China TV shipments fall 10.1% in H1 2026; 75-inch+ share nears half; Hisense, TCL, Skyworth hold 62%

In the first half of 2026, shipments of TV sets by mainland Chinese brands totaled 14.947 million units, down 10.1% year on year. The decline was 8.8% in the first quarter and widened to 11.6% in the second quarter. Shipments have now fallen year on year for five consecutive quarters since Q2 2025. Annual shipments peaked at 50.89 million units in 2016, and the market has since shrunk by 40% over a decade.

During the 618 shopping festival, the average online retail price of TVs was RMB 3,568, up RMB 121 or 3.5% year on year. The average screen size online rose to 66.4 inches, with 75-inch and above models accounting for nearly half of sales. Sales of near-100-inch products grew 43.3%.

Brand performance diverged sharply. Hisense, TCL and Skyworth, together with their sub-brands, shipped about 9.22 million units in H1 2026, down 4.3% year on year, with a combined market share of 61.7%. Xiaomi, relying on its REDMI online channel, shipped over 2.6 million units, giving it a share of about 18%. Changhong, Haier and Konka each shipped fewer than 1 million units, with a combined total of about 2.02 million. Among the eight major brands, only Skyworth and Changhong held shipments roughly flat with a year earlier, while all others declined. Among foreign brands, Samsung withdrew from the Chinese market in May 2026, and Sony, Philips and Sharp together shipped fewer than 500,000 units in China in H1 2026, down more than 20% year on year, with a combined market share of under 4%.

Mainstream brands are accelerating their push into the high-end segment. Hisense launched RGB-Mini LED with multi-color backlighting, while TCL introduced super quantum dot SQD-Mini LED, with both companies shifting their flagship product lines fully to Mini LED technology. Skyworth is building differentiated categories such as wallpaper TVs and art TVs, powered by its self-developed Chameleon AI chip. Xiaomi, Changhong, Haier and Konka are also rolling out Mini LED products. LG Electronics launched several cost-effective entry-level OLED TVs. In early June 2026, the organizational structure for the TCL-Sony joint venture project was formally established, with the new company scheduled to begin operations in April 2027.

Consumers' key factors in buying a TV include picture quality, screen size, system smoothness and built-in free content, with price ranking last. In Q1 2026, the share of small-screen entry-level products continued to fall, while large-screen models such as 98-inch and 100-inch TVs saw their share rise across the board. More than 50% of consumers regard 85-inch and above TVs as their target, and 24.1% set their target at 100 inches. Among console gamers, 45.3% most often use a TV as their display device. During the 2026 618 period, emotional value and home aesthetics became new core factors in users' appliance purchases.