The gap between premium and budget TV brands is quickly closing
TL;DR
TCL and Hisense are rapidly narrowing the performance gap with top TV brands like Sony, LG, and Samsung, challenging the long-standing hierarchy in the TV market.
For all the time that I've been covering technology, there's been a hierarchy when it comes to TV brands. The big three - Sony, Samsung, and LG - have been on top for a while. Pioneer and Panasonic were up there with plasma TVs, and Panasonic is getting back in the game in the States. Hisense, TCL, and Vizio battled it out as midrange tiers for years before Vizio pivoted from hardware profits to an ad-centric model under Walmart, leaving the other two to one-up each other by offering the most bang for the buck.
But over the past couple years, both TCL and Hisense have made impressive strides in performance, bringing them closer and closer t …