Two of the top TV brands in North America are in the midst of separate class action lawsuits over their QLED technology claims. That’s Hisense and TCL who are both facing complaints over their claims of using highly advanced quantum-dot technology in their QLED screens when they don’t.
A New York resident, Robert Macioce filed a class-action complaint in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York last week, accusing Hisense of falsely advertising its QLED-labeled TVs, as having quantum-dot technology, when it was either not included at all, or had an insufficient amount of QD materials to improve performance.
We reached out to Hisense to get a statement on the matter, and here’s what the company had to say:
“Hisense stands by the high quality of its products and is confident that the complaint is without merit. Our products have been verified by tests conducted by an independent third-party lab that are consistent with our product claims. Per company policy, we will refrain from commenting further on this legal matter.”
TCL has a similar complaint levied against them
TCL also had a similar class action lawsuit filed in California earlier this month. A California resident, Stephan Herrick filed the complaint over his 55-inch TCL Q651G QLED TV. He believed that the TV he was buying had QD technology and would provide enhanced colors and image quality; however, after he dug into the specs, he claims that the TV had either no quantum dots or very few. The same issue that Macioce faced with his Hisense TV.
We did reach out to TCL for a comment regarding this class action lawsuit, and here’s what the company had to say:
“TCL stands behind our high-performance lineup, which provides uncompromised color accuracy. Contrary to the allegations in the Herrick litigation, TCL has definitive substantiation for the claims made regarding its QLED televisions and will respond to the litigation in due course. We remain committed to our customers and believe in the premium quality and superior value of our products. In the context of the ongoing litigation, TCL will validate that our industry-leading technologies meet or exceed the high bar that TV viewers have come to expect from us.”
Industry experts believe these Chinese TV makers are doing this to keep up with their Korean rivals
Industry experts are warning that these “deceptive” attempts by Chinese TV makers like TCL and Hisense are an attempt to outpace their Korean rivals, who currently lead the QLED space. Samsung and LG are currently the two biggest QLED TV makers, with Samsung having nearly half of the market as of Q4 2024.
Omdia reported that about 2.75 million QLED TVs were shipped in 2024, which only accounted for 10.9% of the entire TV market. Samsung led the way with around 46.8% of the QLED market share. Samsung is also the world’s largest TV maker, currently.
