Sony and TCL have announced plans for a new "joint venture" business that will run Sony's "televisions and home audio equipment business" in the future. The new venture will handle "product development and design to manufacturing, sales, logistics and customer service", according to a report via Morningstar.
It seems that this new company will take over the entire TV business from Sony Electronics. The release says that it will be 51% owned by TCL and 49% by Sony, which suggests that TCL will be the dominant player in how it operates.
It's not clear exactly what "home audio" entails here – I would assume that soundbars such and the Bravia Theater Quad are included, but the Sony CS separate speakers are maybe in more of a gray area. I would not expect Sony's headphones and Bluetooth speakers to be included.
Update: Sony has provided a statement to TechRadar with a little more insight into the type of partnership that's planned:
"Sony and TCL have agreed to move forward with discussions and consideration for a strategic partnership in their home entertainment field.
"The two companies have signed a memorandum of understanding to confirm their intentions to establish a joint venture to grow the home entertainment business in the global market by combining the strengths of both companies.
"The new company plans to advance its business by leveraging Sony’s high-quality picture and audio technology cultivated over the years, brand value and operational expertise including supply chain management, while utilising TCL’s advanced display technology, global scale strength, industrial footprint, end-to-end cost efficiency, and vertical supply chain advantages.
"We consider the two companies to be nearly equal partners, both Sony and TCL will provide steadfast support for the sustainable growth of the new company, to create innovative products that meet the expectations of customers around the world and pursue further business growth through operational excellence.
"At this stage, the announcement reflects an initial memorandum of understanding, and further details are still under discussion. We will communicate further at the appropriate timing when there is confirmed information to share."
I've also contacted TCL for comment, though I'm not expecting many concrete details from that side either – the report says that definitive agreements are intended to be reached at the end of March.
TCL TVs in Sony badges?
We're only three weeks into January, and already my TV prediction bingo card has been upended: I didn't expect seismic news like this, especially when Sony has yet to announce its 2026 TV range (which we know is coming, because it's been promising us its RGB TV tech will come this year for… well, about a year).
This is an interesting approach for the future. I suspect that TCL's larger stake in the business meand it's likely to dominate the manufacturing of Sony-branded TVs in the future – but Sony will still retain a huge stake in the business.
So it doesn't seem like this will just a case of a revered old brand having its tech made by a totally unrelated company, such as with Toshiba's TVs. (Though this can have some impressive results – Philips' European OLED TVs are made by another company, and are excellent.)
My hope is that Sony's development teams will be involved in the new company, and that the joint venture will still use OLED panels when it wants to, even though TCL avoids OLED completely for its own TVs. Maybe we'll still have Sony Bravia XR processing, and an image profile designed to match Sony's professional monitors, as its TVs are designed now.
It might be that TCL mainly transforms Sony's mid-range and budget options using its impressively cost-effective manufacturing. Sony's high-end TVs are legendary, but while its more affordable options are very nice-looking, they're basically always stuck behind the competition on value – and that's gone double in the last year or so, with TCL, Hisense, Amazon and Roku increasingly dominating the mid-range TV world.
But it's possible that the changes will be more fundamental, and that Sony's contribution is much lighter – and that really we'll be seeing TCL TVs with Sony badges and couple of unique features to make them stand out (such as the Perfect for PlayStation features).
One thing to note here is that TCL is already the producer of the panels used by a lot of TV manufacturers, through its display-making arm, TCL CSOT – so it being involved with Sony's manufacturing may not be that different to now, depending on where Sony gets its panels.
Or it could mean much more dramatic changes in the future. I'm guessing that if the new joint business may only be confirmed in March, then the absolutely earliest we can expect to see anything from it would be CES 2027.
In any case, Sony fans are among the most enthusiastic and loyal in the TV world, so this is going to be an interesting year for them either way.
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