What changes does TCL's high-end sub-brand XESS represent for the TV industry as a disruptor again 35 years later?

A 35-year history is enough to be called a development cycle for any company. When it reached the 35-year mark, TCL launched its high-end sub-brand XESS, writing a special chapter for the future of the brand and even the entire TV industry.

XESS is undoubtedly a combination of TCL's most cutting-edge TV technologies, including the display level, the Yuecai quantum dot display technology that breaks through the bottleneck of traditional color gamut improvement, and the sound level, equipped with the world's top Harman Kardon S-class audio.

In addition, XESS also uses TCL's exclusive patented beautiful picture quality engine. Among them, X1 has Local Dimming partition backlight technology with up to 1152 light-emitting units, creating an industry-leading OD 8mm display solution. X1 and X2 have a maximum peak brightness of 1500 nits, and with Dolby Vision and UHDA HDR technology, they can also show a better picture dynamic range.

At the autumn new product launch conference held in Guangzhou on September 28, the spirit of craftsmanship was mentioned more than once and was closely linked to the brand concept of XESS.

XESS's design is inspired by the Nordic minimalist style, while integrating fashion elements from six countries including Denmark, Argentina, New Zealand, Italy, Portugal and China. In terms of detail quality, it has conducted more than 20 trial production verifications of various components and complete machines for more than 2,500 hours, more than 30 sets of customized development fixtures and more than 400 parts, 150 process equipment, and is even the only product in the industry that uses curved frame drilling and cutting, bringing the spirit of craftsmanship to the extreme.

TCL's sub-brand's unique approach to seize the elite market

As we all know, it is gradually becoming a common practice in the current TV industry for traditional home appliance manufacturers to launch sub-brands to seize market share. Brands like Hisense VIDAA, Skyworth Coocaa and Changhong Qike have already gained a certain degree of popularity in the market.

However, unlike other manufacturers who launched sub-brands for the purpose of internet transformation or younger product development, TCL launched XESS with the intention of further elevating its brand, targeting the elite group with high demands for quality of life, making TCL's sub-brand even more high-end than the main brand.

The reason is that the 35-year development history of the TCL brand just reflects the development process of domestic brands from their birth to their rise, from initially following foreign brands to competing on the same stage, and then to the completely possible surpassing of foreign brands at present. The launch of XESS is regarded by TCL as the second growth curve opened up for the color TV market in line with the development of the times.

On the other hand, according to TCL Multimedia's financial report, from January to August this year, TCL's overseas LCD TV sales exceeded 6.63 million units, accounting for 54%, ranking first in the industry. The change in market share and the increase in the voice of domestic brands have also enabled products to further improve and occupy high points in quality, ushering in an opportunity of the times.

Domestic brands' transformation to high-end market: success or failure in challenging the market trend

Just as domestic mobile phones have been booming for many years, there is still no benchmark product that can truly compete with Apple's iPhone. Although the high-end market is regarded as an important battlefield by almost all brands, it is by no means a field that can be easily won. Xiaomi, a phenomenal domestic brand, has never been able to make its products priced above 2,000 yuan sell well, which is undoubtedly the best proof of this.

Turning to the television industry, an earlier industry chain data from Aowei Cloud Network showed that in the first half of 2016, China's color TV market saw two significant changes: a decrease in volume and a decrease in value, and Internet brands began to squeeze the market share of traditional TV brands. The core elements of these two changes are reflected in the continuous decline in the price of single TV products, and consumers are more willing to buy cheaper products.

In such an environment, TCL launched its high-end sub-brand XESS. In addition to enhancing the overall brand value, it may also hope to rewrite the current industry status quo by relying on its own multi-dimensional advantages in display technology, product design, etc.

Although the price of XESS's high-end TV products was not revealed until the end of the press conference, when TCL Group Chairman Li Dongsheng and Chinese women's volleyball coach Lang Ping, who won the Olympic championship again 12 years later, jointly endorsed the new products, XESS's determination to break the inherent low-end and cheap situation in the industry was evident, which obviously has more far-reaching positive significance for the future development of domestic brands.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.