TCL is actually one of the youngest names in the world of consumer electronics. Unlike many of its competitors, which started in the early 1900s, TCL only got its start in the early 1980s, selling audio cassettes in a humble store in Guangdong, China.
Despite its seeming lack of experience, however, TCL has quickly become a recognised name across the world. Many of its products now quickly outsell similar offerings from leading competitors like Samsung and LG! But how exactly did TCL get to this point? How did it rise from being a relative unknown in the Western market to being one of the leading names in tech?
Here at Reliant, the tech experts have over 60 years of experience in the world of home technology. Using this experience, we’ve put together this deep dive into the history of TCL. To find out about the company’s humble origins, and to trace its evolutionary path. Join us down below to find out more!
The Very Beginning
1981 – The Founding Of TTK
Where better to start than the very beginning? As we mentioned in our introduction, the company that we now know as TCL is actually relatively young when compared to its competition. For example, Samsung was first founded in 1938, while LG Electronics was founded in 1947! TCL, on the other hand, was founded decades later, in 1981.
The company was first founded under the name TTK, in Huizhou, in the Guangdong Province of China. The company was founded as a state-owned company. This meant that it directly benefited the country monetarily.
TCL was originally founded under the name TTK. The company first specialised in manufacturing audio cassettes, which were sold in the company’s native China. The company was forced to change its name to TCL after being sued by TDK!
Despite its relative infancy, TCL has proven to be an immensely successful company. And this success was largely seen from the very beginning. Initially, the company specialised in manufacturing and selling audio cassette tapes. These proved very successful right away!
Over the following few years, TTK would improve its product offerings and its output. It not only expanded the kinds of products it sold but also opened up a number of production lines across the country. The company didn’t just make audio cassette tapes, but also started to specialise in the devices that could play them!
1985 – The Telecommunications Industry And A Name Change
By 1985, TTK had finally entered the telecommunications business. This was a natural extension of the company’s origins in sound technology. It also proved to be a massive milestone for the company, as its early sets were immediately very popular. TCL would go on to become one of the leading names in telecommunications in China, but we’ll get to that a little bit later!
Unfortunately, in the same year as the company expanded its operations, it faced something of a setback. The company was sued by TDK, a company that specialises in manufacturing electronic parts. TDK believed that the company’s name was too similar, and was thus infringing on copyright. To avoid trouble, TTK decided to adopt the TCL name we know today.
In 1985, TCL officially entered the telecommunications industry, with the release of its first phones. This would prove to be an important move for the company, as they would go on to become the top phone manufacturer in the country!
The TCL name is an abbreviation of “Telephone Communication Limited”!
TCL Dominates In The 1990s
1991 – TCL Enters The TV Market
TCL TVs sell amazingly in the modern television market. Luckily, the company has always had plenty of success with TVs, ever since it entered the market in 1991. In that year, the company set up its first brick-and-mortar store, in Shanghai. This store was dedicated entirely to selling TCL TVs and allowed prospective customers to get up close with some of the new displays.
TCL’s early TVs proved immediately successful and helped to establish the company as a notable name in China.
1994 – China’s First Cordless Phone
At the same time as TCL was shaking up China’s TV market, it was also endeavouring to revolutionise the telephone market. In 1994, the company released China’s first-ever cordless phone. This allowed the user to phone up friends and family without being tethered to a bulky device.
In 1994, TCL invented China’s first cordless landline phone. These early phones had a modern and stylish design and were much easier to use. As such, they immediately sold incredibly well.
As ever, TCL’s cordless phones proved incredibly successful, and very influential. With the release of a first-of-its-kind device, TCL fully cemented itself as a company to look out for!
1999 – New TCL Design Teams Aim Towards The Future
Following the continued success of both TCL’s phones and televisions, the company set up two new design teams. One of these teams was focused on designing and innovating the company’s telecommunications, while the other was focused on designing new TV models.
These two teams would be responsible for creating some of TCL’s most popular products moving into the future. But, again, we’ll get to that a little bit later!
In the same year, TCL announced and released its very first mobile phone. The TCL 9910 WAP phone now allowed users to accept calls from anywhere in the world. Of course, these early mobile phones would prove immediately successful. They laid the groundwork for the company’s further expansion into the mobile phone space.
TCL At The Turn Of The Millenium
2000 – More TCL TVs Shake Up The Market
To welcome the new millennium, TCL released a number of unique phone and TV models. The first of these TV models was the 11 Series CRT. This immense display came with powerful built-in speakers that delivered fantastic sound. The release of this TV was significant because, up until then, the speakers on CRT TVs tended to be lacking in power or clarity.
