Today, sony signed a memorandum of intent with tcl electronic holdings ltd. And the two sides agreed to hold further consultations on future strategic cooperation in the field of family recreation。
Under the memorandum of intent, the parties confirmed their intention to establish a joint venture to take over the sony family entertainment business, with 51 per cent of the shares held by tcl and 49 per cent of the shares held by sony, and to operate globally an integrated business from product development, design, manufacture, sale, logistics and customer services, including television and family sound。
The memorandum mentions that the parties plan to hold consultations on a final legally binding agreement by the end of march 2026. The new company is expected to become operational in april 2027, once conditions are met, such as the signing of the final agreement and the approval of the relevant authorities。
In the future, the new company will take full advantage of the advanced technology, brand power and supply chain management capabilities that sony has long built up in the audio-visual field, integrating the advanced demonstration technology of tcl, the advantages of the global scale, improving industry layout, end-to-end cost efficiency and vertical supply chain advantages, and actively advancing business development。
New company products, including television and family sound, will be committed to creating new values for global users through the global brand of “sony” and “braviatm”。
The president and ceo of sony said:
“it is a pleasure to reach a consensus with tcl on the intentions for strategic cooperation. By combining the advantages of both sides, we are committed to creating brand new customer values in the area of family entertainment and providing a more attractive audio-visual experience to users worldwide.”
The chairman of the board of directors of tcl electronic holdings ltd., dow:
“we firmly believe that this strategic cooperation with sony is an excellent opportunity for the two sides to consolidate their comparative resources and build together an excellent opportunity to support further business growth. In the future, both of us will be expected to achieve brand-up, scale-up and supply chain optimization through complementary business strategies, sharing of technical experience and deep synergies, providing better quality products and services to a wide range of clients.”
Japanese television sony was once used as a proxy for high-end television in the chinese market. However, their market share has continued to decline in recent years, with data showing that the combined market share of the four leading foreign television brands, including sony, in the chinese market was less than 5 per cent in 2024, averaging only about 1. 25 per cent per household。
According to data reports released by lotutech, the total volume of chinese television market brands in 2025 was 328. 95 million, an 8. 5 per cent decline over the same period, resulting in a new low, at least 16 years since 2010。
In terms of brand patterns, china's top eight brands in the television market - haisin, tcl, millet, sow, long rainbow, haile, condja and hua - combined delivered 3,0963,000 units in 2025, accounting for 94. 1 per cent of the total market share。
The four major brands of foreign investment, tristar, sony, philips and sharps, have been at the bottom of the market for a long time, with combined deliveries falling by 1 million throughout 2025。
The decline in sales may be due mainly to the quality crisis. The “oversure-free” failure (involving 10,000-dollar machine type xr-65x90j, etc.), which erupted at the end of 2025, resulted in maintenance costs of up to $2,000-$3,000, which resulted in rigid treatment of the client service, leading to a collapse of brand names. There have been thousands of complaints about platforms such as black cat complaints, and sony's great laws have been reduced to “pay lessons” that have led to the collapse of user trust。
At the same time, problems such as the poor quality of the original android system, the difficulty of delivering screens, and the lag in content services have long been unresolved. The country's product cards have surpassed the full range of ecological functions such as ai interaction, cloud games, family k songs and so on, and the gap between sony's user experience continues to widen。
In addition to the television operation, sony xperia had previously cancelled the official twitter public sign, which meant that sony had officially withdrawn from the chinese market。
