Data from Sigmaintell indicates that global TV shipments grew 2.0% year-over-year in the first half of 2026, driven by inventory buildup ahead of the World Cup and demand pulled forward by surging upstream material costs. Simultaneously, the combination of explosive AI computing power demand and geopolitical factors has pushed up overall system costs, further compressing profit margins for TV manufacturers and accelerating market share consolidation toward top-tier brands. The top six brands shipped a combined 65.2 million units in H1, up 5.8% year-over-year, capturing 62.6% of the market, a 2.2 percentage point increase. Mid-tier and smaller brands are being squeezed out faster under dual cost and channel pressures, while the gravitational pull of leading players becomes more pronounced.
Korean Brands: Under Pressure, Pivoting to Software Ecosystems and Cost Efficiency to Restore Profitability
Samsung Electronics shipped 17.1 million units in H1, up 3.6% year-over-year, maintaining its global top ranking thanks to supply chain advantages and aggressive end-market tactics. However, despite recovering shipment volumes, hardware losses remain unresolved. Facing both the competitive threat of Chinese brands challenging its global leadership and persistent hardware losses, Samsung's new CEO has launched sweeping reforms. Sigmaintell's analysis suggests Samsung's TV strategy is shifting from hardware-centric to ecosystem-centric, with key measures including: 1) focusing on OS and AI businesses by opening up the Tizen OS to attract more users, restructuring operations, and increasing external OEM manufacturing to cut hardware costs while expanding its user base; future Samsung TVs will strengthen AI features to enhance ecosystem upgrades and close the loop on software revenue. 2) Pursuing both cost reduction and quality improvement in hardware to boost cost competitiveness and support shipment recovery. Specific actions include: ① diversifying material suppliers to improve BOM cost competitiveness; ② shutting down inefficient plants, consolidating factory footprints, and raising OEM outsourcing ratios to lower overall costs; ③ gradually exiting low-efficiency markets like China to focus on premium Western markets and emerging overseas growth; ④ pushing product premiumization by expanding Mini LED and OLED TV offerings while strengthening AI integration. Sigmaintell forecasts Samsung's full-year 2026 shipments will reverse the declining trend of recent years, growing 2.0%.
LGE shipped 9.7 million units in H1, up 4.1% year-over-year, with improved TV profitability driven by several adjustments: ① a greater tilt toward premium products, with an expanded Mini LED lineup driving significant shipment growth and creating a dual-track approach alongside OLED; ② continued supply chain improvements by raising the share of Chinese raw material procurement to optimize BOM cost competitiveness; ③ implementing a "Global South Initiative" to tap growth in Southeast Asia and Latin America, with plans to restart operations in the Russian market in H2; ④ strengthening the WebOS ecosystem to boost software monetization. Sigmaintell projects LGE's TV shipments will edge up 0.3% this year.
Chinese Brands: Leveraging Domestic Supply Chain Advantages and Differentiated Technology to Reshape Global Competition
Despite continued shipment declines in the domestic Chinese market during H1, Hisense, TCL, and Skyworth shifted their growth focus overseas, sustaining upward global shipment momentum. Sigmaintell forecasts that the combined overseas shipment share of China's top four brands will exceed 65% in 2026.
TCL saw its TV shipments grow 11.3% year-over-year in H1, strengthening vertical integration through collaboration with CSOT and Moka to achieve panel-to-system manufacturing synergy with both cost and technology under independent control. The company has committed to the SQD-Mini LED technology path, advancing its "globalization plus premiumization" strategy. In H1, TCL experienced rapid growth in large-size and Mini LED TV products globally, further optimizing its product mix. Through product upgrades and sports marketing, growth was sustained in European, American, and Latin American markets. In April 2027, TCL plans to form a joint venture with Sony, sharing core SQD-Mini LED technology and strengthening collaboration across products, supply chain management, and channels. Following the JV's establishment, the combined scale of TCL and Sony aims for global number one.
Hisense grew shipments 4.6% year-over-year in H1, powered by sports marketing and comprehensive cost advantages, with particularly strong performance in North America and Latin America. On the hardware front, the company is pairing RGB-Mini LED technology with its in-house Hi-View picture quality chip, boosting native refresh rates to 180Hz and deepening development of RGBC four-color backlight and four-color panel technologies to convert technical barriers into market competitiveness. On the software side, AI is empowering the VIDAA OS ecosystem to expand overseas influence and unlock software value-added potential. In supply chain, Hisense has strategically invested in HKC, gradually increasing collaboration volumes on mid-to-high-end products while maintaining strategic cooperation with BOE. Should AUO's TV panel capacity gradually exit, Hisense's panel demand is likely to shift further toward BOE, HKC, and Innolux.
Xiaomi continued focusing on product structure upgrades and hardware profit optimization domestically, while overseas it leverages memory chip resource reserves and Hyper OS ecosystem collaboration for market expansion. Markets outside India saw robust growth, with penetration of 55-inch and above products steadily rising; overseas shipments grew 18.8% year-over-year in H1. On supply chain, Xiaomi primarily relies on CSOT panels with strong collaboration on Moka OEM services, and will continue building panel supply chain resilience going forward. Sigmaintell projects Xiaomi's full-year shipments could grow 0.8% year-over-year.
Skyworth has successively acquired Philips' North American business and Panasonic's TV operations (outside Japan) during 2025-2026, building a multi-brand portfolio of "Skyworth own brand + Metz + Philips + Panasonic." Sigmaintell data shows shipments grew 16.0% year-over-year in H1, boosted by Philips and Panasonic brand volumes. The company is pursuing dual technology tracks in SQD-Mini LED and RGB-Mini LED while deepening its niche in art TVs. On supply chain, Skyworth maintains deep ties with BOE panel resources and continues strengthening its OEM business. Significant shipment growth is expected this year across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific, driving full-year own-brand shipments up 2.7%.
Other brands: Vizio, leveraging Walmart channel resources, shipped 2.9 million units in H1, up 21.8% year-over-year, with aggressive promotional strategies expected to drive 1.3% full-year growth. Philips continues to strengthen collaboration with TPV OEM manufacturing to offset cost pressures.
Outlook and Summary
The core competitive logic among global TV leaders in 2026 has become clear: market scale is the entry ticket, product and supply chain capabilities are the dividing line, and ecosystems are the high ground. Sigmaintell believes that in this deep industry transformation, brands capable of integrating hardware, AI model capabilities, content, and business models into a complete ecosystem will gain fresh competitive advantages in the "post-hardware era." Looking ahead, the battle for top-tier rankings in the TV industry still holds many compelling shifts to anticipate.