10 is a traditional long throw projector, but it can go from 65 all the way up to 300 in, and it projects about 6,000 ants lumens.

[00:12:53]Now, that sounds a lot brighter than the uh PX4 Pro, but remember, it's got to go a much longer distance, so it's not going to look immediately brighter than a US projector. It does however have a triple laser RGB light engine. And this ties right back to what we were talking about with RGB earlier because when it comes to doing true BT2020 color, not just the range or the area, but the actual volume, projectors like this have been doing RGB the right way for a while now. That's why they look the way they do. You get that pure red, green, and blue light mixing up without relying heavily on filters the way some TVs do.

[00:13:32]add in Dolby Vision, HDR10 plus, IMAX enhanced, lens shift, zoom. This is a much more enthusiast focused setup. Uh, but it's from Highense, so I expect the price is going to be really attractive.

[00:13:46]So, finally, that's the lineup. We've got everything from a wall of light doing experimental color science down to something that a lot of people can actually afford. This year, it's not just about white brightness, though.

[00:13:58]It's color brightness, too. So, we're going to be talking a lot about that.

[00:14:02]That's what High Sense is betting on too with RGB. If they can control it right, I think it's going to be the right direction for them. But if not, is it really progress? What do you guys think?

[00:14:12]Which one of these actually makes sense for you? Weigh in down in the comments.

[00:14:16]I'm curious where people land on this one. Like, subscribe, the stuff, the things. Thanks so much for watching.

[00:14:20]I'll see you on the next one. And until then, take care of yourself.

[00:14:27]I better not say that because what if they're not