IFA 23 > TCL Mini LED TV: TCL strategy with interviews with Frédéric Langin and Olivier Semenoux

- How has the French TV market been doing since the beginning of 2023 after a year in 2022 of less than 4 million televisions? And what are TCL's prospects?

Olivier Semenoux: First of all, it should be noted that we are now in a renewal market. It should therefore be more or less stable each year, that is to say without spectacular rises or falls. In 2023, the market is generally in decline over the first half of the year. All categories of televisions are affected, except that of large screens (65'' and more) which continues to grow, both in volume and in value. As for the prospects of the TCL brand on the French market, after having recently occupied the position of number 2 in value (number 3 if not) or in volume over certain weeks and even certain months, i.e. ahead of LG when we do not offer TV Oled, we wish for the years 2023 and 2024 to consolidate our position as a challenger, that is to say to establish ourselves on the long term on the second step of the podium. We are aiming for stable and constant growth for the coming quarters. This is why we are investing in developing our range and our notoriety with our partnership with the FFR (French Rugby Federation).

- What is TCL's forecast for the French TV market in 2023?

Frédéric Langin (see photo below): very difficult to say... But if we take into account the performance at the start of year, we can expect a drop in volumes of around 5%, for a final result of around 3.7 million units (3.9 million in 2022). On the other hand, we see that the French TV market is doing better than many European markets. No doubt this correlates with lower inflation and a less deteriorated economic situation in France than in many countries of the Old Continent.

- After the definitive cessation of the activity of production of LCD panels by Samsung in December 2022 to develop its QD Oled technology on a forced march, and after the drastic reduction announced by LG in the field, how is TCL observing the evolution of the screen market LCD in industrial terms, or from the manufacturer's point of view now that China has a virtual stranglehold on this TV screen sector? Is it time for TCL (and its subsidiary CSOT, a panel manufacturer) to invest in Oled?

FL: TCL has been investing massively since 2019 in its Mini LED technology, today in our eyes the only one capable of offering the best image quality in all circumstances, whatever the nature of the signal. And the market is proving us right with strong growth in sales. The fact remains that the Oled has certain advantages. We have also been working on Printing Oled technology for several years. We even unveiled two TV Printing Oled prototypes at CES 2023 in early January: a 32'' Ultra HD 4K and a 65'' UHD 8K. This means that we also want to become a player in the OLED market. But once again, we want to develop our own Oled process, Printing Oled RGB in this case, in order to completely control the production chain. TCL will market Oled TVs when the time comes. Understand when the technology will be ready to deliver the best possible product to consumers, especially in monetary terms. Our desire is that the vast majority of consumers can access the best in image quality, which implies an affordable price. This is not yet the case.

OS: to complement Frédéric's words, indeed, TCL will focus on the development of a very promising in-house technology, Printing OLED RGB, because we have found that improvements in the Current QD Oled do not currently justify a higher price for consumers.

- Even if it is not yet relevant, what about the Micro LED strategy? Does the manufacturer TCL still intend to launch itself into this market or establish partnerships, for example with Samsung, a Korean group with which TCL has had industrial relations for years (Editor's note: Samsung is a minority shareholder in CSOT)? FL: We are indeed not far from marketing Micro LEDs… On the other hand, we regularly exhibit prototypes in trade fairs with the sole aim of showing our strength and our assets in the field of screens. We are a screen manufacturer and it is good to demonstrate our technologies.

OS: on patents, TCL and Samsung are working on their own, like what happened with QLED technology. As a reminder, TCL, Samsung and the company Nanosys hold most of the patents on Quantum Dots nanocrystals through approximately 350 patents each. Of course, this does not predict the manufacture of Micro LED panels or modules. Keep in mind that a Micro LED manufacturing line is extremely expensive, up to $12 million. The question will undoubtedly arise of pooling investments. But we are not there yet, and for the moment, everyone is developing their own Micro LED technologies.

- Any idea of the timing for the arrival of Micro LED technology in homes?

OS (cf . photo below): difficult to give a date… On the other hand, we know that the Micro LED will first arrive via the B2B market (Business to Business or professional): screens in football stadiums (it is already the case in the USA for example), screens in museums, in shopping malls… This is how the cost of Micro LED technology will drop over time to finally be accessible to the B2C market (Business to Consumer, or general public) .

- Question about the coming weeks and months. As a partner of the Rugby World Cup which takes place in France from September 8 to October 28, are specific operations planned in stores with particular models? And maybe also for Black Friday (BF), November 24? Everyone remembers the TCL 98C735 offered for the BF 2022 at a very affordable price, 3,500 euros.

FL: yes, this product worked well. In fact we didn't order enough, we sold everything. In 2023, we have several 85'' and 98'' in our range and of course, operations are in preparation for these two events. In short, we are the best on large sizes in the sense that TCL is able to offer advanced technologies at the best price. Inevitably, the more the size of the screen increases, the more the price differential is in our favour.

OS: to go in the direction of Frédéric, the World Cup, as we know, is conducive to large equipment screen. Inevitably, we want to take advantage of this event with our various large models (see our news TCL C80, TCL C95 and TCL X95, 3 additional Mini LED TV series to come at the IFA show in Berlin). TCL must remain the champion of value for money and a major leader in large screen sizes.

- Any word on the direct sales that some of your competitors started a while ago?

FL : TCL has no short-term project in this direction. Our desire is first to increase our sales, to make the TCL brand known and to explain our technologies and our products to our end customers via distribution, which in France is extremely efficient and well organized, both online than in physical stores.