TCL North America launches 98" S5 4K LCD TV for $5000

TCL recently announced a cheaper 98-inch for Europe and another variant called S5 is now coming to North America for $5000.

The 98-inch S5 features a 120Hz LCD panel with 4K resolution. It lacks the LED zone dimming capabilities of the more expensive 98-inch QM850Q miniLED LCD that the company has also announced for 2023.

- "Watching a game on a TCL 98" TV is not like stepping to a slightly larger screen size; it is a completely different experience," said Chris Hamdorf, SVP, TCL. "With a third more screen area of an 85" TV, a TCL 98" TV transforms you from watching the game to truly feeling like you are there. TCL is now going to lead the way by making that amazing experience more affordable, and therefore, achievable. As the Official TV Partner of the NFL and a top two best-selling TV brand in the US for four consecutive years, it just makes sense that we are delivering the perfect big game TV."



It supports both Dolby Vision and HDR10+ but the lack of LED zone dimming means that reproducing HDR picture quality in practice is not possible, so if this is a priority you should consider TCL's 98-inch QM850Q instead – or another brand.

There is also Dolby Atmos support for output via eARC. It has a 240Hz VRR game mode that halves the vertical resolution.

The LCD panel is produced in-house by TCL CSOT who also supplies 98-inch LCD panels to all other brands including Samsung and Sony.


Google TV, not Roku
The 98-inch S5 features Google TV with access to the Google Play app store and built-in Chromecast and Assistant.

After rising to fame in North America hand-in-hand with Roku, TCL has in recent years switched more and more of its new TV models to run Google's TV opdatering system. 

TCL's 98-inch S5 (98S550G) is available starting this week for $5000 from Best Buy.

TCL also announced the launch of TCLtv+, a new streaming service for North America offering over 200 free channels with ads as well as over 1500 free movies and series with ads. TCLtv+ is available now in TCL Google TVs and will be available soon in TCL models running Roku and FireTV.

TCL S5 – specifications
 FlatpanelsHD