Haier is not well known in the European market and has sold mainly small-sized and value TVs to date, but it wants to change that by moving upmarket. Judging by the quality of the images on the TVs in their stand, they have some way to go.
Haier is a big player in appliances having just bought GE’s operations in appliances in June. Their combined income will now be in the $36B range, so significant. The company has a great number of manufacturing and development facilities worldwide, so it has the resources to become a player in the TV space as well. However, it does not have any investments in LCD or OLED foundries and must buy panels from Innolux, AUO, BOE, Samsung Display and LG Display. But its electronics and design teams are extremely weak right now – only a few people, we were told and everything is made in China, which is not necessarily the right way to attack the market.
In their booth, Haier was showing 65”, 78” and even 84” LCD models with UHD resolution, but they did not look that good. We will have to see how this unfolds. – CC
