Chinese TV maker Hisense has announced its ambitious plan to unseat Samsung Electronics as the number one brand in the United States, and has said it hopes to do this in the next two years.
It's throwing down the gauntlet to Samsung at a time when Chinese TV brands are increasing in popularity on a global scale, and so its ambitions may not be entirely unrealistic. Samsung has enjoyed its status as the number one TV brand in the world for almost two decades, but nothing lasts forever.
Research from Counterpoint shows that Hisense had already become the second-ranked TV brand in the U.S. market as of the second quarter of this year, trailing Samsung in first place.
A spokesperson for Counterpoint told CNBC that Hisense, along with its rival and fellow Chinese brand TCL, are generally more focused on increasing their market share by strengthening their portfolios of premium LCD TVs, such as QD-LCD and Mini-LED televisions.
They’re doing this through some impressive innovations, such as by drastically increasing the brightness, refresh rates and dimming zones in their televisions. Both companies have released Mini-LED TVs that are much brighter than anything Samsung has.
For instance, Hisense this year launched the 98-inch 98UX TV (pictured below), which boasts a peak brightness of 5,000 nits, with more than 10,000 local dimming zones and a 144Hz panel.
In the case of TCL, it recently debuted the TCL X11H, upping the stakes with an incredible 14,000 local dimming sizes and an eye-popping 6,500 nits of brightness. These developments have enabled the companies to continually eat away at Samsung’s dominance of the industry.
Hisense International President Catherine Fang told CNBC that the company is now eyeing the number one spot in the industry, and believes it will overtake Samsung in about two years.
The company is not only innovating, but it’s also looking to boost its profile through an array of sponsorships. For instance, it recently signed on as the first official partner of the FIFA Club World Cup, which will be played in the U.S. next summer. That should expose its televisions to more U.S. consumers.
However, Hisense may have more difficulty in fending off TCL, which has been jostling with it for the number two spot for several years now. The companies are almost neck-and-neck, but TCL recently clawed ahead of Hisense, according to Counterpoint’s Q2 data. It has not yet published its data for the third quarter.
In any case, Hisense and TCL are also closing in on LG Electronics in the premium TV segment.
The U.S. has emerged as a key market for Hisense, accounting for about 30% of its international revenue.
