Why TCL is Suing Samusng over MiniLEDs - DTNS Weekend October 3, 2026

Tom Merritt (0:10)

Welcome to a DT&S Weekend Edition, gratefully provided to you, and thanks for your support of this show. And this week, we have a lawsuit. Two TV manufacturers going at each other over the definition of mini LED. And I couldn't think of anybody better to help us understand this than Mr. Robert Heron. Welcome back to the show, Robert.

Robert Heron (0:29)

Hey, Tom, it is good to see you. Thank you.

Tom Merritt (0:32)

Heron Fidelity still is the enterprise in which you endeavor, right?

Robert Heron (0:37)

I am busy as ever. That's good to hear.

Tom Merritt (0:41)

Well, let's start before we get to the actual lawsuit. Let's start with explain to people, you know, in the brief version, what is a mini LED?

Robert Heron (0:50)

For every LCD TV that you look at, the liquid crystal display, it features a lighting system on the back of that panel that shines through color filters and pixel filters to create the picture you see. And it specifically refers to that lighting system. And the mini LED is in effect, typically a grid of LEDs across the back of the display.

Now, in some low cost models, they will simplify that down to just a single string of LEDs along the side or the bottom that scatter light across the reflector on the back. But in essence, that mini LED is in fact, just a grid of LEDs that provide the light source that gets converted into the color and detail we see on the screen.

Tom Merritt (1:35)

And then I know that FALD is a part of this as well. What is that?

Robert Heron (1:42)

Full array local dimming or local dimming for short. And what that means is for say a grid of LEDs or for a string of LEDs, you have per LED control where you can manipulate the individual LED that represents the light that's hitting a particular pixel and to be able to modulate that light lighter or darker in order to help improve the apparent contrast of the picture you see.

So in the best case example, you would have a grid of LEDs behind that screen, that LCD display you're looking at. And in a sense, you could think of it as that mini LED array is a lower resolution version of the picture and it brightens or darkens areas of that picture to best enhance that picture you're looking at. And that full array local dimming specifically refers to something like that grid array of LEDs and the ability to control them individually or within groups as in zones across the whole display.

Tom Merritt (2:36)

And that helps with contrast and black levels and that sort of gradient stuff sometimes you see in dark scenes, that kind of thing, right?

Robert Heron (2:43)

Totally. And in combination with actually controlling the individual LCD pixels themselves, you can also help basically improve things like when you watch a letterbox movie, they won't light up the LEDs that are behind the black bar, so they appear even darker or in shadow detail and things like that as well. There's a balance between being able to make that part of the screen that should be black, as black as possible while at the same time preserving your bright detail and pop where you need it.

Tom Merritt (3:10)

Okay. So let's get to the dispute. Why is TCL suing Samusng when Samusng's like, we got LEDs. What are you mad about, bro?

Robert Heron (3:20)

In my view, at its core, it is a marketing dispute and TCL is claiming that Samusng has taken its use of specific terms too far, specifically the mini-LED terminology, at least in some ways that they would consider to be at least misleading.

And that's assuming any of these terms had any agreed upon definition here in North America. It would be awesome if there was some sort of standards body that offered and officiated such things and would define exactly what these terms mean for the average consumer so we could have some common terms and verbiage in terms of how we describe these things. There is such a body in China, of course, and all of these companies that we're talking about right now are all members of this particular standards body. And they define things like the size of an LED, if it's mini or micro or whatever, in addition to things like what is considered full array local dimming. But they do not mix those terms together. Those are just separate definitions within that standards body.

Tom Merritt (4:21)

And so that's why TCL isn't suing Samsung in China? Because I would say so.

Robert Heron (4:27)