LeEco, the Chinese brand that has shaken up the smartphone market in India, is all set to launch two SuperTVs in India — the X55 and the X65.
The models were launched recently in China and come with 3840 x 2160 4K resolution and 4000:1 contrast ratio.
They also come with Mstar 6A938 chip and Mali-T820 GPU.
The panels sport a slight curvature (4000R) and are likely to be the cheapest 4K curved TVs available in India upon launch.
LeTV is likely to keep its ‘zero margin’ policy on its TVs as well, which means that the company does not try to make a profit when it sells you the device.
Instead, it will try to make money by tying up with content companies such as Eros.
When a user buys subscription for content apps, a part of it will be given to LeEco.
As a result, the X55 — which, as the name indicates, is a 55-inch model — was announced in China at a price of around Rs 51,000 and the X65 was announced at around Rs 81,400.
These prices, according to the company, were below the cost of manufacturing the models.
Technically, these numbers should mean that the India prices of these LeEco televisions should be around Rs 60,000 for the 55-inch model and Rs 95,000 for the 65 inch model due to higher taxes.
However, LeEco has a history of absorbing most of the increased tax load on smartphones in India and keeping the local price more or less at a similar level to that in the home market.
However, it is not clear whether it will be able to replicate that strategy in the TV market as televisions cost much more than smartphones.
The launch of Le X55 and X65 will further increase the competition between LeEco and local brands such as Micromax.
Micromax currently has one of the cheapest 4K TVs in India. Its 49-inch model is priced at Rs 48,400.
However, the model (50K2330UHD) comes with a flat display. Besides, the Le X55 is about 25% bigger than the Micromax model in terms of viewing area.
Size is crucial when it comes to getting the maximum benefit from buying a UHD or 4K TV.
For example, if you are sitting eight feet away and want to benefit from an upgrade to your existing FHD television, you need to buy something bigger than 40 inches to see any difference in picture quality, and can go all the way up to 80 inches with better and better results. The ideal TV size at that distance is 80 inches.
If you sit farther away, you need an even bigger TV.
In addition to a nifty quad-core processor, the TVs also come with 3 GB of RAM and 16 GB of internal storage. They can play 4K videos at a speed of 60 Hz and come with Android 5 operating system.
The models also come with super slim bezels. The thickness of the main portion of the TV is only around 1 cm.
The body of the X55 and X65 has been made with aircraft-grade aluminium using diamond cutting. According to the company, the panel has a color reproduction accuracy of 85% NTSC.
According to various reports, the models use a Samsung panel, while a more high-end model (not likely being launched in India) uses LG IPS panels.