• steve
• May 30, 2026
• 25 Comments

Last updated May 30, 2026. Previously updated January 21, 2024 and September 14, 2024. Original publish date June 15, 2021.

Click here to skip the commentary and go straight to the “best of” list.

The rise and fall of the non-Chinese television

The first electronic television was invented by Philco Taylor Farnsworth from Utah in 1927 but even by 1946 only 0.5% of U.S. households owned a TV set. By 1954, 55.7% of households had them, and by 1962, 90% did. During this time a staggering number of U.S.-based brands popped up to meet the insatiable demand of consumers who wanted to watch Lucille Ball, Steve Allen, and Gunsmoke. And the manufacturing was done in the United States.

In 1995, the last original U.S.-based manufacturer, Zenith, ceased to exist as an American-based brand then it was sold to South Korea’s LG Electronics. Every one of the the great American brands you know–RCA, General Electric, Westinghouse, Sharp–were in name only, a nameplate to stick on a foreign-made brand in hopes that unsuspecting consumers wouldn’t notice or care.

Today, there are only a handful of TV brands left outside of China: Samsung and LG (South Korea), Philips (EU) and Vizio (US). A company in China had attempted to acquire Vizio in 2016, but that deal never happened so as of now they’re still a US company (they recently had their long-awaited IPO).

Sony (Japan) had been on the list, but in March 2026, Sony announced that they sold a 51% majority stake in its Bravia TV and home entertainment business to TCL. In a move of particular foolishness, they announced that Sony will continue to maintain a “joint venture” where it will provide its “high-quality picture and audio technology” to TCL. If anyone has been following this site, you know what this means. Within 10 years, the Sony brand will be no more, and TCL’s subcontractors will completely own and control Sony’s former intellectual property.

What brands do I avoid?

Pretty much every other brand you’ve heard of: TCL, HiSense, Seiki, Insignia are 100% based in China—this means that not only do China-based factories pocket the production costs, but China-based executives pocket all of the profit, and the CCP collects enormous tax revenue which will be used to build more missiles, build out their surveillance state even more, and subsidize more industries for them to take over.

Just recently, Japanese electronics giant Panasonic announced that they were outsourcing their TV production to TCL. And many recognizable brands like Toshiba, Sharp, Westinghouse have also been subsumed by China-based companies.

This is a prime example of where uneducated consumers don’t understand how state capitalism works. Do you ever wonder how brands like HiSense or TCL got so popular so quickly?

First, years of taking notes from manufacturing other countries’ products allowed China companies to mimic their technology to achieve a product that may not be equal to offerings from LG, Samsung, or Sony. At one point their products were “good enough”, but now they’ve stolen so much intellectual property that their products (or in cases like Sony, have been handed it on a silver platter) that they’re being named to “best of” lists.

Second, the CCP then subsidizes these companies so that they can offer comparable models at highly discounted prices to their competitors. The CCP is playing the long game: they’ve know that once they’ve cornered the market they’ll be able to charge whatever they want. It’s precisely the same kind of anti-competitive behavior that the U.S. Government has broken up when it happens within its borders, but is powerless to do anything about when a state does it.

And of course, it’s American consumers who ultimately make it happen when they rush to Walmart or Amazon and buy the cheap China brand to save a few dollars. This takes money away from companies that do real innovation and funnels it to allow the CCP to gradually take over the entire industry.

Do TVs made in China spy on you?

This has been a hot topic on social media for some time. Here’s the honest answer.

No, China is not (yet) at the Orwellian stage of watching you through your camera 24/7. There’s no giant center full of spies watching every American’s movement individually.

On the other hand, for years “smart TVs” of every brand—virtually all modern “smart TVs” like Samsung, LG, Sony, Roku, Amazon Fire, TCL, and Hisense—have had Automated Content Recognition (ACR) technology that takes screenshots or audio fingerprints of whatever is on your screen and sends it back to the manufacturer or to a data broker to build profiles of your habits, sell it data brokers, and target you with ads.

And we’re not talking one snapshot every few hours—in some cases these snapshots are taken as often as every 500 milliseconds apart, or thousands of dimes an hour, even if you’re not signed into any account. It’s part of the disclaimer you accepted when you set up the TV and decided was too long to read.

This isn’t the stuff of conspiracy theory; you can read all about it here. ACR doesn’t just work when you’re connected—it’ll work if you’re watching a DVD, playing a video game, or using your TV as a computer monitor.

Now think about it. Most Americans are fine giving up some of our security for convenience. Who really cares if a company knows that I watch Bugs Bunny and play Super Mario Kart?

But think of all this data in the hands of the People’s Liberation Army. They’re like Santa Claus. They know when you are sleeping. They know when you’re awake. They know when you’ve been bad or good. And don’t think for a second that the CCP is not building up a detailed profile of every man, woman, and child in the United States for their strategic and military advantage using the same data that Google uses to send you their ads.

