Samsung Electronics has shocked the industry with the news that it’s no longer going to sell televisions in China after seeing its market share in the country’s market dwindle significantly.
The company said it’s also going to pull its monitors, projectors, audio systems and home appliances from Chinese retailers.
It means that the world’s biggest TV brand in terms of both revenue and unit shipments is abandoning the largest market for its products on the planet, leaving it to local brands such as Hisense, TCL, Xiaomi, Skyworth and Haier, which already dominate.
“In response to the rapidly changing market environment, after careful research, Samsung Electronics decided to stop selling all household appliances, including TVs and monitors, in the mainland Chinese market,” the company said, according to a statement by its Chinese subsidiary that we ran through Google Translate.
The company had offered an expansive lineup of TVs for Chinese consumers, including top-rated OLED models like the S95F, its enormous 115-inch Micro RGB, its Neo QLED Mini-LED TVs and also its regular QLED and LCD models. It also sold lifestyle TVs such as The Frame and The Serif in China, but all of these products will soon be much harder for local consumers to source once existing stock is sold off.
Samsung said it will “make every effort” to ensure that existing customers who’ve already bought a Samsung TV won’t feel any impact of the decision. It promised to continue offering software updates and after-sales services, and will honor existing warranties.
Samsung’s home appliances, which span everything from refrigerators to hair dryers and washing machines, will also be discontinued in China. However, the company plans to continue manufacturing these products at its home appliance factory in Suzhou. But those products will simply be exported to foreign markets.
The company isn’t exiting China entirely, for it will continue to sell its smartphones and memory chips in the country. It has a much bigger presence in these industries. However, if Chinese TV aficionados were hoping to get their hands on one of the company's 2026 models, such as the new S95H that's just about to launch globally, they're going to be sorely disappointed:
The decision by Samsung to pull out comes as a surprise, though there has been talk of such a move in recent months. That’s because foreign TV brands have increasingly struggled to compete with Chinese companies, not only on price, but also in terms of premium features. Brands such as Hisense and TCL have emerged as global players and they make some damn good TVs, and generally sell them at much lower prices. Samsung has, until now, managed to retain its crown as the world’s top TV seller mostly because of its brand name.
However, the company’s lead has gradually been eroded in recent years by TCL. In fact, TCL came within a whisker of surpassing Samsung in terms of unit sales last year, and many experts have predicted that it could finally claim the number one spot in 2026. By pulling out of China, Samsung has made that even more likely to happen. While it didn’t have a very strong presence in the country, with a market share of 3.6% putting it down in fifth place overall, that still contributed to its global total. But it can’t count on those sales any longer. Meanwhile, Chinese brands now account for 94.1% of all TV sales in China.
Besides giving TCL a leg up, the move will likely prompt other foreign TV brands operating in China to reconsider their positions. While they haven’t given us any indication, we wouldn’t be surprised if LG Electronics, Panasonic and Sony also decided to abandon the market at some point.
