This woman is calling out influencers promoting this Samsung Frame TV dupe after seeing the image quality firsthand.
What is a frame TV?
The Samsung Frame TV home spaces introduce innovation, creativity, and functionality into spaces that can afford them.
If you’re unfamiliar with the Frame TV, it’s a coveted electronic, not because it has the best images per pixel or an amazing integrated sound system, but because it turns into art—literally.
People have long complained about how TVs add a certain blah-ness to a room since they’re literally black rectangles on a wall.
In comes the Frame TV, which allows your entertainment device to blend in and even add character to a room. When you’re not using it for viewing or gaming purposes, the TV mimics a piece of framed art on the wall.
What’s even more unique is that when in art mode, the screen looks much more matte, allowing the art to look like actual art.
While people have loved the concept since the Frame TV was introduced in 2017, it’s remained pretty cost-prohibitive, often costing double what you’d spend on a functional, run-of-the-mill TV without the art feature.
That’s why people are excited that some dupes are finally being made available to the public, but they might not be as great as they seem.
Are these knockoffs worth your money?
In a viral video with nearly 300,000 views, TikToker Nikki (@nikkianddjthepartiyorkie) calls out influencers for promoting a subpar product.
“The product that is outing influencers as people who are not telling me the truth on the products they are reviewing is the TCL NXT Frame TV,” Nikki says.
She claims it’s obvious TCL has been shipping these TVs to influencers in exchange for reviews. “There is no way you can say with a straight face, after paying for this product with your own money, that TCL NXT Frame is a comparable dupe to the Samsung,” she says. “There is just no way.”
In her review, Nikki says that the price difference doesn’t make up for the things the TCL lacks.
While current deals make the TCL TV half the cost, the originally listed price for the TCL NXT Frame is $1,499 for the 55″ model. That’s the same price as the equivalent Samsung model.
In Nikki’s experience, the screen brightness doesn’t get low or matte enough to actually mimic a piece of art. She notes that even the Samsung TV can have this issue but says it’s way more convincing than the TCL.
She adds that the lack of motion sensors on the TCL is an issue. Part of the beauty of the original, Nikki says, is that it detects movement in the room and automatically turns the TV into art.
“I don’t want to have to physically turn on my TV to be a frame like all day long,” Nikki says.
The TikToker says that as soon as she sees an influencer touting the TCL as a usable dupe, she no longer trusts anything they recommend.
What’s an alternative dupe to the Samsunge Frame TV?
Nikki adds that based on her research, the Hisense CanvasTV seems to do a better job than the TCL.
“Still paying $800, $900+ for a TV is still absolutely like insane, and then for it to not have all the features that it should be that much money, it just is a no for me,” Nikki decides.
She says that she’s not a TCL hater in general, since she literally has one of their TVs and likes it. She just thinks its Frame attempt fell short.
Commenters react
“‘Free product for honest review’ has absolutely ruined the utility of customer reviews on the internet. 100%, full stop, no questions,” a top comment read.
“An AirBnB i stayed in had a samsung frame and it took me all day to figure out it was the TV, thought it was a painting,” a person shared.
“I just don’t buy dupes. Rarely are they as good as or better than the original. If I can’t afford the original product I do without. I have the frame tv & I love it for the most part,” another wrote.
@nikkianddjthepartiyorkie I clearly feel passionate about how awful thid product is for the amount you stil have to pay to have it #tclnxtframetv #theframetv #samsungframetv ♬ original sound – nikkianddjthepartiyorkie
The Daily Dot reached out to Nikki for comment via TikTok direct message and comment, and to Samsung and TCL via email.
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