Remember that EVERY major Chinese brand (especially in consumer electronics and TVs like Hisense, TCL, Skyworth, Xiaomi, etc.) has the Chinese Communist Party embedded in meaningful ways. This is by design under Chinese law and policy, not the stuff of conspiracy theory. Look up National Intelligence Law (2017), Article 7, and countless other rules . This is especially true in state-owned brands like Hisense, as well as “private” major brands like TCL.

The simple solution? Unplug your TV from the Internet. But if that’s not possible, go to your TV’s settings right now (whether it’s made in China or not) and turn off any feature that sounds like “Automated Content Recognition”, “Viewing Information Services”, “Live Plug”, “Personalized Ads”, “Collect App Usage”, or “Interest-based Advertising”. And if you have a China branded TV like HiSense and TCL, pray that they haven’t built in backdoors that ignore your settings. Or better yet, ditch it and buy a non-China brand.

Are any TVs not made in China?

Here’s where it gets complicated. As we’ve seen in posts for other kinds of products, you simply can’t find a TV where 100% of the components are made outside of China. For example, LG Electronics (who builds TVs) sources its OLED panels from LG Display, who had produced their panels in South Korea but is shifting production to Guangzhou, China. So regardless of what TV you buy, a portion of it is going to prop up the CCP.

But you can stem the bleeding. For one thing, if you buy from the big non-China brands: Samsung, LG, Philips and Vizio, at least you can support some non-China employees, such as their product development, marketing, or administrative departments.

And ideally, you’ll want to find a company that at the very least assembles their products outside of China, even if many or most of the parts are made in China. This is where the large form factor of the TV helps. A manufacturer in China could assemble a 65″ or 75″ TV and ship it 7,000 miles away, but at that size and weight it’s probably more cost effective to build a plant that’s closer to their target market and hire locals to assemble the product. So at least there’s some benefit to the local economy.

Manufacturers tend to be coy about where their parts come from and where their products are assembled. If you read what their PR departments post as a response to Amazon questions a typical responses is something vague like “our TVs are built all over the world”, so we don’t know if 99% of a TV was made in China and the other 1% was divvied up between other countries.

A little Internet sleuthing helps, however. As of 2021, Samsung has recently ceased TV production in China. Sony TVs intended for the North American market are assembled in Mexico. LG TVs are also produced in Mexico for the North American market and in Poland for the European market. Vizio does maintain manufacturing facilities in Taiwan and Mexico, so there’s a decent chance your North American-based set was made there.

The only way to tell for sure is to visit your local electronics store and see for yourself what the “Made in” or “Assembled in” label says on the particular unit you’re looking for. You can also search for “China” or “Made in” in Amazon reviews to see if anyone reported widespread sales of China-made units to the US.

The Best TVs Not Made in China

While I used to feature OLED, LED, and LCD TVs on this list, I decided to focus this list for 2026 on just OLED TVs. The price has gone down enough to make them affordable, and (for now) the components are still mostly made outside of China, while the margins on cheaper LED and LCD TVs have dropped so low that most non-China brands don’t even bother making them anymore.

1. LG C5 OLED (or G5)

LG’s G series, headlined by the newest LG OLED evo G5, remains one of the very best TVs money can buy, if you’re willing to pay a premium. This is the TV for people building a true luxury home theater or a high-end modern living room. It delivers the brightest OLED picture available along with the deepest, most perfect blacks, thanks to LG Display’s advanced panel technology.

For most normal people who just want an outstanding everyday TV, the LG C5 OLED is a clear winner. It offers excellent picture quality with perfect blacks and infinite contrast, wide viewing angles, and strong gaming performance thanks to very low input lag and a 120Hz refresh rate.

I prefer buying my equipment directly from the manufacturer whenever possible, but these sets are also widely available at Best Buy and Amazon.

Important note for anyone trying to reduce reliance on China: LG Display has now completely exited the LCD business. That means virtually every LCD TV on the market today uses a panel made in China. On the OLED side, LG Display manufactures panels in both South Korea and China. Higher-end panels are generally produced in South Korea, while some lower-cost production still happens in Guangzhou. Hopefully, LG continues to keep its intellectual property close to the vest, as any IP sent to China will likely be stolen.

Final assembly for TVs sold in the U.S. market is done in Mexico.

LG currently holds nearly 50% of the global OLED TV market. Let’s hope the company uses that dominant position to shift more panel manufacturing back to South Korea (and friendly locations like Mexico) instead of following Apple’s path and becoming dangerously tied to a tyrannical state.

2. Samsung S95F OLED

More and more consumer review sites are rating the Samsung S90F in their elite list of top TVs, including Consumer Reports and Wirecutter. You can buy it direct from the manufacturer or from Amazon.

