samsung lcd touch screen tv made in china

It appears too soon to say that Samsung Display and LG Display, the nation’s top display makers, will exit from the less lucrative LCD market amid a cutthroat competition with Chinese rivals with cheaper pricing.

Until a few years ago, the two firms had hinted at retiring from the old-school LCD business to focus on more advanced technologies such as upgraded LCDs or OLEDs to widen the gap with Chinese runner-ups.

But experts here say there has been a sign of change in the attitudes more recently, pointing out that their full shutdown of LCD operations ultimately would hinge on elevating profitability of their high-end push.

In 2020 alone, Samsung Display posted a deficit of more than 1 trillion won ($841.5 million) in its LCD business. But it has no other option but to continue production to meet the demand from its parent Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest TV maker.

The firm last year sold its LCD production facility in China to its Chinese rival TCL China Star Optoelectronics Technology, a key supplier to Samsung TVs. But the LCD line in Suzhou, China recently cut its panel supply almost in half, with Samsung’s display unit highly likely to be tasked with filling the void.

“(Samsung Electronics) have few choices but to contract with Samsung Display to make up for its LCD TV set capacity,” said Yi Choong-hoon, chief analyst at UBI Research.

This put Samsung Display‘s full exit plan in disarray. After the sell-off of the Chinese facility, the firm is also scaling down its LCD plant in Asan, South Chungcheong Province, to convert part of the facilities to its quantum-dot OLED lines to supply to set makers including Japanese firm Sony.

LG Display’s LCD business -- with production lines in Paju, Gyeonggi Province and Guangzhou, China -- is poised to generate 2.5 trillion won in operating profit for 2021, up fourfold from the previous year, according to Kim Jung-hwan, an analyst at Korea Investment & Securities, on Thursday.

This comes in sharp contrast with OLED TV earnings estimate. According to Kim, LG Display‘s OLED TV operations will post 152 billion won in operating loss, as its fourth-quarter forecast to generate 62 billion won income was dwarfed by 214 billion won losses for the previous three quarters. Since inception, LG’s OLED panel business has been in the red due to heavy spending.

Now, the question is whether the company is ready to be fully dedicated to next-generational OLED panels for premium TVs featuring self-lit pixels. Yi of UBI Research says it is too premature.

“A bigger penetration of OLED TVs to consumers is a prerequisitie for a conversion of (LG Display’s) existing LCD TV lines to OLED TV lines,” he said.

Analysts also said LG Display has already streamlined its LCD TV lines under a series of restructuring of LCD TV lines, including a conversion to lines for IT devices including mobile phones.

“(LG Display‘s) LCD TV fabs with low profit margin have completed a retreat in the first half of 2021,” said Kim Sun-woo of Meritz Securities. “LG is now capable of maintaining LCD capacity with a decent profit margin.”

This comes against the backdrop of industry projections that LCD TV panel prices continue to fall steadily over the course of the first quarter, and Chinese rivals are forecast to ramp up dominance in LCD market,

According to US-based market intelligence firm Display Supply Chain Consultants, Chinese firms’ LCD market share on a capacity basis are forecast to rise to 71 percent by 2025, from 53 percent in 2020, far outpacing Korea, Japan and Taiwan, as of June 2020.

Another estimate, released earlier this week, showed the price for LCD TV panels regardless of size -- ranging from 32- to 65-inch -- is projected to fall until March, giving up almost entire gains from July 2020 to July 2021 that is partly attributable to announced exits of Korean LCD panel makers.

Continuing to distance itself from involvement in LCD TV panel production, Samsung Display, the major global supplier of flat-panel display modules to Samsung Electronics and other global customers, revealed Monday that it has sold its majority stake in a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) factory in Suzhou, China to CSOT.

In the deal, CSOT acquired a 60% stake in Samsung Suzhou LCD (SSL) and a 100% stake in Suzhou Display (SSM) for the equivalent of $1.08 billion, according to reports out of South Korea.

Samsung Suzhou LCD’s ownership structure is now divided between a 60% ownership position by CSOT, 30% by the Suzhou government and 10% owned by CSOT parent, TCL, according to a report on Korean business news site theelec.net.