The second key TV model released in that year was the 430 Rear Projection model. This super-wide TV screen made use of projection technology to create images that appeared truly expansive.
The 2000s proved to be very fruitful for TCL. The company started the millennium off with a bang, after releasing two highly popular TV models. Following this success, it decided to expand its overseas operations to generate even higher profits!
TCL also releases the 999D Gemstone mobile phone. This phone featured a folding design and had a very small physical profile. This made it an instant hit in the Chinese market.
2002 – Success Domestically And Expansion Overseas
By 2002, TCL had truly cemented itself as a titan of the industry. In China alone, TCL had quickly become the number 1 mobile phone brand. Sales of landline phones and TVs also continued to steadily climb.
With such immense domestic success spurring the company on, TCL decided to set its sights on international markets! In 1999, the company had already started selling its products in the Vietnamese market, where it quickly proved popular. However, the company’s global expansion truly started when it purchased the German-based company Schneider Rundfunkwerke.
Schneider Rundfunkwerke was one of Germany’s leading consumer electronics companies. One that focused mostly on audio equipment and computers. Upon entering bankruptcy in the early 2000s, it was quickly snapped up by TCL, who were keen to expand into international markets.
Now, with one of Germany’s top companies under its belt, TCL could more easily manufacture products overseas.
2004 – Further European Expansion
Throughout much of the 2000s, TCL continued its overseas expansion into European markets. In 2004, TCL and the French telecommunications company Alcatel set out on a joint venture to set up a new mobile network in France.
This resulted in the creation of Alcatel Mobile. This new network covered a massive number of users in the country and brought with it a number of new mobile phone models. TCL paid more than 55 million euros to fund the project. In return for the sizable cash injection, TCL also received more than 55 percent of the shares!
TCL expanded into the European market via the Alcatel company. In a joint venture, both companies collaborated to create Alcatel Mobile. Under the Alcatel Mobile name, TCl was able to manufacture millions more phones!
Expanding into France in this way allowed TCL to dip its toes into the wider world of mobile phones. It also proved quickly profitable for the company.
TCL also set up a joint venture with Thomson Electronics in France, to produce TVs and DVD players. These devices would be sold all across the world, and allowed TCL to quietly expand its outreach to multiple foreign markets. As part of the agreement, TCL was allowed to use the Thomson name to market TV products in Europe and North America. In China and the rest of Asia, the company was allowed to simply use the TCL name!
The Flat Screen Era
2006 – TCL’s First Flat Screen TVs
By 2006, flat screen technology had already started making waves across the world of TV. Plasma TVs were now much skinnier, could reach immense screen sizes, and simply looked much better.
TCL took this industry change in its stride and quickly pivoted to producing flat-screen TV models. These were some of the first to be made available in China, so they quickly proved popular. In the European and North American markets, these new flat screen TVs were marketed under the Thomson name.
TCL’s first flat screen TV models were immediately very successful. They proved so successful, in fact, that Samsung, one of the company’s current competitors, recruited them to produce LCD TV panels!
In 2007, TCL would later win an award for one of its first flat screen displays. The E72-Arboria Flat LCD TV won an IF Design Award thanks to its modern and stylish design. The entire device took on a unique curved shape that could sit squarely atop a TV stand or a desk!
2008 – Helping The Competition
By 2008, TCL had already produced a number of unique flat screen TV models that had proven popular all across the world. Recognising the popularity of these models, Samsung actually recruited TCL to handle the production of the company’s LCD TVs.
This milestone moment is interesting to look back on now when you consider that the two companies are now competitive rivals! It also allowed TCL some valuable time to improve its production methods, to create even better flat screen TVs than before!
TCL’s own TVs also sold in record numbers during this period. In 2008 alone, the company sold more than 4 million individual LCD TVs.
2009 – Incredible Numbers And The First Foray Into Smartphones
By 2009, TCL had increased its profits massively year on year. In that same year, the company decided to speed up production, so that more than 10 million TV units would be produced each year!
In 2009, TCL was at the top of its game. As a result of increased TV sales, the company chose to speed up production. From 2008 to 2009, the production speed doubled resulting in 10 million units in one year!
In the same year, TCL also released its first-ever smartphone. The Alcatel One Touch 708 was released in France and other markets covered by the Alcatel network. At the same time, the company also introduced the Alcatel One Touch 800 model to Latin America. This phone proved fairly successful as a result of its full QWERTY keyboard, similar to those found on Blackberry phones!
From 2009 to 2010, TCL also released a number of award-winning TVs. For instance, the X10 and C10 TVs proved particularly popular because of their bright and clear LED screens. 2010 saw the release of the award-winning Z11 series of LED TVs. These immense displays offered excellent screen sizes and near-bezel-less designs!
