Hisense is kicking off the new year in style with the launch of its full 2026 TV lineup, with its most premium UR9S and UR8S set to become the first TVs in the world to support the new Dolby Vision 2 specification.
The Hisense UR9S and UR8S TVs are equipped with “RGB miniLED” panels, which is the company’s branding for the powerful new RGB LED display technology that’s set to displace traditional Mini-LED. The company was one of the first in the world to launch an RGB LED TV last year, but it was just a single, extremely large and expensive model. This year, the company intends to make the new technology much more accessible and suitable for the average living room.
Hisense said the UR9S (pictured below) and UR8S TVs will be sold in sizes ranging from 55-inches to 100-inches at the maximum, meaning they’ll be much smaller than the 116-inch UX RGB-MiniLED TV that debuted late last year. The new models sport a slimmer “unibody” design that matches the appearance of Sony’s and Samsung’s higher-end TVs more closely, being just 45 millimetres slim.
The advantage of the new TVs is the RGB LED backlight, which makes them much brighter than conventional Mini-LED models. The panel also provides wider coverage of the BT.2020 colour gamut, ensuring more accurate pictures. It also has more local dimming zones to improve light control, Hisense said, although it didn’t disclose any numbers.
Other details include an improved anti-reflective coating, a brand new Hi-View AI Engine RGB processor and 180Hz refresh rates that can be cranked up to 300Hz for PC gaming, though doing so would sacrifice resolution to just 1080p. Games consoles such as the PlayStation 5 and Xbox will not be able to achieve 300Hz though, Hisense said.
Perhaps the most interesting news from Hisense is that the UR9S and UR8S will both support Dolby Vision 2 thanks to the company’s collaboration with Dolby and MediaTek on the new Pentonic 800 chipset found in the TVs. Dolby Vision 2 promises to be a major evolution of the HDR format, but it may not be available immediately. Hisense said users may have to download a firmware upgrade to access Dolby Vision 2, and will also need to wait for the first movie and TV shows mastered in the new format.
Still, they’re set to become the world’s first TVs to feature Dolby Vision 2. While LG has also pre-announced a new RGB LED TV that will go on sale in 2026, it hasn’t said anything about Dolby Vision 2
Aside from the UR9S and UR8S, Hisense will debut more affordable models such as the U7S Pro, U7SE and E8S, which will come with Mini-LED displays and feature either 165Hz or 144Hz refresh rates.
The company will also launch a series of standard LCD TVs with direct LED backlights, such as the E7S Pro, E7S, A7S and A6S. The U7S Pro stands out as the most affordable in Hisense’s lineup to offer Dolby Vision 2 support, and it will also feature a sound system that’s fine-tuned by Devialet. It’s set to compete in the mid-range segment against models such as Samsung’s more affordable Neo QLED TVs.
Hisense said the European versions of its 2026 TVs will run its Vidaa operating system, while the U.S. model will get Google TV. They’ll launch in Europe sometime in the second quarter, but we don’t know yet when they’ll arrive in the U.S. In any case, we can expect to learn more about them in a few day’s time when Hisense showcases them for the first time at CES 2026.
