Panasonic Abandons the Smart TV Market, Its TVs Will Be Made by TCL

Panasonic will stop making televisions. The Japanese company is looking for a way to reduce costs and for this reason it is about to close an agreement with TCL that will allow it to outsource the production of its Smart TVs. because they cannot be as competitive as the different Chinese manufacturers that in recent years have been stealing more and more market share from brands that were once a benchmark in image matters.

Panasonic surrenders to Chinese competition

Panasonic Abandons the Smart TV Market

That Panasonic’s presence as a manufacturer of Smart TVs has been reduced in recent years in favor of mainly Chinese manufacturers is no surprise. Because it has not only affected them, but also other brands that years ago set the pace of the market.

And it is that little or nothing can be done when your rivals are capable of producing at a cost well below yours. For this reason and due to the need to reduce costs, the Japanese company based in Osaka has decided to outsource the production of its Smart TVs . A success that if it does not go wrong or there is some kind of last minute surprise will be carried out with TCL.

The Chinese manufacturer has been making a lot of noise in the television market for some years now, rapidly gaining presence and recognition with a strategy that years ago allowed other established brands such as Samsung and LG to steal share from giants such as Sony, Hitachi or Panasonic itself. .

With this agreement, the idea of Panasonic is that TCL continues to manufacture high-end models , where there really is a market and benefits. Because the low-end TVs hardly have any margin, so it’s not something that is going to impact the global accounts if they decide to only focus on the high-end.

To make the best plasmas at sunset

The trajectory of Panasonic still remains curious. For years it manufactured the best televisions on the market thanks to its screens with Plasma technology . The quality in the representation of color, the calibration and the image itself in general were a real spectacle. Despite the existence of LEDs, at that time there was no discussion: if you wanted maximum quality, you had to bet on a Plasma TV.

However, as we already said, the irruption of LCD and later LED technology allowed Chinese manufacturers such as LG and Samsung to offer much more attractive prices for the consumer. So the big brands had no choice but to adapt and move from the top positions to trying to do everything possible to stay afloat.

Now Panasonic relives a kind of second decline that we hope does not end up badly punished. Because today they have proposals that are of great quality that even many video editing professionals use due to the good performance in their colorimetry.

We will see how this decision of Panasonic ends, if it is enough for them to reduce their product line as Sony did to focus on where the money is for them (domestic market and the high-end) or if on the contrary they completely end the decision and we forget from more Panasonic Smart TV