It was a big year for Hisense. With CES 2025 upon us, I can't help but dream big about Hisense's future TV lineup.
Thanks to a formula that combined affordability with high-level performance, the brand topped our list of best TVs in 2024 with the competitively priced Hisense U8N. But there's still plenty of room to get even better.
Here's a quick wish list of everything I'd like to see them announce for its upcoming TV lineup.
Improved picture processing
There's no denying that Hisense has a handle on harnessing Mini-LEDs, but I've yet to see the brand polish its picture processing to the level of Samsung or Sony. In 2025, I want to be wowed not just by a Hisense TV's contrast and color, but by its attention to detail, too.
What would this look like? For one thing, better motion processing. While I was getting to know the U8N earlier this year, the otherwise impressive Mini-LED TV would sometimes exhibit some motion-related quirks, like ghosting and other visual artifacts.
Upscaling is another area of performance where Hisense could catch up with rival brands this year. In my experience, even the best Hisense TVs in recent years have sometimes struggled to clean up sub-4K content, like cable broadcasts and YouTube TV. It leads to artifacts like banding and blocking.
Most viewers aren't likely to notice these occasional hiccups (which is good!), but for eagle-eyed enthusiasts of a pristine picture, there's still room for Hisense TVs to improve.
More HDMI 2.1 inputs on the top-shelf models
Along with TCL, Hisense has wised up about its deployment of HDMI 2.1 in recent years. Not too long ago, these brands' best TVs only offered a pair of gaming-optimized, high-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 inputs, and one of them doubled as an eARC port.
This meant that owners with two consoles and a soundbar had to relegate one of their consoles to a less-capable HDMI 2.0 input if they wanted all three devices consistently connected to the TV.
This isn't the case anymore. Now, a high-end Hisense TV separates its eARC port from its pair of HDMI 2.1 inputs. That's a fantastic quality-of-life improvement, but I still think Hisense can step it up in this department.
If it truly wants to compete with the kitted out flagships from LG and Samsung, Hisense should outfit its high-end TVs with a full suite of four HDMI 2.1 inputs.
A Hisense-branded OLED TV for the United States market
Let me be absolutely clear about something: If Hisense announces an OLED TV for the US market at CES 2025, I will eat my hat. I just don't think it's going to happen.
But it should.
This year, Hisense surprised everyone with the announcement of the Hisense A85N, an all-new OLED TV to be sold in Europe. In addition to its geographic limitations, it's also only available in 55- and 65-inch sizes.
While 2025 might not be the year of the Hisense OLED, who knows what the future holds. Its entry would bring some serious competition to the OLED market here in the states, especially if Hisense priced it as competitively as it prices its Mini-LED TVs.
More from Tom's Guide
- LG 2025 QNED TVs announced ahead of CES — meet LG’s newest Mini-LED and QLED TVs
- HDMI 2.2 may be announced at CES 2025 — everything we know so far
- LG C4 OLED vs Samsung S90D OLED: Which OLED TV wins?