Samsung Display reportedly plans to use $739 million secured from the sale to take a 12% investment stake in CSOT, and the $341 million secured from selling its 100% stake in Suzhou Display will be used for liquidity.

Faced with declining profitability from LCD production as competitors, mostly from China, expanded and grew, Samsung Display previously announced its intention to exit the LCD business, while investing an announced 13 trillion won over five years in next-generation quantum dot (QD) displays.

It continues to own 7th-generation LCD factory lines in South Korea, but is in the process of changing over its Korean LCD production to new QD Display panels and small- to mid-sized organic light emitting diode (OLED) panels, the reports said.

Samsung Display will focus on production of foldable OLED panels and quantum dot nanorod displays (QNED) going forward, and expects to secure QNED production technology by 2021.

The company is also involved in the production and development of Micro LED module technology that produces very large screen sizes with better picture performance than OLED TVs.

TCL was the first to introduce LCD TVs with a miniLED backlight in 2019. CSoT’s acquisition of LCD patents from Samsung Display signifies a shift of power in the global TV market, putting TCL at the forefront of LCD TV development.

This also came in conjunction with the rising demand for TCL TVs in the global market, reinforcing the Chinese electronics giant, TCL as a leading player in the TV industry.

TCL has won several honours at the EISA (Expert Imaging and Sound Association) Awards this year for its exemplary commitment to the industry. Among other awards, TCL’s C835 4K Mini LED TV was awarded the “Premium Mini LED TV 2022-2023” and the C735 4K QLED TV was awarded the “Best Buy TV 2022-2023” as a seal of quality for their innovative technologies and stylish design.

TCL has established itself as a promising global TV brand on the up and up that can stay relevant and competitive in the ever-changing market. With this ambitious move by TCL, consumers can expect to see the global TV brand continues to get more dominance and authority in the industry.

While most electronic devices are attributed to overseas operations, there are still plenty of TV manufacturers in the country, or in other words, televisions that are Made in America.

Today, Philips Magnavox specializes in television sets and the assembly of projection TVs. The company also has several plants worldwide that help in the assembly of materials: Mexico, China, Thailand, and Malaysia.

Silo Digital is a private company in Chatsworth, California that specializes in LED TVs. Perhaps more interesting is how the company has been leading the TV manufacturing scene in the country for the past decade.

They entered the industry with their tube TVs, but really only gained popularity later.Since then, the company now manufacturers quality LCD and LED TVs:

SEOUL (Reuters) - Chinese flat screen makers, once dismissed as second-class players in the global LCD market, are drawing envious looks from big names such as LG Display Co Ltd and Samsung.A man walks out of the headquarters of LG Display in Seoul, October 20, 2011. REUTERS/Jo Yong-Hak

While the Korean giants were busy developing next-generation organic light emitting diode (OLED) TVs, little-known Chinese companies have started selling a type of display that are sharper than the standard LCD and cheaper than OLED.

Until last year, the UHD market had been almost non-existent, with just 33,000 sets sold in the 200 million-unit LCD TV market. Since then, shipments have soared around 20-fold, thanks to China, data from research firm IHS shows.

Chinese consumers who want brighter and sharper images but can’t afford OLED screens made by LG and Samsung Display, a unit of Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, are turning to UHD.

But its slow introduction into the market and austere prices have thrown open a window of opportunity for UHD makers, in this case Chinese companies like BOE Technology Group Co Ltd and TCL Corp’s LCD unit CSOT.

In the second quarter ended June, Shenzhen-listed BOE Technology reported an 8.9 percent operating profit margin, while China Star Optoelectronics Technology (CSOT), a unit of China’s biggest TV maker TCL Corp, posted a 9.6 percent margin.

By comparison, Japanese flat-screen pioneer Sharp Corp reported a razor-thin 0.5 percent margin. LG Display, the world’s No.1 LCD maker, posted a 5.6 percent margin.

Samsung Display, a unit of Samsung Electronics, had a margin of 13 percent, the biggest in the industry. But excluding its fledging OLED business, its LCD margin is between 3 and 7 percent, according to a Bernstein forecast.

