Sony and TCL’s 'Bravia Inc' is official – but questions remain for OLED

The proposed Sony and TCL joint partnership has taken another step forward today, with the new entity to be called 'Bravia Inc'.

This new name has been revealed as part of an announcement that the TCL/Sony takeover of Sony's Home Entertainment business has moved from the "memorandum of understanding" phase announced in January, to a "legally binding definitive agreements" phase.

I don't know about you, but I think 'Bravia Inc' is a pretty cool name, and it also suggests to me a Sony-first focus that I find encouraging.

And there are other details to be encouraged by if you're concerned about the future of Sony TVs and home cinema.

For starters, while we know that TCL will have 51 per cent control of the new company, whereas Sony will have 49 per cent, Bravia Inc will be headquartered in Sony's Tokyo HQ, and its CEO will be Sony's Kazuo Kii.

And, according to a Sony representative, "the two companies will be considered nearly equal partners".

Yes, I do worry about the "nearly" in that quote, but I think the new company being based at Sony and being led by a long-term Sony staffer are positive signs.

I don't want it to seem as though I don't have respect for TCL's involvement here, by the way, because the Chinese brand of course has a lot to offer, but it's the future of the Japanese legend that I'm most concerned for – and I know many readers feel the same.

As I wrote previously, this merger has the potential to be a good thing for both Sony and TCL, if the qualities of each are leveraged in the correct way.

And, indeed, that does appear to be the plan, with the Sony representative explaining that Bravia Inc will marry "Sony’s high-quality picture and sound technology, premium brand value, and operational expertise, alongside TCL’s advanced display technology, global scale, manufacturing footprint, end-to-end cost efficiency, and vertically integrated supply-chain capabilities."

This is what most of us want: Sony's peerless processing and premium products, boosted by TCL's scale and bleeding-edge hardware.

That quote, though, has given me pause for thought: where does OLED factor into all of this?

TCL, famously, cares not for OLED. Its focus is very much on advanced LED backlighting. More zones, more brightness and, as of 2026, so-called 'Super QLED' tech.

The prospect of Sony getting access to this panel technology at the developmental stage and weaving its magic to produce future flagship backlit TVs is naturally tantalising, but will there also be OLEDs in the range? I'm beginning to doubt it.

The beauty of this partnership from a business perspective is presumably that Sony will have first and super-cost-effective dibs on TCL's panel hardware. Does it also want to be buying notoriously expensive OLED panels from LG Display and/or Samsung Display? I don't think so.

Would the TCL (slightly more than) half of Bravia Inc even allow such a thing? Again, I'm not sure.

There is the possibility that TCL will eventually leverage its new inkjet OLED factory for the production of televisions, but that's far from a sure thing, and there's a question mark over how well-suited inkjet OLED panels are for use in TVs anyway.

All of which has got me wondering: could the Bravia 8 II, Bravia 8 and A90K turn out to be Sony's last OLED TVs?

We may not know for a while yet – Bravia Inc isn't expected to start its operations until April 2027 – but I certainly hope not.

In my eyes, OLED is still the best TV technology, and Sony leaving it behind would be a great shame.

MORE:

Read our Sony Bravia 8 II review and Sony Bravia 9 review

Here are our hands-on impressions of the new TCL X11L, TCL RM9L and TCL C8L Super QLED TVs

And these are all of the best TVs you can buy right now