Compare: TCL C7K / QM7K 55"-85" vs Samsung The Frame 2026 (LS03H)

There are TVs that go through testing and at first glance seem to be just another "medium-range" option. The TCL C7K looks just like that - without grand claims of revolution, without ambitions to dethrone OLEDs. Yet, after spending a few days with this model, it's hard not to conclude that it's truly a successful piece of equipment. The biggest advantages? Very good picture quality at a reasonable price. MiniLED combined with a QLED filter provides vibrant colours, high brightness, and contrast that really impresses in this class. Motion in sports or games looks smooth, and the presence of HDMI 2.1 and 144 Hz refresh rate makes gaming on this model a pure pleasure. On top of that, there's the Google TV system – it offers a huge range of possibilities: from voice control, through AirPlay support, to access to all the most important apps.

Are there any drawbacks? Yes. MiniLED still has its limitations, and in the most challenging movie scenes, one can notice compromises in dimming. Google TV also doesn't always function perfectly smoothly. But these are rather minor issues that don't overshadow the overall picture – and that is really positive. It's also worth noting the difference between variants. The 50-inch version we tested can be surprising, but the 55–85 inch models perform noticeably better – they have more local dimming zones, even higher contrast quality, and better sound quality. Therefore, if you're considering purchasing the C7K, it's definitely worth reaching for the larger size.

Samsung The Frame 2026 is still a TV aimed at a fairly specific type of buyer. If your main priority is having a screen that looks good in your interior, hangs almost flush against the wall, and doesn’t simply turn into a large black rectangle when switched off, there are very few TVs on the market that execute this idea quite as well. The matte screen, interchangeable bezels, external One Connect box, and extensive Art Mode allow The Frame to genuinely become part of the room rather than just another TV sitting in the living room. And that’s exactly where we see its biggest appeal.

Importantly, though, that doesn’t mean design is all you’re getting. The Frame performs really well in bright rooms. Its matte coating is very effective at reducing reflections, brightness reaching around 650 nits is enough for comfortable daytime viewing, and the wide colour gamut means colourful content, animation, and brighter HDR scenes can look very impressive. On top of that, there’s 144Hz support at 4K and, for the first time, up to 240Hz at Full HD. VRR, ALLM, FreeSync, G-Sync, HGiG, low input lag, and an extensive Game Bar make The Frame a much more capable gaming TV than its “artistic” character might suggest.

The biggest compromises become apparent when you look at it as a TV primarily intended for home cinema. The Frame has no local dimming, so blacks become noticeably raised in dark scenes, and this is where the difference compared with good Mini LED and OLED TVs is most obvious. HDR therefore looks best with bright and colourful content, while evening movie sessions in a dark room are definitely not its strongest suit. There is also noticeable motion blur and only one full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 port on the One Connect box, which may be frustrating for some users, especially gamers.

The Frame 2026, then, isn’t a TV for someone looking for the absolute best picture quality in its price range. There are models that offer deeper blacks or a more impactful HDR experience. But if the TV is meant to become part of a well-designed living room, is often used during the day, displays artwork, and at the same time needs to perform well with a wide variety of content, The Frame still makes a lot of sense. Samsung has barely changed its formula here, but it’s easy to see why — the “picture on the wall” concept is still executed extremely well. Owners of the previous model have little reason to upgrade, but for new buyers looking for this particular combination of design and TV functionality, it remains one of the most interesting options on the market.

The results of the black and contrast tests in models from 55 to 85 inches are very similar, which is why in the main part of the evaluation we refer to the 65-inch version. It’s a natural phenomenon that larger sizes mean a greater number of backlight zones, and in the case of 65 inches, we counted over 1000 of them. The effect is very good – the contrast is at a high level and performs significantly better than in the smallest, 50-inch variant. Typical MiniLED limitations are still noticeable, such as the halo effect or somewhat too aggressive dimming of the image; however, here they are less perceptible than in the smaller model.