Breaking The North American Market
2013 – TCL Makes A Splash In The West
By 2013, TCL’s continued efforts in China and the European markets had generated plenty of revenue and motivated the company to aim even higher. That same year, TCL officially started selling its own TCL-branded TVs in the area. No longer were they hidden behind the Thomson name.
To really get the year off with bang, in January the company decided to purchase the naming rights for the iconic Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles. For a neat $5 million, TCL earned immense bragging rights, as the company attached its name to one of the most iconic landmarks in all of America. The name of the theatre was changed to “The TCL Chinese Theatre”.
Almost immediately, the TCL name began to spread across America. To help make the name stick in customers’ minds, the company decided to change the abbreviation so that it instead referred to “The Creative Life”. Similar to LG’s catchy slogan, this helped the TCL name to be a little more memorable!
By 2013, the competition within the TV industry was already red hot. Names like Samsung, LG, and Sony had long dominated the market with their premium TV models. For a while, it seemed as though these titanic companies were untouchable until TCL entered the American market.
Almost instantly, TCL TVs began topping sales charts. Quickly, the TCL name had gone from a relative unknown in the United States to a total juggernaut in the industry.
A number of factors have helped to make TCL TVs popular. For instance, their friendly price tags make these TVs great for those on limited budgets. TCL had also gained a lot of experience domestically from its work with Thomson and Alcatel. TCL knew exactly what customers were looking for, and how they could deliver it!
2013 – Expanding The Company Portfolio
With the TV and mobile phone markets now conquered, TCL set its sights a little further. In 2013, the company set up its own white goods design team, who would be responsible for creating TCL-branded fridges and washing machines.
To further compete with some of its closest rivals, TCL decided to expand its product catalogue. No longer did the company just focus on phones and TVs, but also produced white goods like washing machines and fridges.
These products would prove to be quickly successful in the domestic market. After more than thirty years in the market, TCL had created a truly dedicated customer base. So, selling new products became much easier.
After expanding further into the West, TCL took a few more strides with its range of products. For instance, the company released what was at the time the thinnest LCD TV in the world! The company also released the Alcatel Idol 1 phone in France, which was quickly popular!
2014 – TCL Partners With Roku To Create Smart TVs
By 2014, smart TVs had already become immensely popular across the world. All of the major manufacturers were quickly producing their own smart TV models. Keen to not miss out on this new business frontier, TCL struck up a partnership with Roku.
Roku is one of the world’s best-known smart TV operating systems today, because of its robust operation and simple user interface. The new deal with Roku would allow TCL TVs to be manufactured with the Roku user interface built in. This meant that customers did not need to purchase a separate smart TV device. As soon as the TV was plugged in and connected to the local internet, users could start streaming their favourite content.
TCL Roku TVs now top TV sales charts across the world thanks to their ease of use and their friendly price tags.
2016 – TCL’s First QLED TV
The introduction of QLED TVs in the 2010s added an extra layer of choice to the already packed TV market. In 2016, TCL revealed the first of its own QLED TVs, which promised greater colour accuracy, improved resolutions, and higher brightness levels. At the same time, the company also produced more unique white goods that proved popular.
QLED TVs are perfect for film lovers because they are able to more accurately recreate a wider range of colours. TCL’s range of QLED TVs in particular have proven to be very popular!
TCL also struck a deal with the Blackberry company to produce mobile phones under the Blackberry brand. Of course, the fate of the Blackberry company meant that this deal quickly fell through in 2020.
TCL Moving Into The Future
2019 – TCL Numbers Rise Even Higher
By 2019, TCL had long since established itself as a massive name in the world of consumer electronics. The company’s TVs continued to sell well, and its white goods began popping up in homes across the world.
The company also continued to innovate its smartphones. The release of the “Dragonhinge” model sent shockwaves through the industry. This unique phone was one of the world’s first folding smartphones!
The Future Of TCL
Since 2020, TCL has continued to produce numerous award-winning TV models, smartphones, and white goods. Moving into the future, it’s likely that the company will continue winning awards left right and centre. The company has long had a passion for innovative and stylish design, so it’s likely that it will continue to produce popular and high-selling TVs moving into the future.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are TCL TVs As Good As Samsung?
One of the biggest factors that differentiate TCL TVs from Samsung TVs is the price. TCL TVs, unlike many other premium TVs, tend to be much more affordable. However, just because TCL TVs cost less, it does not mean they’re lacking in quality. TCL TVs are actually made almost entirely in-house. This means that the company does not need to outsource other companies to produce certain parts. This results in a lower end cost!
