Vizio TV Report Card 2026: 'Vizio is still finding its footing post-Walmart acquisition'

Usually, TVs are huge investments. The one you decide on TV is the one you're going to have in your living room for the next 10 years. But that's not always the case. Sometimes you just want something good, cheap, and easy to use.

That's Vizio's brand in a nutshell.

This week we're going through the largest TV makers and we’re handing out report cards, grading them on everything from price to performance and usability.

So far, we've covered LG, Sony, and TCL. Now it's Vizio's turn. Here's what they're doing right, what they're doing wrong, and what needs to change in 2026.

Pricing

You can't talk about Vizio without mentioning the brand's corporate owner, Walmart. The big box retailer bought Vizio at the end of 2024, primarily due to the fact that Vizio releases cheap (but still good) TVs.

Pricing is arguably the brand's strongest area. Vizio may not always incorporate the latest and greatest technology in its TVs (there aren't any QD-OLED or RGB TVs in its 2026 line-up, for example) but it will take the cutting-edge tech from the last few years to a more approachable price point.

That's most apparent in the Vizio Mini-LED Quantum 4K Smart TV we tested earlier this year. Mini-LED isn't exactly a new technology, but Vizio brought it to a new price point of under $400 for a 65-inch model. (This week it's even cheaper than it is regularly: It's just $358 at Walmart for the next few days.)

Best of all? The already-affordable sticker prices on Vizio TVs drop even more during sales events like Black Friday. Vizio TVs are the quintessential door busters that you should watch out for during end-of-the-year sales events.

Grade: A-

Design

Vizio's TV designs are practical, but largely not aesthetically ground-breaking. TVs in its 2026 lineup have minimal bezels (ooh!) but often measure in at a rather rotund 3 inches in depth (boo!).

Now, some of you might think, "That doesn't feel that thick..." Compared to LG's OLED TVs that are millimeters thick, Vizio's TVs are downright bulky.

For both better and worse, Vizio has stuck with the double V-shaped leg design that we saw on TVs a decade ago. Once upon a time the brand tried a pedestal design with its one-off OLED, but it hasn't used that design since.

Vizio's remotes, similarly, are simply mediocre. They're plastic and replete with handy shortcut buttons to popular streaming services, but they're lackluster compared to Samsung's solar-powered clickers or LG's Wii-mote styled Magic Remote.

Grade: C+

Features

As you'd expect given its TV's supremely low price points, features aren't in abundance on Vizio screens.

Let's focus on the good stuff for a moment. Vizio TVs don't have a horse in the HDR race and will support both the advanced Dolby Vision and HDR10+ formats. Its mid-range Mini-LED Quantum TV I mentioned earlier also supports Dolby Atmos pass-through, DTS:X spatial audio, and DTS Virtual:X. That's about as robust a collection of formats as you're going to see on a TV.

Gamers also get a neat benefit to picking a Vizio TV: If you don't mind downshifting from 4K to a 1080p resolution, you can effectively double the refresh rate of the TVs from 60 to 120Hz. There's also VRR support in there, but it's not on the same level as LG or Samsung's G-SYNC Compatible screens.

Unfortunately, that's kind of where features start and end on Vizio TVs.

Problematically, the vast majority of Vizio TVs are limited to a 60Hz refresh rate in 4K, despite having multiple HDMI 2.1 ports. You're also not going to get ATSC 3.0 support on Vizio TVs, either.

The latter is forgivable, but not having a native 120Hz refresh rate in 4K on your top-tier TV is pretty bad in the year 2026.

Grade: C+

Performance

As someone who's spent the last decade-and-a-half of my life reviewing TVs, Vizio TVs have always surprised me when it comes to performance.

I go into every review with an open mind and with as few prejudices as I can — and that's absolutely crucial when checking out budget TVs. One might assume that, given the price, performance would be poor, but the Vizio TVs that I've seen are actually above par for the price.

Now, that doesn't mean Vizio TVs are going to overtake a high-end Samsung Neo QLED or LG OLED on our list of the best TVs, but I think you're getting more than you'd expect here: nice colors, good motion handling in Sports mode, and decent brightness.

In our most recent review of the 2026 Vizio Mini-LED Quantum 4K, our reviewer Sean Captain said that the TV delivered "strong colors in Sports mode" and "better-than-expected HDR performance." With a peak brightness that topped 700 nits and decent color spectrum coverage, that absolutely makes sense.

Can you get similar performance from other budget brands' TVs? You can, yeah. But that doesn't detract from Vizio's ability to deliver above-par performance for a budget price.

Grade: B-

Smart TV platform

Unfortunately, there's not nearly as many good things to say about Vizio's smart TV platform, Vizio OS, as there was to say about its performance.

At best, Vizio OS is a middling alternative to Roku and Google TV, delivering decent recommendations alongside far too many advertisements.

At worst, it's far behind the pack: Smart home integration is limited and AI is totally absent here. You'll also have to create a Walmart account to get it working. (Yuck.)

On the bright side, you've got WatchFree+ that delivers 300+ live OTT channels for free and Cast support, but it's not overwhelmingly impressive given the many downsides of the platform.

Grade: C-

Overall grade: C+

Vizio is still finding its footing post-Walmart acquisition. The brand isn't as strong as it was when it was an independent entity, but I think it could make a comeback in the next few years if Walmart decides to make investments in Vizio OS.

Still, Vizio has two things going for it: performance and price. The brand built its reputation on delivering good performance for budget TV shoppers, and it's still doing that under Walmart's watch.

Would I like to see Vizio venture back into the world of OLED? Absolutely. But let's start first by adopting a native 120Hz refresh rate as standard in more models.

Here's hoping for a big comeback in 2027.

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