TCL is on the verge of snapping Samsung’s 20-year streak at the top of the TV business, with its global market share of TV sales coming within an inch of its rival’s last year.
According to the latest sales data from Counterpoint Research, TCL is now so close that it seems almost certain that the Chinese electronics giant will finally claim the number one spot within the next couple of years.
Samsung’s run at the top began way back in 2006, when it first surpassed fallen Japanese giants such as Pioneer, Panasonic, Sony, Sharp and Toshiba to become the world’s best-selling TV brand. It was the beginning of a long period of dominance by Samsung and its South Korean rival LG Electronics, which held the number two spot for many, many years, never quite catching its top competitor. But now the picture is changing once again.
Those Japanese legends have long since disappeared from the top five entirely, replaced by a number of fast-growing Chinese brands, headed up by TCL and Hisense, which have become masters at economies of scale. In recent years, they have made rapid gains, and now TCL is trailing Samsung's market share by only a single percentage point.
Samsung did sell the most TVs in 2025, but its overall shipments dipped by 3% compared to the previous year, which meant that its overall share of the global TV sales fell from 18% to just 17%. Meanwhile, TCL is quickly bringing up the rear, with shipments exploding by 20% in 2025 to claim an overall 16% market share, just below Samsung.
Counterpoint’s latest numbers are based on unit sales, and they don’t take into account revenue, where Samsung retains a much stronger lead over TCL due to selling more premium TV models. But if we’re going by bulk shipments, it’s clear that the Korean giant is almost certainly going to lose its crown in the near future, perhaps as soon as next year.
One surprising finding from Counterpoint’s research is that Hisense – right behind TCL last year – actually lost market share last year. It fell from 12% to 10% overall, primarily due to its focus on the domestic Chinese market, which saw a decline in sales in 2025. LG Electronics did well to increase its overall share from 8% to 9%, mainly due to strong growth in America, putting it within touching distance of Hisense. LG had been the world’s number two TV brand until being surpassed by TCL and Hisense a few years ago.
There’s also a surprising name bringing up the rear, with Walmart emerging as the fifth-largest player in the market. Few people have ever set eyes on a Walmart-branded TV, but its gains stem from the fact it owns Vizio, as well as Onn, which is getting a lot of traction among U.S. consumers.
While Samsung deserves credit for managing to hold onto the title of the world’s best selling TV brand for two decades, it’s debatable if it will be able to stretch its dominance to 21 years. At current growth rates, it probably won’t be able to hold on, but surprisingly Counterpoint thinks it may just retain a slight lead over TCL in 2026.
"In 2026, Samsung will remain the global TV market leader, while Chinese brands such as TCL, Hisense and Xiaomi will rapidly expand their presence across various segments,” said Counterpoint Research Director Bob O'Brien
Still, with TCL recently announcing that it’s going to start running Sony’s TV business under a new joint venture in which it owns a majority stake, it seems inevitable that Samsung is going to have to relinquish its crown before the end of the decade.