For comparison, it’s worth recalling that the 50-inch TCL C7K, despite being surprising with the use of as many as 336 dimming zones, struggled with managing the backlight in more complicated scenes – overexposures or loss of details occurred. In larger sizes, this problem doesn't disappear completely, but thanks to the greater number of zones, its impact on the perception of the image is less bothersome.

Samsung The Frame 2026 uses a VA panel but doesn't have local dimming. That means the TV can't dim selected parts of the screen. The backlight therefore works fairly evenly across the whole panel. The VA panel itself gives some advantage over IPS or ADS screens. Blacks are noticeably better, and the picture doesn't look as washed out when watching in the evening. That doesn't change the fact that, in terms of contrast, The Frame performs fairly averagely. You can see this most clearly in dark scenes. If a bright object appears on a black background, the TV can't dim the area around it. The black then takes on a more navy tone and the image loses depth. It's similar with films that have black bars. With the lights off it's quite easy to notice that the bars aren't truly black. In simpler, brighter scenes the issue is much less noticeable. So during regular TV, sport or daytime viewing, contrast is unlikely to be a major problem. It looks worse for evening viewing sessions, especially if you've previously been using an OLED or a good Mini-LED. The difference in black levels to The Frame's disadvantage is then very noticeable.

In terms of brightness, the models ranging from 55 to 85 inches in the C7K series are truly impressive. Under optimal testing conditions, the 65-inch screen exceeded 1200 nits, which in practice means that the brightest scenes can dazzle with almost cinematic brilliance. These are not just dry figures from measurements – during screenings, bright skies, explosions, or reflections of light on water looked incredibly striking, often giving the impression that the television exceeds its price range. This is particularly effective in scenes with large areas of illumination, where the screen fills with intense brightness – for instance, in sun-drenched shots or during dynamic action sequences. Viewers looking for strong HDR will definitely be satisfied.

However, scenes that require precise backlight control – with tiny points of light against a dark background – prove to be more challenging. Here, the C7K, despite having over a thousand zones, can still dim brightness to maintain deep blacks. The effect is that in films like Sicario 2 or LIFE of Pi, some details, such as a distant lighthouse or single reflections, may appear less distinct or blend into the surroundings. This is a compromise inherent in MiniLED technology – it provides excellent image depth and blacks at a level not offered by standard LCDs, but this comes at the cost of limited visibility of the tiniest lights.

The Frame 2026 is a genuinely bright TV. Its peak brightness reaches around 650 nits and, importantly, it maintains similar levels regardless of the type of scene being displayed. It doesn’t really matter whether we’re watching a very bright full-screen image or just a small highlight occupying part of the screen. The backlight remains powerful, allowing bright parts of the image to stand out clearly.

This gives The Frame a solid foundation for HDR. Bright highlights can look impactful, and the picture doesn’t appear flat or overly dim. Unfortunately, there is a compromise. Without local dimming, the TV cannot darken the black areas surrounding very bright objects.

This is clearly visible in scenes 2 and 4 of our test procedure. Bright elements look impressive, but at the same time, the blacks around them become noticeably raised. As a result, the image loses some of its depth, especially when watching in a dark room. This is why The Frame performs best with HDR in bright and moderately bright scenes, where its high brightness works to its advantage. In darker scenes, the situation is quite the opposite.

Colours

The Frame also performs well when it comes to colour reproduction. As a QLED TV, it can display a wide colour gamut and produce rich, saturated colours. DCI-P3 coverage reaches around 94%, while BT.2020 comes in at around 72%. These are good results, and you can see the difference in actual content.

Colours look vivid without appearing washed out, particularly in bright and colourful scenes. Animations and other content with plenty of saturated colours can look really good on The Frame. With this type of material, the TV shows one of its stronger sides.

