Best 43 Inch Smart TV 2026: Ten Ranked, Eight Still at 60Hz

This is the only set in the ten that lists 144 Hz. Every other panel here is 60 Hz or, in one case, 50 Hz, and this one costs £345 — the highest price in the group. On the spec sheet, that refresh rate is the single clearest reason to pay more than the £293 A7Q.

In practice the 144 Hz figure is paired with ALLM and AMD FreeSync Premium PRO, so a console or PC is detected and game mode fires up automatically. Direct-lit LEDs sit behind the whole panel, and the audio side runs Dolby Atmos across a 5.1 channel setup. Dolby Vision is listed for film and for gaming, and the unit weighs 10.2 kg.

However, two things are worth checking before you pay the £345. One bullet refers to the brand's "Quantum Dot & Mini-LED" sets, while the specification table lists plain LED backlighting — both sentences sit on the same listing. And the stated brightness is 500 nits, half the 1,000 nits claimed on the £265 TCL further down. If you mostly watch drama in a bright room, the £269 60 Hz model below is £76 cheaper for the same 4.4 rating.

£76 cheaper than the 144 Hz model above, this set shares the same 4.4 rating but has more evidence behind it: 522 ratings against 290. The panel is 60 Hz, the figure eight of the ten use. Quantum Dot colour sits behind the QLED label, and it weighs 10.3 kg — 100 g more than the top pick.

The specification table is the fuller of the two E78Q listings. Dolby Vision and HDR10 are both listed, along with three HDMI ports, Wi-Fi and Netflix, Disney+ and YouTube. Hi-View AI Engine upscaling is claimed to adjust each frame in real time.

That said, this is a 43 inch TV with Dolby Vision and no brightness figure at all. Six of the ten listings state no nit count, and this is one of them, which means you cannot line it up against the TCL's 1,000-nit claim on paper. Anyone who wants a 120 Hz or 144 Hz console panel should skip it and pay the £76.

At £229 this is the lowest price in the ten, and it carries 2,310 ratings — more than four times the 522 behind the £269 Hisense. The 4.5 score is matched only by the £293 A7Q. Anyone weighing up the best 43 inch smart tv on price and evidence of reliability will find that combination hard to argue with.

The trade-off is visible in the spec table. The display is listed as UHD rather than QLED, so there is no quantum dot layer here, though Dolby Vision, Freely and AI Smooth Motion are all present. Brightness is stated at 400 nits. Three HDMI ports and Wi-Fi are listed, and the set weighs 10 kg.

Even so, this is a 60 Hz panel with no game-mode refresh advantage, and the 400-nit figure is the second-lowest anyone here actually states. If you want quantum dot colour or a 144 Hz panel, this is not it. You would be looking at the £269 model or the £345 one instead.

This is the second most expensive set in the ten after the £345 Hisense, and it lists the same 60 Hz refresh rate as the £229 model. What the extra £64 over the cheapest buy is a 2.1 speaker setup with a built-in subwoofer, which no other set here has. It also carries a 4.5 score, matched only by the E6Q.

As a 43 inch QLED smart tv, it lists Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, and the subwoofer gives the Atmos mix something to work with. Three HDMI ports and Wi-Fi are listed. At 12 kg it is the heaviest set here — 1.7 kg more than the £269 Hisense and 5.3 kg more than the £249 Samsung.

That said, 214 ratings is the third-smallest sample on this list, and no brightness figure is given, so the picture claims cannot be checked against the TCL's 1,000 nits on paper. If you plan to add a soundbar anyway, the subwoofer is dead weight, and the case for this as the best 43 inch smart tv at £293 largely disappears.

The brightness claim here is 1,000 nits, twice the 500 nits listed on the £345 Hisense at the top of this list. It is also the only set in the ten listing HDR10, HLG, HDR10+ and Dolby Vision together, which means every major HDR format is covered by one panel. Meanwhile the refresh rate is 60 Hz, and the 4.1 rating is second-lowest here, ahead of only the £249 Samsung.

The TCL runs Fire TV, so Alexa and the Fire TV interface are built in without a stick. Its HVA panel is claimed to deliver higher contrast and a wider viewing angle than a standard VA panel. It weighs 8.32 kg. Energy efficiency is rated G, where the Hisense and Samsung sets that state a figure are rated F.

