Xiaomi has begun rolling out its Q2 TV series in Europe, offering consumers an affordable way to access premium home entertainment features like Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision.
The new Google TV-powered QLED display is available in 50-inch, 55-inch and 65-inch sizes, and with a fairly impressive list of features behind its pixels, Xiaomi’s latest TV could prove a tempting cheap alternative to more expensive mid-range QLED models from the likes of TCL and Samsung, which make some of the best 4K TVs for those a budget.
The catch, though, is that we don’t yet know when – or indeed if – the Xiaomi Q2 is heading to market in the US and UK. The 50-inch model starts at €700 in Europe, which would put it somewhere close to the $690 / £620 mark if Xiaomi maintained similar pricing globally. FlatpanelsHD also notes that a launch offer has knocked the Q2's European price down to just €550, which could translate to around $540 / £480 in overseas markets.
Should the range be expanded beyond the borders of Europe and China, the Xiaomi Q2 would serve as a worthy competitor to Amazon’s newly announced Omni Fire TV QLED, as well as to cheaper options from the big TV manufacturers.
Like the Xiaomi Q2, the Amazon Omni Fire TV QLED is positioned as an affordable QLED TV – it’s currently available to preorder for $799 (65-inch) and $1,099 (75-inch) in the US – but Xiaomi has added Dolby Atmos and DTS:X audio support to its latest offering, where Amazon has not.
You’ll get three HDMI ports and Google TV interactivity from the Xiaomi Q2, too, where Amazon’s Omni Fire TV maintains the company’s Android-based Fire operating system (which is either a benefit or a drawback, depending on your fondness for Google’s software).
It’s not entirely clear what kind of image quality to expect more generally from the Xiaomi TV Q2 – unlike its Amazon competitor, its spec sheet doesn’t mention direct backlighting and local dimming, so it may be a more basic LCD offering.
However, Xiaomi does say to expect 92% DCI-P3 color gamut coverage from the TV, which will put it roughly on par with the likes of the Samsung Q60B for color reproduction – though behind even cheaper OLED TVs, such as the LG A2, which delivered 98.8% DCI-P3 color coverage in our tests.
Still, for what could end up being a $690 / £620 display, the Xiaomi TV Q2 checks a lot of boxes in the mid-range specs department, and could be especially tempting for anyone wanting to pair it with one of the best Dolby Atmos soundbars. Here’s hoping it hits shelves in more countries in the near future.
