TCL’s newest flagship TV—the QM9K—has officially arrived, and it’s shaping up to be one of the brand’s most advanced models yet. Unveiled at CEDIA 2025, the QM9K takes the spotlight as the top model in TCL’s QD-Mini LED lineup, sitting just above the popular QM8K.

This isn’t just another big screen with better brightness. The QM9K adds smarter features, updated audio options, and new ways to interact with your TV—without needing a remote.

TCL is calling the QM9K part of its new “Ultimate Series,” which also includes the QM8K. While the QM8K was the “Ultimate Choice,” the QM9K is labeled “Ultimate Performance,” and it brings a handful of upgrades that back that up—especially when it comes to brightness and backlight control.

The display itself uses TCL’s CrystGlow WHVA panel, designed to keep color and contrast looking accurate even when you’re not sitting dead center on the couch. It also carries over the sleek ZeroBorder design, with super-thin bezels so the screen blends more cleanly into your room.

One of the standout specs is the 6,500 nits of peak brightness. That’s a 30% bump from the QM8K, which was already known for its brightness. Depending on the size you choose, you’ll also get up to 6,000 local dimming zones, which help the TV show deep blacks next to bright highlights—great for HDR movies and games.

To make the most of those zones, TCL uses what it calls the Halo Control System. It’s a fancy way of saying the TV works hard behind the scenes to keep bright objects from spilling into darker areas (aka blooming). It also includes a backlight controller that can fine-tune over 65,000 brightness steps to help with detail in dark scenes.

"This year, TCL took a different approach with launching our world-class home theater products – releasing our QD-Mini LED TVs one at a time, to showcase the continual innovation and demonstrable upgrades as you step up in our Precise Dimming Series," said Chris Hamdorf, EVP of TCL North America. 

"Our flagship QM9K has next generation picture quality with ultimate brightness and ultimate black levels. And it's the first TV in America with Google's Gemini AI – providing consumers with the ultimate performance in a television."

One of the big talking points for the QM9K is that it’s the first TV to ship with Google Gemini, Google’s new AI assistant that’s replacing the older Google Assistant experience on TVs.

With built-in far-field microphones and a presence sensor, the QM9K can detect when someone walks into the room, wake itself up, and start showing screensavers, artwork, or helpful info—like your calendar or the weather. You can also just say “Hey Google” and ask it questions, even follow-up questions, without reaching for the remote.

Whether you’re searching for something to watch or just want to know tomorrow’s forecast, Gemini is designed to understand what you’re asking—and keep up if you change your mind mid-conversation.

The QM9K doesn’t just focus on visuals. TCL partnered with Bang & Olufsen again for its built-in sound system, and it includes upfiring speakers to help create a more immersive soundstage for Dolby Atmos content.

Even more interesting is the addition of Dolby Atmos FlexConnect, a new feature that lets you connect compatible wireless speakers—like TCL’s Z100 models—and place them pretty much anywhere in the room. The TV handles calibration automatically, so you don’t need to worry about where to put them or how to balance the audio. No soundbar or AV receiver required.

The QM9K supports a full range of video formats, including Dolby Vision, HDR10+, and Filmmaker Mode, and it’s built for smooth motion with a 144Hz refresh rate. That’s good news if you’re a gamer, especially since it also includes two HDMI 2.1 ports with support for variable refresh rate (VRR).

It also includes TCL’s AIPQ Pro processor for upscaling and video processing, and you’ll find modern features like Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.4, Apple AirPlay 2, Google Cast, and an ATSC 3.0 tuner for free over-the-air 4K channels.

The QM9K will come in 65-, 75-, 85-, and 98-inch sizes, and you’ll be able to find it at Best Buy and select retailers soon. The 75-inch version is priced at $3,599, but TCL hasn’t shared pricing for the other sizes just yet.