The new feature in TCL TVs for 2025 is the long-awaited Filmmaker mode, which until now has been found in most competing brands. This is great news, as this mode is regarded as the one that best represents the original vision of the creators and is often recommended by enthusiasts of good picture quality. Unfortunately – as is often the case – the mere presence of it does not guarantee perfection. The Filmmaker mode in the TCL C7K is not without its flaws. One could critique the incorrect white balance, particularly the slight dominance of blue, which caused cool, slightly greyish skin tones. But that was not the biggest issue. The main complaint was the excessive brightness exposure, which is clearly visible on the gamma and EOTF graphs. The picture was simply too bright, at times even blown out, which affected not only the richness of the scenes but also the overall viewing experience. Some details were simply lost, and the whole image looked as if someone had overdone the brightness slider a bit. As always – we decided to see what could be squeezed out of this after calibration. And that’s where it started to get really interesting…

For assessing the factory colour setup we chose the Filmmaker Mode. If you’re encountering it for the first time, it’s a mode designed to reproduce films and TV shows as faithfully as possible. The TV then turns off most additional image enhancers, and the colours and luminance response are intended to be as close as possible to what the creators intended. And it must be said that The Frame 2026 performs quite well in this respect straight out of the box. The biggest deviation is seen in the white balance. As brightness increases, blue starts to fall short and there’s a slight increase in green. As a result, the image shifts towards warmer tones. So white isn’t perfectly neutral, and in some scenes you can notice a subtly warmer cast.

The luminance response, both gamma and EOTF, looks pretty good. Through most of the range they stay fairly close to the target, although larger deviations are visible in the darkest parts of the image. In practice, some shadow details emerging from black may therefore be a bit more pronounced. However, it’s not an error that jumps out during normal viewing. Overall, Filmmaker Mode is a good starting point here. However, the factory picture is a bit too warm and not all hues land exactly where they should.

After calibration, the TCL C7K put on a really good show, especially when it comes to SDR content. We managed to precisely tune the white balance, colour gamut, and brightness characteristics, resulting in colour errors on the ColorChecker palette dropping below a value of 2. For the uninitiated – this is an almost perfect score, meaning the image is very close to what the creators intended. Unfortunately, things didn’t look as good with 4K HDR content. While we managed to slightly calm down the white balance and correct its previous errors, it still shows that the TV has some "MiniLED traits," especially in brightness management. When we checked how the C7K handles the EOTF curve on actual movie scenes, rather than just synthetic test patterns, it turned out that the screen still has a tendency to slightly brighten the entire image. This affects the overall experience – blacks lose some depth, and the image becomes less contrasty than it should be. Despite these minor shortcomings in HDR content, the overall reception of materials – especially in SDR – is really very good. After calibration, the C7K can display an image that can successfully compete with much more expensive models. Good tuning of colours, natural skin tones, and pleasant brightness make movie sessions and everyday content viewing more than satisfying.

After calibration we mainly managed to remove that warmer tint and better even out the white balance. We also smoothed the brightness response a bit, which made the picture more neutral and predictable. There are, however, things calibration won't fix. It's mainly the black performance, which comes from the backlight design and the lack of local dimming. In some scenes the blacks will therefore still be slightly lifted, and you just have to accept that. It's more a characteristic of this model than something you can fix with the settings. HDR is also somewhat limited. Samsung doesn't give full freedom to work across the widest colour gamut here, so not all colours can be reproduced perfectly. In normal viewing it will probably be hard to notice, but it's worth being aware of.

The TCL C7K performs very well with colour gradation – in most tested scenes, tonal transitions were smooth, and colours blended together without visible edges or an artificial "splotch" effect. In everyday use, it's hard to find any faults – the image looks natural, without jarring transitions or digital artifacts. Some limitations only arise in very dark tones – particularly in a heavily muted grey palette, where the TV may struggle to reproduce an ideal gradation. But this is absolutely understandable, as even many significantly more expensive models in this range simply fail. Fortunately, these situations are rare and do not significantly affect the overall perception.

Gradation in The Frame 2026 performs well, though not perfectly. In bright tonal transitions you can notice slight issues and occasional mild banding. These aren't faults that seriously affect normal viewing, but they can be picked up on our test patterns and in more demanding scenes. We'd rate the bright-tone gradation at roughly 7.5-8 out of 10.