Just as Korea overtook flat-screen pioneer Japan in the early 2000s, the surprise offensive by Chinese flat screen makers may be a taste of what’s to come, analysts say.

“They’ve got also strong captive customers - Chinese TV manufacturers and a booming China market. It will take quite a while for Samsung and LG, which made a strategic mistake by ignoring the potential of UHD, to overtake them,” Nam said.

Jolted by the reality of a growing UHD market, Samsung Electronics unveiled a 110-inch UHD TV in January. Interestingly, the UHD displays were not made by Samsung Display, but were produced by Taiwan’s AU Optronics.

“Even with some expansion of the Chinese panel suppliers we do expect Samsung and LG Display to stay dominant and continue production in LCD,” said Sweta Dash, director at IHS.

While Samsung and LG Display are investing billions of dollars in OLED this year, the two giants are also broadening their product lineups to include more popular 50 to 60-inch UHD models.

BOE Technology is now planning to raise 46 billion yuan ($7.5 billion) in the biggest Chinese equity offering this year, to build panel production lines and increase its stake in its LCD venture BOE Display Technology.

If you’ve been thinking about upgrading your old TV, you’ve got plenty of options. In fact, most TV brands on the market offer a number of impressive models with cutting-edge picture technology, incredible smart features, and myriad connections for all of your AV equipment. But when it comes time to buy, is there one brand that stands above the rest?

Let’s examine all the TV makers worth looking at, and why big brands like Samsung and LG are so good at what they do. And whether you’re looking for the absolute best TVs on the market, the best TVs under $500, or something in the Goldilocks Zone like the best TVs under $1,000, you don’t want to waste your time. We’ve put together a guide to all the best TV brands of 2022, so when the time comes to upgrade, you’ll know where to start your search.

Note: Televisions chosen for this list are representative of makes and models available in the U.S. market. Further, TVs included in this guide were chosen primarily for their picture performance, with other considerations such as operating system or audio performance as secondary considerations.

South Korea’s Samsung is the de facto market leader in the world television space, leading competitors like LG and Sony by a wide margin in terms of overall sales. That’s partly a result of the company’s size (Samsung ranks 18th on the Fortune 500), but mostly it’s because Samsung makes great TVs with a focus on accessibility.

Technically, it’s called Samsung Smart TV Powered by Tizen, but let’s just go with Tizen. Like  Samsung’s best smartwatches, the company’s TVs run on a Tizen-powered user interface called Eden 2.0. For clarity, we’ll refer to it as Tizen, the UI’s building blocks.

Tizen places all your apps in a row along the bottom of the Smart Hub (read: home screen). It’s got all the popular streaming apps as part of a 2,000-plus app library, and it has a neat feature that activates when you select an app, showing you popular sub-categories (like Netflix shows or Spotify playlists) for that app. There’s also a Tizen Gaming Hub which supports Google’s Stadia platform, Xbox, and GeForce Now for streaming games.

Perhaps most impressive is how Tizen works with the Samsung app family, including SmartThings, Smart Connect, and Smart View. You can use those to mirror content from your phone — even iPhones — to your TV or send TV playback directly to your phone (only on Samsung phones). If you’ve got compatible smart home devices, you also can use the TV as a control hub.

Also, Samsung’s newer models — QLED and otherwise — offer some cool features like importing app logins from your phone to save time, and the Samsung One Connect box, built to simplify messy cable nests behind TVs (and to enable cleaner wall-mounting).

Samsung has so far avoided producing OLED displays like those of LG. So, instead of striking a deal to use LG’s panels, Samsung branded its own LCD tech “QLED.” For a detailed breakdown, check out our QLED TV versus OLED TV comparison, but the general gist is this: QLED uses quantum dots to enhance performance by producing a purer, full-spectrum white light than LEDs are capable of on their own. In practice, QLED televisions are brighter (better for bright rooms) than less-expensive LCD TVs, and unlike OLED, can be more affordably built into large displays (100 inches and beyond).

