Hisense debuted its first Roku-powered 8K smart TV on the shelves (virtual and otherwise) of Best Buy and Amazon earlier this month.
And already, we're seeing a trend re-emerge that defined the 4K smart TV era -- smart TV's made by Chinese manufacturers, enabled with the Roku OS, undercutting more expensive Korean rivals.
The Hisense U800GR's 75-inch model is priced at $2,700, around $1,000 less than the Samsung QN800A and $2,500 less than the Samsung QN900A, which are the Korean electronics giant's latest 8K TVs.
As Next TV's sibling publication Tech Radar notes, the only 8K smart TV that's comparably priced is another Roku-enabled set -- TCL's 6-Series 8K Roku TV is currently listed as an "Amazon's Choice" and is priced at $2,700 on the online retail giant.
As for Hisense's U800GR, it features 8K ULED technology, Quantum Dot technology, Dolby Vision™, up to 1000 nits peak brightness, and 180 local dimming zones.
But as is often the case, you get what you pay for.
As Tech Radar also pointed out, Samsung’s 8K TVs are so expensive because they use Mini LED instead of a traditional LED backlight. That gives Samsung TV's better lighting control and contrast than other LED TVs and puts them closer to OLED in terms of black levels. That makes a big difference on larger TVs.
