Xiaomi TV S Mini LED 65 (2026) Review: The TV That Makes Mini LED Feel Mainstream

Smart TV buyers have always faced a tough choice: settle for cheap, washed-out LEDs or splurge on premium OLEDs with stunning contrast. Mini LED technology was supposed to fix this. Hundreds of tiny LED backlights grouped into local dimming zones, allowing a television to turn off portions of its backlight in dark areas of the frame while keeping bright areas fully lit achieving contrast ratios that standard edge-lit panels cannot approach. The problem was that until recently, Mini LED televisions were themselves a luxury segment. The technology was real. The improvement was genuine. The price made it irrelevant for most households.

A few months ago, Xiaomi launched its Xiaomi TV S Mini LED lineup in India, featuring a 65-inch model priced at ₹74,999. At this price, you get a QD-Mini LED panel with 384 local dimming zones, Dolby Vision, HDR10+, and a claimed peak brightness of 1,200 nits. In this review, I explore the pros and cons of Xiaomi’s latest offering, analyze whether the trade-offs made to hit this price point are justified, and discuss how they impact the daily viewing experience. Ultimately, the verdict depends on your content preferences and how much you prioritize gaming.

2026 Xiaomi TV S Mini LED (65-inch) Pros & Cons

Xiaomi TV Mini LED 65 Review: Design

The Xiaomi TV S Mini LED 65 dominates any room. Sixty-five inches might sound manageable on paper, but it feels huge in a real living room. Xiaomi wraps it in a frame that looks pricier than it is. Slim bezels on three sides, a metal frame that improves on the old plastic-heavy X Series, and a subtle Mini LED logo on the bottom chin all help it pass for a premium TV at first glance.

The stand system is practical. You can move the legs inward to fit narrower TV units, saving many households from buying new furniture. The stand feels sturdy, but the 16kg panel wobbles if you tap it, so wall-mounting is safer if you have kids or pets. Cable management is basic: there are no channels, clips, or guides. If you connect several devices, you will need your own cable routing to keep things tidy.

The side-facing HDMI ports make life easier. You can plug in a console or swap cables without moving the TV away from the wall. After dealing with rear-facing ports on older TVs, I can say this is a real improvement.

Xiaomi TV Mini LED 65 Review: Picture Quality

This is where the Rs 74,999 price makes sense, and the TV mostly delivers. The 384 local dimming zones give this TV a real contrast edge over any standard QLED or edge-lit LED at this price. When a bright object appears against a dark background, the backlight zones behind it go fully bright while the others dim. This creates a sense of depth you do not get with a uniform backlight. Watching Dune, the deep interior spaces of Arrakeen, built around shadow and sharp highlights, looked three-dimensional instead of just dark. That is Mini LED doing its job.

Blooming is here, and I will not hide it. In House of the Dragon’s night scenes, bright flame breath against a dark sky creates clear orange halos around the dragon. Bright subtitles on a black screen also glow. These are not minor issues. If you notice panel artifacts and cannot ignore them, dark scenes in a dark room will bother you on this TV.

But context matters. The Joker’s dark, rainy scenes showed only minor blooming around streetlights and neon signs. IPL cricket, Succession, and most mixed-light content showed no blooming at all. For about 80 percent of what Indian households watch, blooming is not an issue.

Color performance is excellent. The Quantum Dot layer keeps colors saturated even at high brightness, so HDR content looks convincing. During cricket, the pitch green looked textured, jersey whites kept their detail, and skin tones stayed natural. The colors are vibrant, aimed at viewers who like rich visuals, but they do not cross into oversaturation.

Disable the auto-brightness sensor as soon as you set up the TV. Any change in room lighting, like a cloud outside or a lamp turning on, makes the panel adjust brightness. It is distracting and disrupts viewing. Turn it off and use a fixed brightness. Manual mode looks excellent. With auto-brightness on, the TV keeps fidgeting.

Viewing angles are a real limitation. Up to about 25 degrees off-center, the image looks fine. Beyond that, contrast drops and colors shift. In a living room with wide seating, people at the ends of the sofa will see a noticeably different picture than those in the center.

