Next Takeover: Chinese TV Specialist Enters Panasonic
Sony has shown the way, and now Panasonic also needs support for its smart TVs and AV products. It is getting this from Skyworth Display Technology Co Ltd.
(Image: Panasonic)
So it is now final: Panasonic is handing over the sales and marketing of its TV business to Skyworth Display Technology. The partnership will be expanded regionally, and Europe is an important part of it, according to the press release. The strategic merger is intended to ensure growth again for Panasonic-branded TVs in Europe.
In the recent past, Panasonic had difficulties selling its own products. Similar to Sony, the Japanese manufacturer had focused on the high-end segment, thereby losing a broader customer base. Skyworth apparently wants to reverse this.
Japanese Engineering
The Japanese engineers are to continue to ensure the high quality of the OLED TVs. Skyworth aims to use its global sales network, marketing, and logistics in the European market to advance the Panasonic brand again. This sounds very similar to the deal that Sony recently concluded with TCL. The companies have not yet announced how exactly the "strategic partnership" between Panasonic and Skyworth is legally structured.
The Chinese TV specialist Skyworth already reached out towards Europe many years ago and took over the traditional German brand Metz in 1995. Since then, the company has been presenting not only its own brands but also smart TVs under the Metz Classic and Metz Blue labels at trade fairs like the IFA.
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New Panasonic TVs Announced
Almost simultaneously with the announcement of the takeover, Panasonic released various press releases about its 2026 lineup. In them, the company announces the continuation of its previous top OLED models Z95B and Z90B with Fire TV, as well as the new Z85C series with a new OLED panel and Google TV. Panasonic also wants to compete in LCD TVs with QD-Mini-LEDs in the backlight this year. The smart TVs from the W97C and W95C series have 1000 dimming zones, a peak brightness of 1500 cd/m2, and they are intended to cover the DCI-P3 color space completely.
In addition, the manufacturer hopes to offer more affordable devices with conventional LED backlighting and in screen sizes between 32 inches and 86 inches diagonal again this year. In addition to Google TV and Fire TV, Panasonic uses Roku and TiVo as operating systems, the latter possibly not in Germany.
Panasonic will ensure customer service for all devices sold by March 2026 and available from April 2026. This is good news for all Panasonic customers for now.
(uk)
