Samsung Electronic’s iconic gallery TV, The Frame, is facing more intense competition than ever before this year. TCL has just become the latest brand to enter the fray, launching three new Nxtvision TVs for 2026, joining the likes of Hisense, LG Electronics and even Amazon.
The company first unveiled the Nxtvision A400 Pro in December, but is now complementing that flagship model with two others in the shape of the Nxtvision A400U and the Nxtvision A400. They’re replacing the original Nxtvision A300, which debuted a couple of years ago as TCL’s first attempt at providing Samsung with some competition in the gallery TV segment.
The A400 Pro and the A400U boast some impressive specifications that should make them more than a match for the latest version of The Frame. Notably, they come with Mini-LED panels with up to 1,344 local dimming zones on the largest sizes, which means that users no longer have to make sacrifices in terms of picture quality just to get their hands on a television with such aesthetic qualities. Indeed, TCL said the Nxtvision A400 Pro and A400U are both capable of showing HDR-quality images.
Similar to The Frame, the Nxtvision TVs are designed to look like a kind of picture frame that sits flush against the wall they’re hanging on, so they can display works of art when they’re not being used to watch movies. Users can access TCL’s Art Gallery to download works of art from a selection of well-known and much lesser-known artists, and there are also prebuilt ambient scenes and a tool for creating AI-generated art. There’s also the option to upload personal photos for displaying on the TV in ambient mode.
The A400 Pro is the highest-end model in the series, featuring a matte display coating to block out ambient light, whereas the A400U has a more traditional shiny display. However, that’s really the only major difference, as the largest 98-inch version of the A400U matches the 2,500 nits peak brightness of the A400 Pro and also has up to 1,344 dimming zones. As for the Nxtvision A400, this is just a more budget-friendly variant of the TV that lacks Mini-LED, instead using a standard LCD panel.
The A400U and A400 are available in sizes ranging from 55-inches to 98-inches, with the usual sizes in between. The A400 Pro comes in the same sizes, but there are also 43-inch and even 32-inch options available.
TCL’s Nxtvision TVs actually surpass Samsung’s The Frame in many ways. This year’s The Frame Pro has long local dimming zones and only has an edge-lit Mini-LED panel. But where Samsung still has an advantage is the sheer extent of famous artworks it has access to, due to it forging licensing agreements with many of the world’s best-known museums and galleries. Samsung recently surpassed more than 5,000 artworks in its Art Store, dwarfing the 350-odd choices in TCL’s Art Gallery.
Other specifications of the A400 Pro and the A400U include 144Hz panels, Dolby Vision IQ, HDR10+, Google TV, Filmmaker Mode, HDMI 2.1 ports, VRR and Dolby Atmos.