Xiaomi TV S Mini LED 65 Review: HDR & Dolby Vision Performance

Dolby Vision looks much better on this Xiaomi TV S Mini LED than on a standard QLED at this price. The local dimming actually lets the dynamic metadata do its job. Highlights stand out. Shadow detail stays visible instead of getting lost. I watched the first two episodes of Apple TV’s Lucky in Dolby Vision because the show uses different lightings that tests detail, such as dark buildings and dark suit fabrics. The Xiaomi handled it better than I expected.

Use Filmmaker Mode for movies. It turns off sharpening, noise reduction, and motion smoothing, so you see the picture as intended. MEMC is good for live sports, but turn it off for shows and films. If you leave it on during Stranger Things, you will get the soap opera effect almost right away.

Xiaomi TV S Mini LED 65 Review: Gaming

Xiaomi for its TV S Mini LEDs advertises “120Hz Game Boost,” but the panel is actually 60Hz. The boost mode uses DLG technology to simulate smoother motion by cutting the resolution to 1080p. On a 65-inch screen, you can see the drop. Text in game menus looks softer, and textures lose detail. This is not a true high-refresh-rate panel, so do not expect one.

For casual gaming, the TV works well. EA FC 26 on PS5 felt responsive with ALLM on, and playing Street Fighter 6 on a 65-inch screen is a lot of fun. But if you care about high frame rates or 4K detail, the Hisense 65U7Q with native 144Hz and VRR is the better buy at a similar price. The Xiaomi TV S Mini LED 65 is for households where gaming is a bonus, not the main event.

Xiaomi TV S Mini LED 65 Review: Audio

The 34W quad-speaker setup, with two tweeters and two full-range drivers, surprised me. Dialogue is clear: voices in Stranger Things stayed easy to follow and centered, even during loud scenes. Cricket commentary stood out from crowd noise, and the speakers filled a medium-to-large room without distortion.

The 34W quad-speaker setup, with two tweeters and two full-range drivers, surprised me. Dialogue is clear: voices in Stranger Things stayed easy to follow and centered, even during loud scenes. Cricket commentary stood out from crowd noise, and the speakers filled a medium-to-large room without distortion.

Xiaomi TV S Mini LED 65 Review: Software

Google TV on Android 14 covers the basics well: Play Store access, personalized recommendations, Google Assistant in English and Hindi, AirPlay 2, Chromecast, and Miracast for all devices. PatchWall+ adds India-specific features such as aggregation across 30-plus OTT platforms, universal search that shows where to watch and whether it is free, a sports hub, Kids Mode, and free live TV. For India’s messy streaming scene, these are genuinely useful daily features, not just novelties.

The hardware is good enough for 2026, but it will age. The Quad-Core Cortex-A55 and 2GB RAM handle 4K and daily use smoothly, but frequent app switching can cause stutters. Long sessions can slow the TV over time. The 32GB storage is generous, double the segment standard. RAM is the main worry: expect three to four years of smooth use, then it will slow down. Xiaomi should improve the processing hardware next time.

Competition

Hisense 65U7Q: This is the better pick for gaming. It has native 144Hz and real VRR, so it is the right choice if gaming is your main use. VIDAA OS works but is not as deep as Google TV with PatchWall+, and after-sales service in India depends on your city.

Samsung Vision AI TV (65-inch): Smoother software, better upscaling, and more accurate color out of the box. If you care more about software polish and brand trust than pure panel contrast, it is a strong alternative.

Lumio Vision 9 (2026): An impressive panel, 4K at 144Hz, and smoother performance thanks to stronger hardware. It is worth a look if you want gaming features along with OTT streaming.

For pure cinema-at-home value, including film, cricket, and OTT streaming, the Xiaomi is still the most balanced choice at this price.

Review Verdict: Should You Buy the Xiaomi TV S Mini 65-inch?

Smartprix Rating (⭐): 7.8/10

The Xiaomi TV S Mini LED 65 (2026) makes content look and feel pricier than its Rs 74,999 tag. The QD-Mini LED panel delivers contrast and HDR that raise the bar for this price. The software is the best mix for Indian homes. The compromises in gaming, RAM lifespan, and blooming in dark scenes are real, but they matter more to some buyers than to others.

If you mainly want a TV for gaming, pick the Hisense 65U7Q or the Lumio Vision 9. If picture quality is your top priority and you can afford the Lumio Vision 9, go for it. For everyone else who wants a big, premium-feeling screen for cricket, movies, and daily OTT without paying flagship prices, the Xiaomi TV S Mini LED 65 is the clear choice in its segment.

First reviewed in July 2026.