2022 also saw Samsung announce its expected QD-OLED TVs, which use an advanced blue light source that acts as a hybrid between QLED and OLED. We are starting to see these TVs show up in the wild now, including the stunning Sony A95K QD-OLED, and the Samsung S95B OLED, if you are looking for an OLED-like upgrade from your current set. Like other major brands, 2022 also saw Samsung unveil a new MicroLED TV line, a major LED upgrade using the latest technology for super-tiny LEDs that can achieve higher brightness levels and very accurate dimming.

Another South Korean company, LG may not be as massive as the tried-and-true Samsung TV, but thanks to its OLED TV display technology, it has minimal competition when it comes to top-of-the-line picture performance.

WebOS — currently in its sixth iteration, WebOS 6.1 — completely revamps the LG smart experience. Where past models relegated apps to the bottom of the display (similar to Samsung Tizen), LG’s WebOS 6.1 sets utilize the entire screen for apps and other recommended web content. LG’s Magic Motion Remote has also been redesigned to support voice commands for both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, along with a Magic Explorer feature that lets viewers get additional info about the show or movie they’re watching, from what actors appear in the series or film to notable trivia.

As with Tizen, WebOS allows users to screen share (using Miracast), though that ability is limited to Android devices and Windows computers. The previous 5.0 update added VR capability to WebOS, in case you’ve got any 360-degree videos or photos you’d like to view, as well as support for additional devices like the Google Stadia.

It should be noted that there’s been a change in how LG will be naming its versions of WebOS going forward, and will now correspond with the year in which they’re released. LG TVs released in 2022 now come with WebOS 22, which is mostly the same as version 6 but adds profiles, smart speaker capabilities when the TV is turned off, and other new features.

OLED — Organic Light Emitting Diode — is the premier display technology today. OLED TV panels are capable of reaching black levels never before seen, with better contrast across the board, and because the pixels themselves light up, OLED televisions boast quicker response times (and less input lag) than other types of displays, and the picture integrity is stunning at any viewing distance. To see how OLED stacks up against regular old LED, take a look at our OLED vs. LED comparison.

In 2021, LG introduced OLED Evo, an improvement on OLED technology that helps increase brightness by more than 20%. 2022 is seeing even more OLED Evo TVs hit the market, including the new and well-reviewed LG C2 Evo OLED, making LG the best place to get your OLED upgrade.

Sony, standing as the last great Japanese TV heavyweight in the U.S. (sorry, Panasonic, Toshiba, and JVC), doesn’t market as many proprietary technologies as Samsung or LG, but it has all the tech it needs to create awe-inspiring TVs.

Google TV — versions of which run on many other devices, like the Amazon Fire TV family — isn’t quite as slick as WebOS, but it’s arguably more powerful. Unlike WebOS and Tizen, the Google TV home screen is laden with apps and suggestions, and you can scroll down for even more. Sony’s 2021 catalog was the first generation of sets to switch over to Google TV, an overhaul of the Android TV OS that features a faster, more intuitive user interface, complete with recommended and sponsored web content.

Google TV also has built-in support for Google Assistant (via a microphone in the remote or in your phone) and Chromecast, for both video and audio. Plus, as with Tizen, Google Smart Lock can automatically sync logins from your mobile device to your TV. You also have the ability to create separate profiles with Google TV for each person in your home. And, if that’s not enough, you can download the Logitech Harmony app to control your smart home devices from the couch.

Sony is one of a handful of companies offering OLED televisions (the list has recently expanded to include Panasonic, Philips, Hisense, and Vizio) thanks to a deal with LG allowing Sony to build TVs using LG panels. Due to the Cognitive Processor XR chip, Sony’s Bravia flagship TVs offer greater contrast, improved sound, low input lag, and faster web performance than we’ve ever seen. Sony’s newer TVs also offer VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) for gaming, particularly with the PlayStation 5.

In 2022, Sony also announced a push into mini-LED technology, announcing its first mini-LED TVs like the Z9K series. We’ve already seen mini-LED technology crop up in other devices like some Apple iPads. It’s a more affordable version of MicroLED tech where the LEDs are a bit larger, but still provide some of the same benefits, including better-localized dimming and contrast. Sony’s processor is key to this as it is designed with backlight algorithms to take the most advantage of smaller LEDs.