Interestingly, gradation looks much better in the dark parts of the image. Here the transitions are very smooth and it's hard to find clear signs of posterization. That's the opposite of many LCD TVs, where the near-black areas usually cause more problems. In photos of dark scenes you can, however, spot some image irregularities. They don't come from the gradation itself but from panel uniformity and the backlight. Unfortunately, in that respect our sample of The Frame wasn't perfect, so in very dark shots you could see brighter and darker patches from the backlight.

TCL C7K comes with a feature that, according to the manufacturer, aims to smooth out unwanted colour transitions – something like a rescue for less successful tonal changes. It's called "Gradual Smoothing" and... well, it sounds ambitious, but in practice, it works very poorly. Regardless of whether we set it to low or high, the difference is minimal. And worse still – the feature can cut out elements from the image that should remain. Fortunately, film grain is left untouched, so at least it doesn't smooth everything indiscriminately, but even so – it's best to just turn this option off.

When it comes to upscaling lower resolution content, it's already better. SD and HD materials look quite decent, although at times we felt that the image loses sharpness and becomes too soft – as if something had taken away its clarity. Fortunately, with very low sources (e.g. 576p), there was no overscan effect, meaning the image wasn't artificially cropped – everything fit on the screen as it should.

As with many of Samsung’s newer TVs, this one also uses the NQ4 AI processor, albeit the older, second-generation version. I must admit it handles digital image processing quite well. Lower-resolution material is sharpened effectively, and when upscaled to 4K it still looks natural. The TV can also tidy up weaker sources a bit, such as older recordings or lower-quality broadcasts. That doesn’t, of course, mean it will suddenly turn poor footage into true 4K, but at close viewing distances the difference compared with simpler models with weaker processors is easy to spot. Edges are clearer and fine details aren’t lost as much to signal compression.

Samsung also provides a few extra picture-enhancing features, but as usual it’s best to use them sparingly. At stronger settings, noise reduction can very effectively reduce posterisation, but it also noticeably interferes with the image. The picture then starts to look quite artificial, for example by heavily smoothing faces. So these features make most sense with really poor sources when all the noise is very distracting.

TCL C7K handles motion smoothness really well. The panel used in it offers a refresh rate of 144 Hz, which alone suggests that this TV is more than just a regular "60 Hz" panel. Moreover, if we connect the C7K to a computer and set the resolution to Full HD. But we will write more about this in the section for gamers and PC compatibility. Returning to everyday use – both sports and movies look very good here. Thanks to the quick panel and the well-functioning motion smoothening feature, the C7K is great for watching matches as well as for movie screenings. In the menu, we find two sliders – blur reduction and flicker reduction – that allow adjusting the smoothness effect to personal preferences. At lower settings, we get a more cinematic effect, with a slight judder. At higher settings – the image becomes more theatrical, smoothly even to excess. Whatever your taste, everyone can set it to their liking.

Samsung again used a panel here with a maximum refresh rate of 144 Hz. Refresh rates up to 120 Hz mainly offer greater flexibility with high-motion content. The TV can use additional motion smoothing systems that can improve smoothness in sports and other fast-paced content. However, a high refresh rate alone does not solve everything. The Frame still uses a VA panel, which has a fairly slow response time, resulting in quite pronounced motion blur. With fast-moving objects, especially against dark backgrounds, the trails are easy to notice. There's also a slight double-imaging of edges, which can be visible even after turning off additional motion enhancement systems. We already saw similar behaviour in last year's The Frame 2025, and it's a shame Samsung hasn't fixed this. The 144 Hz itself provides a good foundation, but the panel's response time still limits this TV.

TCL C7K is a TV that on paper looks like the dream gear for a gamer – and most importantly, it also holds up in practice. First, the good news: we have two HDMI 2.1 ports with full bandwidth, so we can easily connect both a console and a computer, making use of all their capabilities. The panel itself supports a refresh rate of 144 Hz, which gives a considerable advantage in fast-paced games. On top of that, it comes with a full suite of gaming features: VRR (variable refresh rate), ALLM (automatic low latency mode), and Dolby Vision support in games. There’s also an HGiG mode that provides an HDR effect aligned with the creators' intentions. GameBar, which is an information bar for gamers. It operates quickly, looks clear (like a Nintendo console👌), and displays what matters most: the current frame rate, VRR status, and even HDR parameters.

