What a Sony and TCL partnership means for the future of TVs

I’m not sure anyone saw this news coming, but the landscape of TV as we know it could change drastically over the next year or two. Famous Japanese TV brand Sony has announced that it has signed an MoU with its Chinese competitor TCL. This potential partnership – in which TCL would have a 51 percent stake and Sony would have a 49 percent stake – has sparked speculation on the Internet and I’m sure there will be many meetings at some other TV companies in South Korea.

Before we get too discouraged and declare the end of Sony TVs, it’s important to understand that this isn’t a done deal. The MoU indicates that the two companies are in discussions to potentially establish a partnership. There are still months to go before any binding agreements are in place, and those agreements will then require regulatory approval. So there is still a possibility that everything may fall apart and tomorrow’s announcement may achieve nothing. Even if we hear about a binding contract by the end of March, the new company won’t be fully effective until April next year, meaning we won’t see any physical products until late 2027.

To date, Sony already relies on various manufacturing partners to create its TV lineup. While display panel makers never reveal who they sell panels to, Sony is likely already using panels from TCL China Star Optoelectronics Technology (CSOT) for its LCD TVs, in addition to OLED panels from LG Display and Samsung Display. With this deal, the relationship between Sony and TCL CSOT LCD panels is guaranteed (though I doubt this will impact CSOT selling panels to other manufacturers). And with TCL CSOT building a new OLED facility, there is a possible future in which Sony OLED will also get panels from TCL. Although I should point out that we’re not yet certain that the new facility will have the ability to create TV-sized OLED panels, at least to start with.

So what will Sony get from this deal? For one, it gets access to TCL’s production capabilities. The Chinese company has long promoted the fact that it controls the entire chain of its TV manufacturing process, allowing it to more easily direct technological development and pricing. If we consider the X11L, it has two significant improvements to the blue mini-LED technology: newly improved quantum dots and an improved color filter. Other companies that use quantum dots can purchase new QDs and implement them.

But without the new color filters, a TV can’t fully take advantage of the new quantum dots. And since color filters are incorporated into the mother glass during manufacturing, replacing color filters involves stopping panel production to update the machinery. It’s a big investment for any other panel manufacturer to do this for one of their TV manufacturing customers. This is where TCL gets the advantage of controlling the end-to-end production of TVs. The other big advantage of controlling production at that level is being able to keep overall costs down. With this potential partnership, Sony gets access to that manufacturing infrastructure.

For TCL, it gets majority control over the production of Sony TVs, but also access to the technology within those TVs. What makes a Sony TV a Sony TV isn’t the way it’s put together, but its SoC (System on a Chip) and picture processing capabilities. Sony has long been a leader in picture processing, which has set its TV performance apart from competitors – the Bravia 8 II is special because of the processing, and not (presumably) Samsung Display’s QD-OLED panels.

Finally, for those of us considering buying a Sony TV, the combination of TCL’s manufacturing pipeline and Sony’s excellent picture processing could create even better Sony Bravia TVs at more accessible prices.

There is some concern among fans that this could lead to a situation like Sharp, Toshiba or Pioneer, where the names are licensed and the TVs produced are a shell of what the brand used to represent. I don’t see this happening with Sony. Although the electronics side of the business isn’t as strong as it used to be, Sony – and Bravia – is still an old brand. It would take a long time for Sony to completely step aside and allow another company to slap their name on an inferior product. And based on TCL’s growth and technological improvements over the past few years and the shrinking gap between premium and midrange TVs, I don’t expect Sony TVs to suffer from the partnership with TCL.

Some key points are still pending based on the announcement. How much of Sony’s processing power is going to flow into TCL TVs? The release from Sony noted that the new company would combine Sony’s picture and audio technology with TCL’s manufacturing while retaining the Sony and Bravia names, but made no mention of whether TCL would gain access to the Sony technology for its own TCL-branded TVs. Can Sony continue to offer premium TVs while TCL focuses on midrange and entry? It’s possible, but I think it’s more likely that we’ll see some midrange overlap between the brands and there will still be a distinct design difference between Sony TVs and TCL TVs.

The release contained a brief mention of Sony’s audio technology and home audio equipment. It seems that this new Sony/TCL entity will acquire Sony products including soundbars, speakers, and perhaps AVRs and turntables. (I don’t think headphones will be included, as Sony previously separated them into a personal audio division.) Both companies have been lagging behind competitors — particularly Samsung and its Harman properties — so joining forces could give them the lift they need.

No matter the rampant speculation, it’s clear that we’re a few years away from seeing products coming out of this partnership (assuming it’ll be official in a few months). Both Sony and TCL will continue to release the TV and audio products they are developing in 2026 and 2027. In my opinion, this potential deal shows the home entertainment powerhouse that TCL has become.

But, more importantly, I don’t believe this signals the end of Sony. Instead, this could be the beginning of a new phase that could return it to relevance for most TV buyers – not just the premium enthusiasts who live on videophile forums.