The weird thing is for me take cars for instance when I look at my steering wheel and see Volvo it gives me a sense of satisfaction, has done for decades, however the feel and overall build strength & comfort for me seems to have disappeared, but still has the Volvoisam about it in its name lol..
We all love branded names including me but, the manufacturing world isn’t what is use to be. Take Volvo who are now owned by Chinese firm Geely. European manufacturers having their vehicles made in China and shipped back to Europe to sell.
The glorious world of TV’s isn’t what it use to be. Back in the day you could buy a Panasonic, Sony or Baird TV for example and it was made by then. Today is totally different, manufacturers outsource their budget to midrange to third party manufacturers in Turkey, China or Taiwan, even worse, what we think are branded company’s often licence the brand name to to third party manufacturers. Take the Sony brand for one example a renowned electronics manufacturer, where you or I would be proud to have such a brand in our living room only to find its not made by Sony at all.
Look at the story of LG (Lucky Goldstar) and where they have come from if you haven’t already read it. Now they make the large majority of OLED panels for renown brands such as for the Likes of Sony, Panasonic and Bang & Olufsen etc.
Lets have a quick look at Samsung. It wasn’t many moons ago Samsung gained the name “Samsung Panel lottery” It was potluck which panel you got, it wasn’t the only manufacturer but, probably the worse. In 2008 Samsung Electronics announced that it would be outsourcing the production of some LCD display modules to TCL CSOT. What this meant is anything below Samsungs top tier panels were made by TCL. I bet the TV you and Mike are watching is made by TCL.
Fast forward to 2020 delayed untill late 2021 –Samsung Display, an arm of South Korea-based Samsung Electronics which makes display panel for various devices, has sold off its LCD production line located in Suzhou, China to TCL Technology. The move is in line with the company’s plan to stop the production of LCD panels by the end of this year. The South Korean company is now shifting its focus towards the production of LED panels and the next-generation QD panels.
So what does that mean to you or I, well simple really, unless you or I buy a Samsung QD-OLED, the TV panel is made by TCL and TV made in China. The Big question you need to ask one self is, do you buy a cheap Samsung branded TV made by TCL or do you buy a TCL TV that is overall better and has better features and TCL has some big brand partnerships. You tell me???
Going back to LG and its origins, even Samsung and where they have come from you may find this interesting. Its a US story but, just as much applies to Europe and indeed us.
https://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/are-tcl-and-hisense-the-next-lg-and-samsung/