Two LED strips, no dimming zones, and a Mini LED badge on the box. That is what the backlight shots of the Samsung M80H show, and it is hard to argue with a photo.
Quick recap for anyone who missed the start: TCL is suing Samsung in the US over the M70H and M80H, saying they are marketed as Mini LED while having no local dimming at all. TCL goes further and claims they are rebadged Crystal UHD entry sets, renamed because Samsung could not match TCL's real Mini LED sets on price. That claim now has some backing. Rtings and the YouTuber AP Tech both found the chips and backlight look identical to last year's Crystal UHD models. The German coverage also points out Samsung uses 0.5mm LEDs here, which is large, given that even 0.2 or 0.3mm parts usually still are not called Mini LED.
To be fair, Samsung never actually says these sets do local dimming, and Mini LED has no formal definition. Legally that may hold. For buyers it doesn't, because the only reason anyone cares about the term is the expectation of a zoned backlight that can keep blacks dark next to bright highlights. An edge strip with smaller LEDs gives you none of that.
This is the company that called an LCD with quantum dots QLED in 2017 and first wanted to call its RGB Mini LED sets RGB Micro LED. The court will decide the rest, since TCL is not dropping the case.
For anyone who bought an M70H or M80H: did you go in expecting the backlight upgrade, and does it actually look any different in a dark room from the Crystal UHD it replaced?
Quick recap for anyone who missed the start: TCL is suing Samsung in the US over the M70H and M80H, saying they are marketed as Mini LED while having no local dimming at all. TCL goes further and claims they are rebadged Crystal UHD entry sets, renamed because Samsung could not match TCL's real Mini LED sets on price. That claim now has some backing. Rtings and the YouTuber AP Tech both found the chips and backlight look identical to last year's Crystal UHD models. The German coverage also points out Samsung uses 0.5mm LEDs here, which is large, given that even 0.2 or 0.3mm parts usually still are not called Mini LED.
To be fair, Samsung never actually says these sets do local dimming, and Mini LED has no formal definition. Legally that may hold. For buyers it doesn't, because the only reason anyone cares about the term is the expectation of a zoned backlight that can keep blacks dark next to bright highlights. An edge strip with smaller LEDs gives you none of that.
This is the company that called an LCD with quantum dots QLED in 2017 and first wanted to call its RGB Mini LED sets RGB Micro LED. The court will decide the rest, since TCL is not dropping the case.
For anyone who bought an M70H or M80H: did you go in expecting the backlight upgrade, and does it actually look any different in a dark room from the Crystal UHD it replaced?
