LG Loses to TCL! The Strongest TV Brand Champion is This, 'Good Picture Quality, Strong Sound Effect, Good Function, Easy Operation': Durable for 7 Years Like New

The global TV market saw a breakthrough recovery in the first quarter of 2026! According to Counterpoint's report, the research firm's TV shipment tracking report shows that Q1 global TV shipments year-over-year (YoY) growth rate grew slightly by 3%. Although South Korean giant Samsung (Samsung) successfully defended its leadership position with a 17% TV brand market share, Chinese duopoly TCL and Hisense (Hisense) are making surprising inroads. In particular, TCL achieved a 22% year-over-year increase in shipments during the traditionally slow first quarter, narrowing the gap with Samsung to just 2.8 percentage points. As various brands roll out flagship new products and killer pricing strategies in the second quarter, the global TV industry is set to face a structural throat-cutting war.

MiniLED TVs become the core of sales! TCL narrows the market share gap with Samsung

In the 2026 first quarter global TV shipment competition, Samsung maintained its first place with a 17% market share and achieved the highest 8% year-over-year growth rate in nearly two years. Although its W-OLED TV sales showed significant improvement, limited by the overall OLED base still being small, it could not significantly boost total shipments.

In contrast, the second-place TCL's performance was even more eye-catching. Although the first quarter is usually considered a slow sales season, TCL relied on the full-line explosion of quantum dot (QD) and MiniLED LCD TVs, surging with a 22% year-over-year growth rate, pushing the global market share to 14%, and the gap with Samsung narrowed from 4% last year to 2.8%. The third-place Hisense is also not to be outdone, closely following with a 13% market share; LG remains stable at fourth place with 9%.

2026 First Quarter Global TV Brand Market Share Ranking The following table is ranked based on the market share of the first quarter of 2026 (Q1), with a comparison to the same period in 2025: Current Quarter Ranking Brand (Brands) 2026 Q1 Market Share 2025 Q1 Market Share Yearly Market Share Change 1 🇰🇷 Samsung (Samsung) 17% 16% +1% 2 🇨🇳 TCL 14% 12% +2% 3 🇨🇳 Hisense (Hisense) 13% 12% +1% 4 🇰🇷 LG 9% 9% Unchanged - 👥 Other Brands (Others) 48% 51% -3%

Price war begins! 55-inch RGB MiniLED first seen at two thousand dollars with change

To welcome the golden sales period of the second quarter of 2026, various TV brands have adjusted their strategies from March to May and conducted a 'big reshuffle' for high-end panel specifications, significantly lowering the entry threshold for consumers:

Mainstream flagship specifications: Haier and TCL took bold actions to establish MiniLED LCD TVs as the flagship mainstay of the annual LCD product line, fully attacking the high-quality and high CP value market.

Affordable OLED market competition: Traditional OLED giant LG Electronics, on the other hand, went against the trend by including more economical entry-level OLED TVs in its new product lineup, attempting to break the stereotype of OLED prices being high.

Samsung's aggressive pricing strategy: Facing competition, market leader Samsung adopted one of its most aggressive pricing offensives in recent years, splitting its high-end product line into the top-level R95H and the downgraded R85H, successfully lowering the selling price of the 55-inch RGB MiniLED LCD TV to below $2,000, directly firing at Chinese brands.

Samsung (Samsung) TV Reviews Samsung TV users share, 'The Tizen system is actually easy to get used to, the boot speed is very fast, the remote control can directly search Netflix with one-click voice search is very convenient', 'I originally thought the built-in speaker was very useful, but after purchasing the Magic Soundbar Soundbar, the sound synchronization stacking effect is really three-dimensional', 'When playing Monster Hunter and Dark 4, the color display and details in the dark really surprised me, 144Hz for gaming is awesome', 'Using S24 Ultra can directly wirelessly project it, and you can open multiple windows to watch the guide while playing the main console, the ecosystem integration is very smooth', 'The Samsung curved TV in the living room has been used for nearly 7 years, opened for more than 10 hours a day, experienced several major earthquakes and nothing happened, now the head is still strong and there is not a single bright spot, it is very durable', 'Renters bought a 32-inch one as an external monitor and TV, built-in a lot of audio apps, you can lie in bed and watch dramas without turning on the computer, high CP value', 'If you often watch dynamic sports competitions, Samsung's dynamic compensation is done very smoothly, watching the trajectory of the ball in the big dome baseball game will not have obvious afterimages', 'I have gone to the scene for comparison, the color saturation of Samsung QD-OLED is really high, the color level of 4K landscape is very pleasing'.

TCL TV Reviews TCL TV users pointed out, 'At this price, you can buy Mini LED and zone dimming, the specifications are pulled to the maximum, there is nothing to pick on, high CP value first choice', 'Buying an 85-inch big TV to watch movies is awesome, the panel brightness is very sufficient, Dolby Vision turned on the stereoscopic sense is really shocking', 'TCL's three-year warranty is really reassuring, and online registration also gives some gifts, after-sales service is sincere', 'If the budget is limited but want a big screen, TCL is really recommended, the color performance is worthy of its price, even a little overtake the same price first-line brands', 'The backlight brightness of this one is very high, even if the living room is well-lit during the day, you will not feel that the picture is dark, watching HDR specification sports events is very satisfying', 'Bought a 43-inch one to put in the dormitory room, less than 20,000 yuan can also watch 4K, connect Switch to play big chaos without feeling any delay, student party recommendation', 'The system is the native Android system, you can use your phone to download Google Home to directly control the TV, very convenient for tech lovers', 'Connect the computer to open 144Hz to play competitive games without problems, the game mode will automatically optimize the details in the dark, the enemies hiding in the shadows can be seen clearly'.

Hisense (Hisense) TV Reviews As for Hisense (Hisense) TVs, netizens evaluated, 'I bought Hisense because I was attracted to its large-scale manufacturing process, actually watching 4K HDR movies, the brightness and color saturation are really rich, it's very enjoyable to watch', 'Hisense's after-sales service has become more convenient after having a Taiwan general agent, giving a three-year warranty is not inferior to Japanese and Korean giants, it's very cost-effective for people with limited budgets', 'Buying Hisense is to aim for its breakthrough specifications, while others are still giving ordinary side-entry backlight at the same price, Hisense directly gives Mini LED and 100-zone dimming', 'Strongly recommend Hisense's black level performance, watching those dark series (like Game of Thrones Season 6), the details are still very clear, not the whole piece blurred into black', 'The living room is wide enough to directly go for Hisense 100 inches, that visual impact is really not to be underestimated, the projector is completely out of the question, it's very bright even during the day', 'The built-in speaker sound quality of this one surprised me, the bass is coming out, generally watching news and variety shows do not need to buy a soundbar separately', 'After entering society and renting a house, the first big TV I bought was Hisense, used for more than three years and then passed it on to a junior to continue using, currently the head is still strong and durable', 'Put a 55-inch Hisense in the room as a drama tool, turn on Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, lying in bed to watch Netflix has a movie theater feeling'.