Do you want a brand new TV this year? According to various forecasted data on the nature of the TV ecosystem, 2024 isn’t looking like the year for that sparkly new OLED upgrade.
Look no further than the mass layoffs occurring across the tech industry to see just how much our macroeconomic climate is still somewhat in the gutter. While general things might have improved following the global pandemic, consumer spending doesn’t seem to be moving much at all and this reality might be felt most especially within the TV market.
We’ll get into the nitty gritty and the raw data a bit later, but it’s clear that there won’t be much of an improvement — if at all — in regards to TV sales this year. Statista alone claims that last year’s TV shipments saw around 197 million units — that’s quite the number to be sure, but it’s the lowest it’s been since 2015. Thus, 2024 isn’t looking to move the needle all too much.
But, maybe Hisense and TCL can be the answer to this. Although we don’t yet know what either company’s 2024 TV lineup will look like in regards to pricing, we can see a potential where both expertly position their markups against the competition’s.
A stagnant year for TV sales
It’s not common for TV buyers to go out and upgrade to an OLED TV on a whim. No one’s buying into a new 2024 TV after already purchasing one a year or even two years prior. Add to this the fact of the negative overarching economic climate and you get a world that’s not too keen on spending and saving more over the course of 2024.
Thus, it makes sense to a degree why TV sales forecasted for 2024 aren’t too optimistic. Sure, there has been slight growth over the past several years in the TV industry thanks to ever-evolving technologies, like QLED and OLED panels, in tandem with the driving demand for TVs with a 4K resolution. But it all might well soon be stagnating given these prior years of growth.
The aforementioned Statista chart shows that 2024 TV shipments will potentially mirror 2023’s 197 million shipments. Again, quite a high number, but it’s certainly not something you want to see as a TV manufacturer or Samsung TV executive. Statista’s chart also plainly shows how TV shipments have dipped over the course of the past 5 years, with 2018’s 219 million TV shipments now far removed.
TV market revenue isn’t looking too hot, either. Again, forecasts taken via Statista show that 2024 TV revenue will sit around $97.1 billion, down by about $200M from the previous year. Although it won’t be as bad as 2022’s $93.8 billion TV revenue, Statista forecasts that these numbers are set to dwindle incrementally into 2028 — despite a somewhat positive outlook on the 8K TV market.
Samsung is obviously the key player in the industry. But, maybe TCL and Hisense can bring about a bit of change and alleviate some of the negative outlook through expert pricing on its 2024 TVs.
TCL and Hisense’s 2024 vision
TCL and Hisense have long been the answer to many buyers’ woes of incredibly high TV prices. Hisense has several options currently that come highly regarded under the $1,000 mark. TCL, too, is no stranger to the budget display market, with its beloved TCL QM8 Mini-LED TV sitting at $900, to name just one expertly priced TV under its guise.
As already mentioned, in regards to this year’s TV downturn, the budget display duo could position their TV prices this year far better than their competitors’ — assuming, of course, that both are willing to be that aggressive on their 2024 TV pricing.
The competition? Samsung, Sony, and LG are the main competitors against both TCL and Hisense, but with their pricing strategies typically being quite high, it stands to reason that they won’t bring to the table value prices on TVs in 2024. LG might be the only one to look out for this year, most of all witnessed via its B4 OLED and C4 OLED models.
Hisense showed off its 110UX Mini-LED TV at CES, a 110-in display that might well cost nearly $8,000. More recently, the display manufacturer has already released information on its 2024 Hisense U76N 4K QLED, yet another 100-in display that’s $4,999 — $1,999 at the time of writing as it is on sale at Best Buy.
Both should be expert examples in showing that Hisense certainly isn’t putting any emphasis on better pricing for its top-of-the-line displays — and that should go without saying. But given these exorbitant prices, maybe it can leverage those to counterbalance cheaper options provided in its lower display tiers.
Similarly, we don’t yet have an idea of what TCL’s 2024 TV lineup will look like price-wise, but it could potentially be positioned better even than Hisense’s 2024 TV pricing. We’ll have to wait and see to be sure, but given the fact that both TCL and Hisense gave Samsung a run for its money last year, we can safely bet the duo might well prosper just as much — and potentially even better — in 2024.
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