When it comes to gaming features, The Frame is practically on par with Samsung’s flagship TVs. Once a console is connected, the TV automatically switches to Game Mode thanks to ALLM, so there’s no need to change the settings manually every time. There’s also VRR, which matches the screen’s refresh rate to the frame rate generated by the console or PC. When the frame rate drops, this helps prevent the characteristic screen tearing that can otherwise occur.

The Frame naturally supports 4K at 120Hz, allowing you to take advantage of higher frame rates on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. HGiG also works correctly. Once HDR has been properly calibrated on the console, the TV doesn’t try to additionally brighten the image on its own, so bright highlights in games are displayed as they should be.

Samsung also includes its Game Bar. This quick-access menu can be opened without leaving the game and lets you check things like VRR operation or the current frame rate, while also giving you quick access to the most important gaming settings. PC users get even more flexibility, as the Full HD mode mentioned earlier allows the refresh rate to be increased all the way up to 240Hz.

There is really only one feature missing, and by now it’s something we’ve come to expect from Samsung TVs: Dolby Vision Gaming. Xbox owners will notice this the most, as Xbox consoles can actually use Dolby Vision in supported games.

There is one more limitation worth mentioning that applies specifically to this model. The One Connect box has only one HDMI 2.1 port, so this is the only input you can use for a console or PC if you want to play at 4K 120Hz. Fortunately, Samsung hasn’t combined this port with eARC. This means you can connect a soundbar separately to HDMI 3 and still keep the full-bandwidth HDMI 2.1 port available for your console.

When it comes to delays, the C7K doesn’t give any reasons to complain. In games at 120 Hz, the input lag is around 10 ms, which means the TV responds really quickly. And interestingly – even in Dolby Vision mode, the result is very similar, which isn’t always the standard. Good job, TCL. At 60 Hz, the lag does increase a bit, but that’s completely normal and applies to pretty much every TV with 120Hz refresh rates and higher. The important thing is that everything still runs smoothly and there’s no feeling that anything is unresponsive to our actions.

Those who worried that the additional One Connect module might cause greater delay between our action on the controller and what happens on screen can rest easy. The input lag we measured is as low as in other Samsung TVs.

At a 60 Hz signal it's about 15 ms, and when switching to 120 Hz it drops to around 8 ms. Those are very good results, so the delay is hard to notice in practice, even in fast-paced games. The One Connect module itself doesn't introduce any noticeable issue.

If we intend to connect the C7K to a computer – especially for gaming – there's definitely something to play with. We've got 4K at 144 Hz, which already sounds fantastic, but if we lower the resolution, the TV can display even 280 Hz. In e-sports, where every fraction of a second counts, this really makes a difference. On top of that, there's support for G-Sync and FreeSync, so no matter what graphics card we have – the image will be smooth, with no stuttering or tearing.

But if we plan to set the C7K on a desk and use it like a monitor, it's a bit less "rosy." Sure, it supports chroma 4:4:4, so fonts should be sharp, but with very dark letters, there's a slight blurriness and dimming of the edges. It's not something that immediately stands out when gaming or watching, but when working with text – it might be distracting. In everyday use – probably without worries, but if we plan to place a 50-inch screen a metre from our face, it's worth keeping this in mind.

In this category you could jokingly say the new The Frame gives with one hand and takes with the other. If we look purely at PC gaming, it performs really well. It offers 144 Hz at 4K or even 240 Hz in Full HD, plus support for G-Sync and FreeSync and very low input lag. The Frame can easily serve as a large gaming monitor and there’s little to complain about. On the other hand, we got the impression that font readability in the new model has slightly worsened. When you look at text up close you can notice extra fringing along the bottom edges of letters caused by the behaviour of individual subpixels. This gives a slight impression of softened text. Of course this is mainly an issue for people who would actually want to use The Frame as a desktop monitor, for example for working with text. At a typical viewing distance the problem is practically impossible to notice. And let’s be honest, it’s hard to imagine anyone putting a 55- or 65-inch The Frame on their desk.

