Technology

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A few months back, TCL announced the details of its next flagship mini-LED TV – and I've just had the first chance to see it in action at the IFA 2024 show, and it really is a stunner.

It's available in 85-inch and 98-inch sizes, and both were on display. Even without worrying about the price (which I have to assume will be high) it's clear that I won't be getting either of these giant TVs to fit in my modest living room, but it makes me excited to see the tech inside them coming to TCL's regular TV range… though also proved to be a reminder of just how good the company's current TVs are.

The X11H is capable of 6,500 nits of brightness according to TCL, and bear in mind that around 3,000 nits is most you get from the more standard-priced mini-LED TVs that appear in our guide to the best TVs – and that's still for the more premium ones.

Super-high brightness isn't really a benefit if all the light is leaking from bright areas into dark areas, so the X11H has over 10,000 dimming zones in the 85-inch model, and over 14,000 in the 98-inch model.

Seeing this combination of brightness and light control in action is pretty mesmerizing. Colors are so intense without falling over the line to over-saturation, and the the dark parts of the screen were inky black with no obvious bleeding from the light areas at all.

(Image credit: Future)

Now, a trade show floor isn't the best place to get a look at the nuances of light control, I readily admit, so I'd love to get the TV in our dark testing room, but I was still impressed at the level of contrast I saw there, because TCL's demo footage wasn't afraid to lean into having small bold areas surrounding by darkness.

Still, I kind of assumed the level of contrast would be good, so the colors were the element that really jumped out at me. The thing about ultra-bright TVs isn't that they don't necessarily make HDR movies any better – in fact, with these very bright TVs, we always recommend using Movie or Filmmaker modes that usually drop the brightness, because it tends to help with accuracy.

But big brightness and big colors are fantastic for recreating the real world, which is a very bright place. It's fantastic watching sports matches or nature documentaries filmed in ultra-detailed 4K on a screen with brightness that makes them look closer to real life – the advantage of the brightness is the flexibility, rather than wanting everything to be bright by default.

(Image credit: Future)

However, I mentioned before that something I picked up on is the comparison to TCL highest-end TV for regular people in Europe this year: the TCL C855. I could see the X11H and the C855 right next to each other at 85 inches, and while that comparison showed what the extra tech of the X11H can do, what I took away even more strongly is just how good the C855 is – not a surprise if you've read our glowing TCL C855 review.

(Being a European trade show, the US-focused TCL QM851G wasn't on show to compare with.)

The 85-inch C855's handling of local dimming didn't seem meaningfully different from the X11H's – the C855 does still have over 2,000 dimming zones, after all.

TCL has a great demo of what a different backlighting technology makes to the LEDs that underlie the picture, to add nuance to the images. (Image credit: Future)

I could see a much clearer jump in color strength on the X11H from the C855, thanks largely to the extra brightness most likely, but even then it kind of served as a reminder that the C855 still looked fantastic and is likely to be a fraction of the price of the X11H – especially since the C855 will drop in price over time, and the X11H won't arrive until later. Plus… well, the C855 is available in more realistic sizes for most people.

As with most high-end AV tech, there's definitely a case of diminishing returns as you spend more and more, but the X11H still made a really strong case for what you get from taking TV tech to the extreme.

We gave the TCL X11H one of our Best of IFA 2024 awards, thanks to this beautiful demonstration of color and contrast – take a look at our other favorite tech from the show too.

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Apple's next event is happening this coming Monday, September 9, and we should see the grand unveiling of the iPhone 16 series at the show. While we count down the days, we've heard a couple of new rumors about what to expect from the Pro models.

First up, the analysts at TrendForce (via MacRumors) reckon that both the iPhone 16 Pro and the iPhone 16 Pro Max are going to start at 256GB of storage this year – which would be a bump for the smaller phone.

While the iPhone 15 Pro Max starts at 256GB, the iPhone 15 Pro is available with 128GB of storage. It seems Apple is now ditching that lowest storage option, so both of these handsets will be available with 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB of built-in storage.

This isn't the first leak to suggest the 128GB storage option on the Pro model will be dropped, but we'll have to wait and see how it affects pricing – it may well mean the starting price of the iPhone 16 Pro is higher than its predecessor ($999 / £999 / AU$1,849).

Video capture

The iPhone 15 Pro Max (Image credit: Future)

Our second iPhone 16 Pro rumor of the day concerns video recording. Sources speaking to 9to5Mac say the Pro and Pro Max will be capable of capturing content in 4K resolution at 120 frames per second – up from 60 frames per second on the current models.

