TCL and Hisense have moved from bargain LCDs to brand ambition, while Sony’s TV clout keeps draining away.
For two decades, Bravia has signalled pricey polish, even as the supply chain under the bezel shifted elsewhere and the real power moved on.
TCL and Hisense were once the names stuck on budget sets, fine for a spare room but not something you’d boast about in the lounge.
That hierarchy is cracking because Chinese firms mastered the unglamorous bits that decide who wins. Panel fabs, volume, supply chains and the ruthless economics of making good screens at scale.
Brand reputations linger longer than manufacturing reality, and Sony is living proof. It still makes quality televisions, but it no longer builds key components itself and its global share is now about two per cent.
TVs are a clean way to watch global manufacturing power change hands. US firms led by RCA dominated in the early years; Japan surged in the 1980s; South Korea took over with Samsung and LG; and China is now trying to complete the job.
The advantage today is not a slick advert or a fancy remote, it is who controls panels and production. Chinese makers supplied 71 per cent of television panels made in Asia last year, according to TCL, while less than 10 per cent are made in Japan and Korea.
Counterpoint Research, display research director Robert O’Brien said: “Historically, the company that makes the panels ends up being the industry leader,”
That panel dominance puts TCL in a familiar spot, like Samsung was two decades ago, shifting from components to a consumer brand seeking respect. TCL has been spending hard on image, throwing a big show at CES in Las Vegas and leaning into sponsorships like the Winter Olympics.
It is pitching size as status, using flat-panel capacity to sell a 98-inch home theatre set for $10,000. It is pushing technology too, with Mini-LED since 2018 edging closer to the high-end OLED sets where Sony and LG have focused.
Sony’s halo still glows, even when the parts story is messy and the screens come from rivals. That is exactly why Chinese firms want the shortcut: building that kind of prestige from scratch takes time.
This shift has been brewing for years. Sony stopped making its own LCD screens in 2011 and has been steering its consumer electronics away from the TV and smartphone market, pursuing higher margins in premium cameras and audio and greater sales to professional users.
PlayStation remains Sony’s strongest device, while the company has diversified into film, television, music and games, where intellectual property is less exposed to China’s scale.
That is why Sony’s move last month landed with a thud. It said it intended to pass control of its home entertainment division, including the Bravia television brand, to the Chinese group TCL Electronics.
The plan is to set up a joint venture for the television and home audio brands where TCL would hold a 51 per cent stake, a reversal that would have sounded mad when Bravia was at peak swagger.
TCL’s brand still trails its manufacturing muscle, but China has the panels, the capacity and the momentum, and premium TV snobbery is starting to look expensive.