The catch is the audio. The listing claims Dolby Atmos but the spec table lists 2.0 channels — no height drivers and no subwoofer, so the badge describes processing rather than speakers. The rating breakdown also shows 13 one-star reviews, more than any set here except the £249 Samsung's 16.

At £229 this matches the cheapest set in the ten, and it is the only one of the two £229 sets to list QLED. It also lists HDR10+, which the £229 Hisense does not. Against that, the stated brightness is 300 nits — the lowest figure anywhere in this group, and less than a third of the TCL's claim.

The set runs Fire TV with Alexa built in, and Apple AirPlay is supported, so an iPhone, iPad or Mac can mirror to it without extra hardware. The viewing angle is given as 178 degrees and the screen finish is glossy, which is a trade-off in a bright room. Weight is 8 kg with the stand and 5.9 kg without, and MEMC motion processing is listed.

By contrast with the Hisense sets at the same price and above it, there is no Dolby Vision here — HDR10, HDR10+ and HLG only. In theory that matters less at 300 nits, because Dolby Vision does most of its work in high-contrast material. Either way, if you stream a lot of Dolby Vision content, this is the wrong £229 to spend, and the best 43 inch smart tv at this price on rating is the Hisense E6Q at 4.5 against this set's 4.2.

Every other set here lists 60 Hz or higher. This one lists 50 Hz. Crucially, that is below the £229 Hisense E6Q, which costs £60 less — so at £289 you are paying more for a slower panel. The contrast ratio is stated at 10,000:1, the only set here to give a figure at all, and the depth is 6 cm, the slimmest on the list.

The rest of the spec covers QLED with True Quantum Dot colour, a Q4 AI Gen1 processor for 4K upscaling, Object Tracking Sound Lite and Tizen OS. HDR support is HDR10 only — no Dolby Vision and no HDR10+, unlike the £265 TCL and the £229 Xiaomi. Weight is 7.1 kg, second-lightest here, and the VESA pattern is 200 x 200 mm.

That said, 135 ratings is the second-smallest sample in the ten, behind only the £234.98 LG. A 50 Hz refresh rate also puts a hard ceiling on console gaming, and no brightness figure is given, so the picture claims cannot be compared with the TCL's 1,000 nits. For a bedroom set that mostly streams drama, the 50 Hz figure will rarely show. For anything else, the £229 options do more on paper.

The price is £279.99, which puts it above the £269 Hisense E78Q and the £265 TCL. The refresh rate is 60 Hz, like eight of the ten, and the display technology row reads LED — not QLED, despite the QNED badge on the front.

What you are paying for here is the processor and the platform: an α7 AI processor with Dynamic QNED colour processing, AI Motion Pro, the webOS smart platform, Filmmaker Mode and HDR10. Audio comes from a 20 W virtual surround system, and direct LED backlighting is listed. The set weighs 9.39 kg, or 7.5 kg without the stand.

Even so, there is no Dolby Vision and no HDR10+, only HDR10, which is the weakest HDR list in the ten alongside the Samsung Q7F2. No brightness figure is given either. At £279.99 it sits £50 above the £229 sets without a headline specification that explains the difference — and if Dolby Vision matters to you, the £269 Hisense is £10.99 cheaper and lists it.

At £234.98 this is the second-cheapest set in the ten, and it holds the strongest five-star share on the list: 79 of its 80 ratings. However, that sample is also the smallest here, so the 4.4 score rests on far less evidence than the 4.5 on the £229 Hisense, which has 2,310 ratings behind it.

The panel is 60 Hz with direct LED backlighting, HDR10 and HLG support, and Filmmaker Mode for film playback. An α7 AI Processor Gen8 handles 4K upscaling and dynamic tone mapping. Google Cast and Apple AirPlay 2 are both supported alongside webOS, the set weighs 7.4 kg, and three HDMI ports are listed.

That said, HDR10 and HLG are the only formats listed, so anyone building a best 43 inch smart tv shortlist around Dolby Vision should look at the £269 Hisense instead. The 80-rating sample is also thin: one bad batch would move that 4.4 number, and the 4.5 Hisense carries 2,310 ratings for £5.98 less.