In addition, Apple has apparently been testing out 8K video recording on the iPhone 16 Pro and the iPhone 16 Pro Max. However, 9to5Mac says it's not clear whether this capability will be enabled, and it might be saved for the iPhone 17 in 2025.

There's also another mention of the rumored new Capture button here, for taking photos and videos. This is set to be made available to third-party apps as well as the default Camera app, so you won't have to use Apple's own app to make use of it.

From what we're heard so far, it sounds as though the iPhone 16 Pro and the iPhone 16 Pro Max are going to have an identical triple-camera setup on the back, which wasn't the case with the 2023 equivalents. We'll find out for sure on Monday.

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Editor's note: We live in strange times. With all that's going on in the world, one can sometimes feel cursed. And yeah, I feel like fate is conspiring against me today. 

The reason for this is because the Desert Titanium iPhone 16 Pro is real. And it's not a color I'd have asked for. I'd have rather a nice shade or purple or dark green. But in fairness, in official images Desert Titanium doesn't look too bad. 

However I had a knee-jerk reaction to rumors of its existence which you can read below in the original copy of this article. And I'm not convided its the color I'd choose. Anyway, give the rest of the article a gander, and then pop up back up here for our iPhone 16 launch event live blog recap and everything Apple announced and 16 things we learned. 

I’m not a complex man, despite the claims of my therapist (the one that lives in my head); I like things to be simple and sleek. I’m a plain dark tee kinda guy. I don’t like beers that pretend to be liquid chocolate or mango. And I think Space Gray is the best iPhone color. 

So the rumor of a so-called 'Desert Titanium' color for the not yet official but much-anticipated iPhone 16 Pro turns my stomach a little. 

Maybe I’m just 187cm of lack-of-imagination. Or I have such a vision for aesthetics that I find a white room ambrosia for my eyes. But something about this tipped colorway is rubbing me up the wrong way. 

I’ve seen it touted as a bronze color – which I’m not against, as I’m currently taking the rather lovely Christopher Ward C63 Dune bronze watch for a spin. But that’s made of actual bronze and is developing a patina, mellowing from a slightly too yellow hue to a warm brown. 

However, in my time so far with the iPhone 15 Pro Max I've found that its titanium chassis seems near immune to staining or marking (heck, it’s shrugged off some rather serious drops) let alone discoloration, and that's something I miss when compared to the rather lovely iPhone 13 Pro.

So there’s no scope for an bronze-ish Desert Titanium iPhone 16 Pro to develop a patina, meaning one could be saddled with a phone that doggedly holds onto a color tone that’s not the buttery yellow of caramel or the warm glow of gold (for what it’s worth I think gold iPhones have should have no place on this planet), but rather something sickly in between.

There are four colors in total in the iPhone 16 Pro Lineup: white, black, gold and gray.The desert titanium color is kind of dark gold, similar to the old purple color, relatively discreet and deep pic.twitter.com/uDiNiBI4IzAugust 18, 2024

Bothersome bronze

Also bronze is the color of losers; don’t @ me. 

It’s basically the runner-up medal, which to me feels like a bigger sting than just getting a ribbon or certificate saying you took part. Bronze says you tried hard but still missed the loftier podium positions. And as a one-time British bronze medalist in a 200 meters freestyle swimming race, I know the feeling of having such metal on my person. 

The only exception is the bronze on the aforementioned watch. And even then that feels a little try-hard with its desire to age at speed.

So yeah, I’m really not convinced by the idea of a Desert Titanium iPhone 16 Pro. I will reserve the right to change my mind if I see the phone in person, because I’m flighty like that. And there’s more than enough scope for this rumored shade to not actually see the light of day.

Outside of Desert Titanium, the rest of the tipped iPhone 16 Pro colors seem more pleasing to my eye, with gray, white and Space Black shades to be expected; still no Space Gray though, much to my chagrin.

Of course, with the next Apple event set for September 9 – check out our guide on how to watch the iPhone 16 launch event live – we’ll soon see what iPhone 16 which rumors turn out to have been accurate and which were complete tosh. And TechRadar will be over in Cupertino to cover the ‘It’s Glowtime’ event live, so I’ll be keen to see what my colleagues Lance Ulanoff and Jacob Krol make of the new iPhone 16 colors in general.

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