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Panasonic, once famous for its plasma TVs, is finally ceasing to manufacture TVs on its own. According to an official statement, the right to manufacture, promote and sell equipment under this brand is being transferred to the Chinese giant Skyworth. The new partner is headquartered in Shenzhen, China.
Skyworth positions itself as one of the world’s three leading suppliers of the Android TV platform. Data from the Omdia analytical group for July confirmed that in the first quarter of 2025, Skyworth was among the top five in terms of revenue from TV sales, although the company does not always manage to maintain these positions consistently.
Panasonic announced the fateful decision during a special event dedicated to the launch of new products, as reported by FlatpanelsHD. A representative of the Japanese company explained that under the signed agreement, Skyworth will take over all sales, marketing strategy, and logistics operations in the region.
For its part, Panasonic will share its experience and control product quality to maintain its high standards of sound and image reproduction. A separate item is the joint development of premium models based on OLED panels. Panasonic has also confirmed that it will provide service support for all devices sold until March 2026 inclusive, as well as for models that will go on sale in April.
The TVs created by Skyworth will be available in the US and European markets. In the European region, the partners set an ambitious goal of capturing a double-digit market share. This step was the final point in Panasonic’s long-standing uncertainty about the feasibility of staying in this segment, which lasted more than 12 years.
In the heyday of plasma technology, Panasonic was the undisputed leader. According to DisplaySearch, in 2010 it held 40.7% of the global plasma market, ahead of Samsung (33.7%) and LG (23.2%). However, in March 2014, the Japanese company stopped producing plasma models. The reasons were the growing popularity of liquid crystal display (LCD) screens and financial difficulties provoked by the global economic crisis after the collapse of Lehman Brothers. At that time, the production of high-contrast plasmas had not been profitable for several years.
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That same year, the brand’s presence in the United States began to gradually decline, and by 2016, Panasonic had completely left the American TV market. In 2021, there was information about a complete transition to production outsourcing, which was supposed to increase financial flexibility. In 2024, the corporation tried to return to the United States with OLED and Mini LED models, which it claimed were entirely designed in Japan. However, in February 2025, President Yuki Kusumi said that the company was morally prepared to sell the TV division if necessary.
The agreement with Skyworth allows Panasonic to minimize the expenditure of resources on the unprofitable business, while continuing to receive license fees from the use of its name. In fact, this means the disappearance of its own television production in Japan. Other local giants, such as Sharp, Toshiba, Hitachi and Pioneer, left the market earlier. This year, Japan’s Sony also announced the sale of a 51% stake in its home entertainment division, including the TV business, to China’s TCL Group from Huizhou. Now, the main control over global TV sales belongs to South Korean and Chinese manufacturers.
During the presentation of the partnership with Skyworth, two prototypes of OLED TVs were demonstrated. One of them is equipped with the most advanced Tandem WOLED panel from LG Display. So soon, new design solutions with the Panasonic logo but with Chinese roots will appear on the market.
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