There are no surprises here – the C7K has classic viewing angles for a VA panel. That is: we sit directly in front – it's fantastic. Colours look good, contrast is strong, everything is in place. But just shifting slightly to the side makes it worse – the image loses saturation, blacks go grey, and the overall impression diminishes somewhat. So if we're planning to watch together with a few people or have a couch that takes up half the living room – it's worth seating everyone more centrally. You can watch from the side, but don’t expect miracles – it's simply a characteristic of the VA panel.

Viewing angles are not a strong point of this model. Compared with LCD TVs with IPS panels, and even more so with OLEDs, the picture degrades fairly quickly when viewed at an angle.

Fortunately, the TCL C7K performs quite well in a bright room. The screen has a satin finish, which effectively reduces reflections and means that even on sunny days we don't have to worry about reflections from lamps or windows. Importantly, the colours maintain their intensity and don't wash out as can happen with weaker matte panels. As for brightness, the average for content like YouTube or regular television is a bit below 500 nits. It's not a record-setting result – for example, the MQLED85 (C765) performs better in this regard. However, for everyday viewing during the day, it should work without major issues, as long as we don't plan to place it opposite a south-facing window without curtains.

The Frame is, by design, a TV that will often be used in a bright living room, and its matte finish suits that very well. The screen effectively diffuses reflections, so a window or a lit lamp doesn't turn into a clear mirror. In that respect it's really good and it's one of this model's stronger points. The matte finish does have a downside. Strong light falling directly on the screen scatters over a larger area and slightly raises the black level. During the day blacks therefore don't look as "deep" as at night, especially when the room is very bright. But we think that's a fair compromise. Working in The Frame's favour is its high brightness. The TV has enough brightness so the image doesn't wash out and remains clearly visible during the day. Overall, it's a good TV for a bright living room, especially if reflections bother you more.

SmartTV: GoogleTV

The greatest strength of the TCL C7K in everyday use is undoubtedly the Google TV system. Thanks to it, we have access to an almost endless library of applications, including some more niche ones that are often unavailable on other platforms. The built-in Google Assistant understands Polish, so we can easily ask what’s on TV, what the weather is like, and even give a few voice commands to control the television. The presence of Chromecast and AirPlay, which work smoothly and make life easier, is also a plus.

Useful features

However, the classic features are a bit lacking. Of course, we find the basics here – teletext, EPG or the ability to connect headphones – but that’s pretty much it. There’s a lack of USB recording functions and a picture-in-picture (PiP) mode, which can sometimes still be found with competitors. It's also worth remembering that the Google TV version from TCL can sometimes have strangely translated menu items or minor interface bugs. These are not things that hinder everyday use, but those sensitive to details may notice them.

Operating System: Tizen

Samsung The Frame 2026 runs on the familiar Tizen operating system, so when it comes to Smart TV features, you get pretty much everything you would expect from a modern TV. There is a wide selection of streaming apps, AirPlay, SmartThings, and the ability to cast content from a smartphone. The system itself is fast and responsive, while the menu layout is very similar to what you’ll find on other Samsung TVs.

When it comes to traditional TV features, things are a little more basic. The Frame doesn’t really stand out in this area, focusing primarily on its online features and lifestyle-oriented functionality.

Art Mode

The key feature, of course, remains Art Mode. It allows The Frame to display artwork or your own photos when you’re not watching TV, effectively turning the screen into part of your interior. The matte screen coating plays an important role here, as it helps the displayed artwork look less like an image shown on a glowing TV screen.

