Sony and TCL have announced plans for a new “joint venture” that will manage Sony’s “TV and home audio business” in the future. The new company will handle “product development and design, manufacturing, sales, logistics and customer service,” according to a Morningstar report.
It seems that this new company will take over Sony Electronics’ entire television business. The statement says it will be 51% owned by TCL and 49% owned by Sony, suggesting that TCL will be the dominant player in how it operates.
It’s unclear exactly what “home audio” implies here; I assume soundbars like the Bravia Theater Quad are included, but the separate Sony CS speakers are perhaps in a more gray area. I wouldn’t expect Sony’s Bluetooth headphones and speakers to be included.
I’ve reached out to Sony and TCL for more clarification on what the future will look like, though I don’t expect many concrete details yet – the report says final agreements are expected to be reached by the end of March.
TCL TVs with Sony badges?
We’re only three weeks into January and already my TV prediction bingo card has been turned upside down: I wasn’t expecting seismic news like this, especially when Sony hasn’t yet announced its 2026 TV range (which we know is coming, because it’s been promising us its RGB TV technology will arrive this year for… well, about a year).
This is an interesting approach for the future. I suspect that TCL’s increased stake in the business means it will likely dominate Sony-branded TV manufacturing in the future, but Sony will still retain a huge stake in the business.
So it doesn’t seem like this is just a case of an old, revered brand having its technology made by a completely unrelated company, as is the case with Toshiba TVs. (Although this can have impressive results: Philips’ European OLED TVs are made by another company and are excellent.)
My hope is that Sony’s development teams will be involved in the new company and that the joint venture will continue to use OLED panels whenever it wants, even though TCL completely avoids OLED for its own TVs. Perhaps we still have Sony Bravia
It could be that TCL primarily transforms Sony’s mid-range and budget options using its impressively cost-effective manufacturing. Sony’s high-end TVs are legendary, but while their more affordable options are very attractive, they’re basically always stuck behind the competition in value, and that’s doubled in the last year, with TCL, Hisense, Amazon, and Roku increasingly dominating the world of mid-range TVs.
But it’s possible that the changes will be more fundamental and that Sony’s contribution will be much lighter, and that we will actually see TCL TVs with Sony badges and a couple of unique features to make them stand out (like the Perfect for PlayStation features).
One thing to note here is that TCL is already the producer of the panels used by a batch of TV makers, through its display manufacturing arm, TCL CSOT, so getting involved in Sony manufacturing may not be that different than now, depending on where Sony sources its panels.
Or it could mean much more dramatic changes in the future. I guess if the new joint venture isn’t confirmed until March, then the earliest we can expect to see anything from it would be CES 2027.
In any case, Sony fans are among the most enthusiastic and loyal in the TV world, so this will be an interesting year for them either way.
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