Like Samsung, Sony has also developed its own QD-OLED televisions. Our own Caleb Denison flew to Sony’s headquarters to thoroughly test one and found that Sony’s QD-OLED was a significant upgrade from past displays, albeit an expensive one.

TCL was barely a blip on the radars of seasoned LED TV reviewers half a decade ago. Today, it’s the fastest-growing brand out there, offering up 4K UHD and HDR-capable models at preposterously low prices.

TCL isn’t the only company making Roku TVs — Insignia, Sharp, and Hisense do the same, among other manufacturers — but it has been the most successful so far. From the affordable Roku Express to the Roku Streambar, the Roku TV platform’s vast selection (5,000+) of channels and its snappy cross-app search function are second to none. Roku’s smart TV user interface is a little less slick than webOS or Tizen, but we think it works better, and it’s more straightforward.

Additionally, TCL expanded into Google TV territory in 2021 with theirpopular 5- and 6-Series panels equipped with the latest Google TV operating system. While the new sets were briefly pulled from U.S. Best Buy shelves due to software issues, a fix was issued and the retailer now stocks the popular TVs again.

If you’re on a tight budget, but you still want some buttery 4K goodness up in your TV (not to mention HDR), TCL is the way to go. They’re affordable and are equipped with the latest version of Roku OS, featuring a dedicated Dolby Access channel to show off HDR-laden trailers.

Chinese manufacturer Hisense has been steadily making moves in the TV market over the years, licensing Sharp’s brand name(and buying its North American factory outright in 2015), buying Toshiba’s business in 2017, and making TVs under all three names for the U.S. market. Hisense had a rocky start but found a rhythm in making value-conscious Quantum 4K panels. In fact, their quality has improved so much that one of the latest versions, the Hisense U7G with HDR support, is one of our new recommended picks for a TV under $1,000 — and it has new, affordable 8K TVs now as well.

Hisense is unique in that it doesn’t have a singular operating system tied to its line of televisions. Some of its TVs use Android TV, like Sony, some of its TVs use Roku OS, like TCL, and some use VIDAA U, a slick-looking software that you can learn more about here. The models we are most impressed with are currently using Android TV, although at CES 2022 the company announced that all of its newULED TVs and its A6H and A7H lines will use Google TV. And for those of us that rely on Alexa, there’s even a Hisense TV that uses Amazon’s Fire TV platform!

With choices between Roku, Google TV, Fire TV, and more, buyers can pick the smart platform they like here, with plenty of options for budget-friendly purchases. The company is also making use of its TriChroma laser tech for improved color accuracy, and “ULED” panel technology to enhance images. Its latest Google TV picks also offer mini-LED panels, while the U6H Fire comes with Quantum Dot color, so you also have plenty of panel technologies to choose from. The latest 2022 models even have FreeSync and Game Mode Plus for gamers.

Vizio was once the undisputed champion when it came to awesome picture quality at a reasonable price. And while brands like TCL and Hisense have since challenged the Mighty V’s position at the top of Budget TV Mountain, this isn’t to say that Vizio isn’t still a name to be reckoned with.

Before 2017, all of Vizio’s Smart TVs ran a system that required users to download an application on their smartphone or tablet, which would be used to cast any content to the screen. In a nutshell, they were designed for mirroring. SmartCast updated that system by automatically curating a wide selection of apps without the need to download anything. That includes major streamers from Disney+ to Netflix, plenty of individual channel apps, and a wide variety of niche apps. It’s particularly easy to use in a field where smart TV platforms aren’t always the most user-friendly.

As with Samsung, Vizio is big on quantum-dot-powered panels. This is especially evident for the brand’s 2022 models, especially when it comes to the MQX and P-Series Quantum X series. And on top of quantum-enhanced colors and contrast, while you won’t find mini-LED tech on these 2022 models, the sheer number of traditional LED local dimming zones that are in place make for a totally arresting image packed with brightness, color detail, lifelike contrast, and minimal light blooming.