It uses Samsung’s own QD-OLED technology, which delivers fantastic 4K HDR picture quality. Reviewers can’t stop talking about how ultra-thin it is, how it throws a brilliant array of colors, and how strong it is for movies. One reviewer said it reminded him of the color and motion of a plasma set, but without the energy consumption.

Since I originally wrote this post, Samsung has cleaned up a lot of the drama around where they source their panels. They’ve completely walked away from making LCD panels (which basically meant turning to China) and doubled down on their own QD-OLED tech, all manufactured in South Korea. For the U.S. market, these TVs are assembled in Mexico or Vietnam, not China. That makes the S90F an even stronger choice if you’re trying to keep your money out of Chinese supply chains.

China has all but dominated the market for LCD panels and is still aggressively trying to take over OLEDs from Korea, which (for now) continues to lead in premium TV panels. LG and Samsung together still hold the high ground on quality and innovation. The biggest threat isn’t China itself, it’s American consumers who salivate over buying a cheap China-brand OLED TV instead of supporting solid Korean companies like LG and Samsung.

Samsung also makes the S90F which is their sweet-spot “value flagship” for most normal people. It uses the same excellent Korean-made QD-OLED panel as the pricier S95F, with its vibrant colors, perfect blacks, and smooth motion, but at a much more reasonable price. For the U.S. market it’s also assembled in Mexico or Vietnam, so you get near-flagship performance without feeding Chinese supply chains. It’s a perfectly good TV if you don’t necessarily need every last bit of brightness or fancy anti-glare.

3. Sony BRAVIA 9

Sadly, this is the last time that a Sony TV will make it onto this list. I’ve been a loyal customer of Sony since the days of Trinitron CRTs, but their selling out to TCL will be the official end of that long streak.

Sony TVs destined for the US market have been assembled in Mexico for a long time, and that hasn’t changed with the 2026 lineup. Sony gets its panels and key technology from partners like LG and Samsung, so the important parts are still made in Korea. I expect that nothing will change immediately once TCL takes over majority control in 2027, but remember that even if they keep the TVs made in Mexico, the profits will be going to China and business decisions (including how much they use their TVs for data collection) will be in the hands of the CCP.

The standout model this year is the Sony BRAVIA 9 II True RGB Mini LED. This TV isn’t cheap — it sits firmly in the premium category — but it continues to rank near the top in expert shootouts for overall picture quality. On Amazon and other retailers you’ll see it listed as both “Mini LED” and “QLED.” That’s because it uses thousands of tiny Mini LEDs for the backlight (giving it insane brightness and precise contrast control with very little blooming) plus quantum dot technology that delivers billions of accurate, vibrant real-world colors.

As an Amazon reviewer said, for all intents and purposes this will be the last Sony TV ever made. Grab it while you can.

4. Cello Smart TVs – Best for the UK

I tend to focus on the US market mostly, but for those of you visiting from Europe, Paul in the comments below brought up Cello TVs. I never heard of this brand before but the more I learn about them the more I’m impressed. They manufacture all of their TVs in County Durham in the North East of England.

Cello has an impressively low price point (alas, it would be cost-prohibitive to ship them across the Atlantic Ocean, so we can’t find them here in the US). Their reviews on Amazon are consistently high (sadly, it looks like China trolls are on Amazon UK upvoting every negative comment to get them to rise to the top, but focus on the overall ratings). If you need a basic TV at a great price that supports communities and the economy in the UK, you should definitely get one of these.

You can find them at Amazon UK and also through various retailers.

Conclusion

While it’s great to see South Korean brands continuing to be at the forefront of innovation, American consumers are doing to the TV industry what they did to so many other industries.

Thinking they’re getting “great deals”, they pour money into China by buying their cheap, low-end TVs. Here’s the problem with that. It used to be that brands like Sony who were true innovators in the world would sell expensive TVs to the high end of the market and sell cheaper but still good quality TVs to the lower end of the market. It’s at that lower end that a brand could enjoy huge sales volume and decent margins, which they would funnel back to their R&D to continue to innovate.

Here’s what China has done. They steal enough IP to produce TVs on the low end of the market that are “good enough”—the reality is that their failure rate is much higher than TVs built elsewhere, but American consumers are so clueless that they don’t realize they’re buying a new TV every 3-5 years instead of owning one for life. The CCP, of course, encourages its businesses to dominate markets, and even subsidizes them (and in the case of Hisense, owns them) so they can always beat everyone else on price.

In time, China dominates supply chains, controls the markets, and cuts every other brand at the knees so they no longer have enough profits to reinvest in innovation. If it weren’t for the sheer stubbornness of brands like LG and Samsung who continue to take pride in their workmanship, we would never see innovation in the TV industry again.

So I don’t really blame Sony for “selling out”. I blame any American consumer who ran to buy a TCL or Hisense TV instead of a Sony TV when Sony did still sell affordable models. And if we don’t wake up, we could see Samsung and LG going the same route.

Do you know of other TVs not made in China worthy of mention here? Let us know in the comments!