TCL Electronics' 2025 Net Profit Surge Behind the Scenes: Decline in Large-Size Display Revenue, Double Increase in Market Share and Gross Margin

Ask AI · How does TCL Electronics achieve high net profit growth under soft domestic market conditions?

An Economic Daily reporter Chen Jialan Guangzhou report

On March 27, TCL Electronics Holdings Limited (hereinafter referred to as “TCL Electronics,” 01070.HK) released its 2025 annual results announcement. During the reporting period, the company recorded revenue of HK$114.58B, up 15.4% year over year; profit attributable to shareholders reached HK$2.5B, up 41.8% year over year; and adjusted profit attributable to shareholders increased 56.5% year over year to HK$2.51B. The company’s board of directors recommended paying a final dividend of 49.80 HK cents per share (1 HK cent equals 0.01 HKD).

At the results briefing, Peng Pan, executive director and chief financial officer of TCL Electronics, stated that in 2025 the company’s global business achieved growth with quality, mainly driven by its two-wheel strategy of globalization and moving upmarket.

A reporter from China Business Journal noted that the display business, as TCL Electronics’ core base, saw revenue grow 9.2% year over year. Among them, the large-size display segment shows markedly different trends between the domestic and overseas markets: affected by the rollback of China’s “trade-in for old” policy and weak terminal demand, TCL TV’s domestic revenue decreased 9.7% year over year, but its retail volume and retail value market share rose to 22.2% and 24.2%, respectively, while gross margin also increased by 1.9 percentage points to 21.7%. Meanwhile, overseas markets contributed the core incremental growth, with revenue up 15.7% year over year; of this, Mini LED TV shipment volume surged 228.0% year over year.

At the same time, internet business revenue grew 18.3% year over year, and among innovative businesses, the photovoltaic business became a new growth engine with a growth rate of 63.6%.

Large-size display: Domestic revenue declines, but both market share and gross margin rise

TCL Electronics’ main businesses include the display business, the internet business, and the innovation business segment. All three segments recorded steady growth in 2025.

In terms of revenue composition, the display business remained the core base. Revenue was HK$75.8B, up 9.2% year over year, accounting for 66.2% of total revenue. Among them, revenue from the large-size display business was HK$64.71B, up 7.7%; revenue from small- and medium-size segments grew 17.8% year over year to HK$9.9688 billion. In addition, revenue from smart commercial displays grew 28.4% year over year to HK$1.12B.

For the large-size display business, the international market contributed the core incremental growth. In 2025, TCL’s international market revenue reached HK$47.5B, up 15.7% year over year, driven by strong performance. Shipments of TCL TVs at 65 inches and above and 75 inches and above increased sharply by 50.0% and 68.2% year over year, respectively; and TCL Mini LED TV market shipment volume increased by 228.0% year over year. TCL Electronics stated that optimization of its product mix boosted gross margin in the international market by 1.6 percentage points year over year to 15.1%, with clear results from its upmarket strategy.

In contrast to the strong growth in overseas markets, TCL TV’s performance in the China market showed a revenue decline. In 2025, TCL TV domestic revenue was HK$17.2B, down 9.7% year over year. The company was candid that this performance was mainly affected by the rollback of China’s “trade-in for old” policy and weak terminal demand, with the overall industry shipment volume declining 9.8% year over year (market research and consulting firm Omdia’s full-year 2025 China market brand TV shipment data).

Earlier, data released by third-party firm RUNTO (洛图科技) also corroborated this industry backdrop: in 2025, the brand TV set shipment volume in China totaled 32.895 million units, down 8.5% year over year, reaching the lowest market shipment level since 2010. The impact of the policy rollback was very evident in stages: in the first half of 2025, stimulated by the continuation of the “trade-in for old” central government subsidy policy, market shipment volume grew 1.4% year over year; but in the second half, as subsidy quotas became insufficient and the effect of policy stimulation faded, shipment volume fell sharply by 16.9% year over year.

However, it cannot be denied that TCL’s domestic large-size display business, although seemingly declining at face value with the industry, still demonstrates some market resilience. In its financial report, TCL Electronics pointed out that in 2025, TCL TV’s retail volume and retail value market shares in the China market increased to 22.2% and 24.2%, respectively, rising by 0.9 and 1.1 percentage points year over year; at the same time, gross margin also increased by 1.9 percentage points year over year to 21.7%. Behind this, it was mainly attributable to product mix optimization and strong performance of high-end products. Specifically, TCL Mini LED TV shipment volume grew 33.6% year over year, with its share in shipments rising by 7.2 percentage points year over year to 22.5%; TCL quantum-dot TV shipment volume grew 29.6% year over year, with its share in shipments rising by 6.4 percentage points year over year to 21.2%.

Meanwhile, the company’s internet business revenue increased from HK$32.9M in 2024 to HK$2.63B in 2025, up 18.3% year over year. This was mainly driven by continued breakthroughs in monetization of the overseas internet business business model, along with significant improvements in content development, product experience, and commercialization capabilities, resulting in notably stronger monetization ability.

In addition, innovation business revenue grew from HK$3.11B in 2024 by 31.9% year over year to HK$27.01B in 2025. This was mainly due to the rapid growth in photovoltaic business revenue during the year, up 63.6%. However, TCL Electronics’ overall gross margin for the innovation business declined by 2.1 percentage points year over year to 10.3%, also because the revenue share of photovoltaic business increased while its gross margin level remains relatively lower.

Industry landscape accelerating reshuffle · The advantage of Chinese-funded brands in vertically integrated industry chains becomes more prominent

Worth noting is that in January 2026, TCL Electronics and Sony signed a non-legally binding memorandum of intent to establish a joint venture to take on Sony’s home entertainment business, with a 51% equity stake. It will cover end-to-end operations of products such as televisions and home audio systems. If the cooperation is implemented, it will further strengthen the company’s competitiveness in the global high-end display market.

Previously,谢勤益, Omdia’s director of display research, said in an interview with reporters that Sony’s global annual TV shipment volume has fallen from about 7 million units in the past to around 3 million units today. Although Sony TV business focuses on the high-end market, its economic scale is insufficient compared with other leading industry brands that ship tens of millions of units annually. It urgently needs to seek survival and development by selling its business. Meanwhile, if TCL successfully acquires Sony’s TV business, its market share will surpass Samsung Electronics, taking the global No. 1 spot, and it will reach an even higher level in high-end TV products and image processing technologies.

Looking ahead, Omdia and Sigma (群智咨询) reports predict that in 2026 global TV shipment volume is expected to stabilize at around 210 million units. Mini LED TV shipment volume is expected to maintain rapid growth of over 90%, with trends toward upmarket positioning and bigger screens continuing to strengthen.

In response, Peng Pan also shared his outlook: regarding the industrial structure of “black electronics,” from the perspective of the industry chain, the competitive landscape upstream is stable. Global panel capacity will further concentrate in China, pricing power will shift, and the competitive advantage of China-funded brands with vertical industry chain coordination advantages in the global market will become increasingly prominent. Downstream demand for high-end products such as large-size displays and Mini LED is expected to surge.

Peng Pan expects that from 2025 to 2030, the compound annual growth rate for Mini LED TVs will be over 22%. By 2030, the market penetration rate is expected to reach 16.8%, and the share of large screens of 75 inches and above will increase from 3% in 2020 to 12% in 2025. Changes in the upstream competitive landscape and downstream demand will further increase the market concentration of leading brands in the global color TV market.

(Editor: Wu Qing; Reviewer: Li Zhenghao; Proofreader: Yan Yuxia)