The budget TV giant taking on Samsung in South Africa

Despite being in South Africa far shorter than its rivals, Chinese electronics giant TCL is seeing a steady increase in local adoption of its TVs.

TCL launched in South Africa in late 2021. It initially offered a small line-up of 4K LED and QLED TVs on Takealot, with its primary focus on competitive pricing.

Pick n Pay started selling its TVs in 2022, followed by HiFi Corp, Incredible, and Game in 2023, and Makro in 2024.

In the roughly three years it has been in South Africa, the company has regularly updated its TV range with newer technologies and added air conditioners to its local offering.

All of TCL’s TVs in South Africa come with either Android TV or Google TV built-in, ensuring users get a smart operating system compatible with as wide a range of apps as possible.

TCL was the first brand to launch a Google TV in South Africa and the first to offer a full range of Google TVs with sizes ranging from 32 inches to 98 inches.

The company told MyBroadband its biggest challenge in South Africa has been brand awareness.

“Thankfully, TCL has a huge global presence with a great reputation which helps in localisation,” the company said.

TCL is one of the best-selling TV brands on Amazon’s US marketplace and consistently ranks among the top five manufacturers worldwide.

According to research by Omdia, it sold the third-highest number of TVs in the first half of 2024, with a market share of 12.1%.

One area where TCL has seen significant growth is in the premium category, where it is closing the gap on Samsung for the top spot.

TCL’s market share in the segment for models priced above $1,500 (R26,856) grew from about 29% to 33.3% in the second quarter of 2024.

Aggressive pricing for biggest TVs

TCL sees its main strength in the TV market being in larger panels.

According to Omdia, TCL sold the highest number of 98-inch TVs in the world in 2023, with a 32.4% market share.

It was the first to launch a 98-inch MiniLED TV with a 144Hz variable refresh rate in South Africa in 2023.

At its current price of R69,999, that model undercuts Samsung’s Neo QLED TV rival of the same size by more than R100,000.

The 98-inch QLED TV model costs R39,999, which is around half the price of Samsung’s equivalent QLED model.

But TCL’s real show-stopper is the 115-inch X955 Max MiniLED TV, which it rolled out locally in 2024.

This is not only the biggest physical TV display in South Africa but the largest one directly available off-the-shelf to general consumers around the world.

Owning one of these behemoths will set you back R399,999 when bought through HiFi Corp.

Aside from its sheer size, it boasts a 144Hz variable refresh rate, 5,000 nits peak brightness, a contrast ratio of 50 million to 1, a colour gamut covering 98% of DCI-P3, and a Onkyo 6.2.2 sound system.

Gaming-focused models and other offerings

TCL said it was at the forefront of TV technologies with massive research and development into quantum dot and MiniLED technology.

The company’s newest flagship MiniLED model — the C855 — has also received rave reviews for offering extremely competitive pricing while boasting colours and contrast comparable to top-end OLEDs.

Another standout offering is TCL’s range of 4K C755 QLED gaming TVs, the most affordable models with true high refresh rates coming in at 144Hz.

At the time of publication, this range started at R9,999 for a 55-inch model and R12,999 for a 65-inch unit, both available on Takealot.

For those on a tighter budget, the company’s regular 4K LED Smart TVs with 43-inch, 50-inch, 55-inch, 58-inch, 65-inch, and 70-inch sizes are also well priced, putting them in competition with other budget-focused brands like Hisense and Skyworth.