Another interesting addition is the motion sensor, something you won’t normally find on other TVs. It’s worth pointing out that this is not the same thing as the ambient light sensor. The latter adjusts the screen brightness to match the conditions in the room, while the motion sensor detects whether someone is nearby. If the room is empty, the TV can automatically turn Art Mode off and then switch it back on when you return. This means the screen doesn’t have to stay on all the time.

Another feature that works particularly well with this model is One Connect. In our opinion, it makes a lot of sense on a TV like The Frame, which is designed to sit as close to the wall as possible. All the main cables are connected to a separate box, while only a single cable runs to the screen itself. It’s simply a very convenient solution.

It’s also worth mentioning that Samsung includes a dedicated wall mount in the box. That might sound obvious, but it really isn’t. With the flagship S99H, for example, which also puts a strong emphasis on flush wall mounting and blending into the interior, the appropriate wall mount has to be purchased separately. With The Frame, it’s included, so you can save yourself a bit of extra money right from the start.

*The Art Mode photo was taken on The Frame Pro 2026. It looks identical on the standard The Frame — we have to admit that we simply forgot to take a photo of it during testing. 😉

The built-in file player in the TCL C7K performs really well. It supports most popular audio and video formats, so if we want to quickly throw something from a USB stick and play it – there shouldn't be a problem. Of course, as is often the case, there might be some minor shortcomings – not every exotic codec will work (Apple's HEIC), not all subtitles will be perfectly synchronised (txt.). However, this is where the biggest advantage of this TV comes in, namely Google TV. With access to the Google Play Store, we can easily install an alternative player, such as VLC, and then no files will be a concern for us.

When it comes to playing files from USB, The Frame performs adequately. The TV handles the main video, photo and audio formats with no trouble, so in everyday use there shouldn't be many surprises. However, we again ran into problems with the HEIC format, which is common on Apple devices. Photos saved in that format couldn't be opened correctly, which can be annoying if you often transfer photos directly from an iPhone. Apart from that, the media player operated without any major issues.

In the larger versions of the C7K (from 55 inches and above), the sound makes an even better impression than in the smallest 50-inch variant. This is due to the greater number of built-in speakers and additional channels, which allow for a fuller, more spatial sound. The bass becomes clearer, dialogues gain clarity, and the film effects can really fill the room.

It's worth mentioning the collaboration between TCL and Bang & Olufsen, which appeared in the 2025 models. Even if we don't have a hundred percent certainty that original Danish company drivers are working inside, the final effect is surprisingly positive. For a television without an additional soundbar, the larger C7K models offer sound that can be enjoyed even during longer movie sessions.

Despite using a 40W 2.0.2 speaker system, which on paper is slightly better than what you’ll find in many standard TVs, the sound quality is fairly average. Our biggest issue is that it simply sounds flat. As with most very slim TVs, there isn’t much bass or depth.

Fortunately, the midrange and treble are reproduced well enough. Dialogue is clear, and at normal listening volumes there are no major distortions. For watching the news or regular TV, the built-in speakers are perfectly adequate. With movies, music, or games, however, you’ll quickly start to miss a fuller and more powerful sound.

For that reason, we would definitely recommend pairing The Frame with a soundbar or external speakers. Samsung also offers an increasing number of audio products designed specifically with lifestyle TVs in mind, including the slim S800 series, as well as Music Frame and Music Studio speakers, which visually complement The Frame particularly well.

TCL C7K / QM7K 55"-85" vs Samsung The Frame 2026 (LS03H)

Advantages

Disadvantages

Our verdict

TV appearance

Where to buy

Contrast and black detail

HDR effect quality

Colours

Factory color reproduction

Color reproduction after calibration

Smoothness of tonal transitions

Image scaling and smoothness of tonal transitions

Blur and motion smoothness

Console compatibility and gaming features

Input lag

Compatibility with PC

Viewing angles

Daytime performance

Panel details

TV features

Classic features:

Smart features:

Sound connection options

Supported audio formats (external HDMI eARC audio):

Senior accessibility

SmartTV: GoogleTV

Useful features

Operating System: Tizen

Art Mode

Apps

Playing files from USB

Sound

Sound Quality Test

Acoustic Measurements