If you are one of those who turn their nose up at “Chinese TVs” while lovingly dusting off your Sony Bravia, you might want to sit down for this one. The days of using “It’s a Sony” as the ultimate trump card in social media arguments against TCL and Hisense owners are officially numbered.
In a move that effectively merges the Japanese giant’s legendary display heritage with the sheer manufacturing scale of China, Sony Group has announced it will spin off its entire TV business into a new joint venture with TCL Electronics Holdings.
The kicker? TCL will own 51% of the new company, while Sony Corp will retain 49%.
The “Sony” you know is changing
According to a report by Nikkei Asia, the two companies are finalizing a deal in which Sony will transfer its TV and home audio business to this new entity. While Sony Corp. retains a 49% stake, the controlling interest belongs to TCL.
The new joint venture is expected to handle everything from product development, design, manufacturing, and logistics. However, before you start peeling off stickers, the TVs will continue to be sold under the Sony and Bravia brands. Essentially, the “Sony” TV you buy in Nairobi in 2027 and beyond will likely be a TCL-operated product wearing a very expensive Japanese tuxedo.
The companies aim to sign binding agreements by March 2026, with the new operation kicking off in April 2027.
Why is Sony doing this?
It comes down to the brutal reality of the global TV market. While we love our high-end screens, the margins on hardware are razor-thin. Chinese manufacturers like TCL, Hisense, and Xiaomi have aggressively expanded, offering Mini-LED and QLED tech at prices that make Sony’s pricing strategy look like a practical joke. Slowing growth in mature markets has only worsened price competition, squeezing margins for established Japanese and South Korean brands.
Not long ago, buying a Xiaomi smart TV in Kenya wasn’t a straightforward affair, but now they are pretty much everywhere, and that too at very reasonable prices compared to your Sonys and Samsungs.
Sony’s solution? Pivot to where the real money is: Content. The company is reshaping itself into a “global entertainment and content powerhouse,” focusing on PlayStation, Spider-Man movies, and Anime, rather than fighting a losing war on hardware margins.
Kimio Maki, Sony Corp.’s chief executive, put the corporate spin on the move in a statement on Tuesday:
"By combining both companies' expertise, we aim to create new customer value in the home entertainment field, delivering even more captivating audio and visual experiences to customers worldwide."
Translation: We make great movies and games; let TCL handle the headache of making the screens you watch them on.
This development is bound to cause an identity crisis in local electronics shops. For years, the consumer market has been divided into two distinct camps: the “Sony/Samsung or nothing” elite, and the “Value for Money” TCL/Hisense/Xiaomi crew.
The irony is palpable. The TCL chairperson, Du Juan, stated that the partnership creates “a powerful platform for sustainable growth.” For the buyer who swore they’d “never buy a Chinese TV,” the next premium Sony TV they buy will technically be… mostly Chinese.
This feels like the end of an era, but it was inevitable. Just as Toshiba and Sharp eventually ceded control to Hisense and Foxconn, respectively, Sony is bowing to the economics of scale. For the consumer, this might actually be good news—TCL’s panel technology is already world-class (often rivaling Sony’s own in raw brightness), and Sony’s processing (the “secret sauce” inside the Bravia XR chips) is legendary.
If this joint venture combines TCL’s pricing efficiency with Sony’s image processing, we might finally get the TV we’ve always wanted: A Sony that doesn’t require selling a kidney to afford. But for the brand purists? It’s going to be a tough pill to swallow.
In the end, this deal highlights how much the global TV market has changed. The companies once dismissed as “budget” players are now the ones powerful enough to rescue legacy brands from an unforgiving market. Some may grumble, but if the picture quality is good, the price is right, and Netflix still looks sharp, most people will still plug it in and move on.