Plus, gamers will be happy with Vizio’s announcement of a free firmware update to its 2021 models, allowing for compatibility with AMD’s FreeSync technology, which enables smoother graphics when used with compatible gaming consoles and PCs. It has also an M-Series TV specifically designed for gaming, with a 240 fps frame rate and built-in Dolby Vision Auto Gaming, among other features.

With over half a century of skin in the game, it’s weird to consider Panasonic an up-and-comer. It’s seen better days, particularly when plasma TVs were the hottest thing going and Panasonic was the leader of that bunch. But, boy, have times changed. With the fall of plasma, the company has packed up its American dream and taken it back to Europe and Asia, where scores of consumers are enjoying some of the best OLED sets available. American customers, meanwhile, will have a much harder time finding any models locally.

Panasonic isn’t known for its disruptive technologies, but it does produce a number of reliable UHD OLED models. The big problem is that its TV sets just aren’t available in North America any longer, which makes the brand very hard to recommend compared to similar, affordable TVs from Hisense or TCL that are readily available. We’ll see if that changes with 2022’s LZ2000 OLED TV showcased at CES, but for now, Panasonic isn’t worth considering unless you’re on another continent.

For most of the 20th century, Toshiba was the preeminent name in Japanese television manufacturing, having produced the first Japanese transistor TV in 1959.

Hisense spent more than $110 million to buy 95% of Toshiba’s TV business in 2017. The real nail in the coffin came in 2015, though, when (after years of flagging sales and a de-prioritization of the sector) Toshiba gave up on making TVs for the U.S. market. Reportedly, the decision came after years of trying to compete with an expanding global market by lowering prices and costs without sacrificing quality.

The decision to invest in Canon’s SED technology in the mid-aughts turned out poorly as well. For a company that once reigned as one of the leaders in the CRT (cathode-ray tube) and rear-projection TV manufacturing, it’s a shame, but Toshiba is still chugging along just fine, making other appliances and electronic control systems. Its TV line is only notable as an Amazon partner, which means they offer built-in Fire TV and Alexa voice assistant compatibility.

For all the more seasoned folks reading, RCA was once the most respected bastion in American television development, having deployed the first-ever TV test pattern in 1939 (!) and pioneered the first color TV standard, NTSC (so named after the National Television System Committee) in 1953.

By the mid-1980s, RCA had been lapped by Japanese manufacturers and was no longer the powerhouse many remembered. A massive $6 billion-plus deal in 1985 saw the entire company sold to General Electric, then, in 1988, GE turned around and sold the rights to GE and RCA-branded televisions to French company Thomson. Thomson later sold the GE rights to TCL in 2004 and the RCA rights to Korea’s ON Corporation, which currently makes RCA-branded TVs.

Magnavox may never have been the most dominant name in the American TV game, but it was a prominent player for some years following the technology’s proliferation.

In 1974, Philips acquired Magnavox’s consumer electronics division, later introducing and selling televisions under the “Philips Magnavox” brand name to try and bolster sales in the U.S. Eventually, Philips sold those rights to Funai, which now makes TVs under both the Philips and Magnavox brands. Magnavox (the company) is still a subsidiary of Philips.

JVC used to be part of the Panasonic Corp. and started manufacturing TVs in 1953. For decades, JVC was one of the most well-respected TV brands on the market. Few companies sold more CRT sets over the back half of the 20th century.

Around the turn of the millennium, JVC started seeing dwindling sales in its TV division. In 2008, the company merged with Kenwood and closed many TV manufacturing plants in the next few years. It also had to phase out TV production to increase the manufacturing of other products.

In 2011, JVC Kenwood ceased television production altogether and licensed the brand name to Taiwanese manufacturer AmTRAN for the North American market. When that license expired, the next deal went to China’s Shenzhen MTC, which currently makes TVs under the JVC brand in the U.S. and elsewhere. JVC still has a stellar reputation for projectors, which it still produces and sells.

What size TV do you need? Here are a few tips for picking the right size TV for any room, including ideal viewing distance and picture quality versus size.