Who makes Hisense TVs? The ownership explained

Who makes Hisense TVs?

Short answer: Hisense makes Hisense TVs. It's a Chinese electronics company, headquartered in Qingdao, and it's been around since the 1960s (originally as a radio factory, which is a fun bit of trivia for absolutely nobody but me). It's not a rebadged version of some other brand you've never heard of. It's a proper manufacturer that designs, builds and sells its own sets, and it's one of the biggest TV makers on the planet by volume.

But the reason people keep asking this question is that Hisense TVs are dead cheap compared to Samsung, LG and Sony, and cheap always makes people suspicious. Fair enough. Let's get into why they're priced the way they are, and what's actually going on behind the badge on the box.

The Toshiba connection

Here's the bit that trips people up. If you've bought a Toshiba TV in the UK recently, you've bought a Hisense TV with a Toshiba badge on it.

Hisense acquired the rights to Toshiba's TV business a few years back, taking over design, manufacturing and the licence to use the Toshiba name on televisions. Toshiba itself still exists and does plenty of other things, but it's no longer the company actually building the TVs that carry its name. Hisense is.

This isn't some dodgy backroom deal either, it's a public and pretty common arrangement in electronics. Brand names get licensed out, factories get consolidated, and the logo on the front doesn't always tell you who built what's inside. Sharp did something similar. So did Sanyo. It's just how the industry works once a brand's manufacturing arm becomes less profitable than its name.

So if you're choosing between a Hisense and a Toshiba set at a similar price, don't expect wildly different quality. There's a good chance they're built on similar foundations.

Where the panels come from

This is where things get more interesting, because "who makes the TV" and "who makes the screen inside it" are two different questions.

Hisense doesn't only rely on outside suppliers for panels, it also produces its own through its display arm, and that's part of why it can price sets so competitively. Owning more of the supply chain (panels, chipsets, the lot) means fewer middlemen taking a cut. That said, depending on the model and size, some panels can still come from other big Asian manufacturers, which is completely normal. Samsung and LG do the same juggling act, sourcing some panels in-house and some from competitors. Nobody in this industry makes every single component themselves.

The takeaway: a Hisense TV isn't automatically worse just because it's not a "Western" brand. Panel sourcing is a mess of shared suppliers across the whole industry, and the badge on the front tells you less than you'd think.

Are cheap Hisense TVs actually worth it?

Right, the bit you actually care about. I'm not going to tell you Hisense TVs are secretly as good as a flagship Sony, because that wouldn't be honest. But I'm also not going to tell you they're bad, because that wouldn't be honest either. Here's the genuinely balanced version.

What tends to be good:
Picture quality on mid-range and higher Hisense models has come on a lot, especially on their better ULED sets. For a family telly or a second TV in the bedroom, they can offer a lot of screen for not much money. Smart TV software has improved too, though which platform you get varies by model and region, so it's worth checking before you buy rather than assuming.

What can be hit or miss:
Build quality on the entry-level ranges can feel a bit more plasticky than premium brands, which makes sense given the price gap. Software support and update longevity aren't always as consistent as the bigger names. And because Hisense sells an enormous range of models across different regions, quality between one model number and the next can vary more than you'd expect from a single brand.

The honest verdict: for someone after a genuinely good big screen without spending silly money, a mid-range Hisense is often a sound shout. If you want the absolute best picture processing and you're not fussed about price, you're probably still looking at Sony or one of the top-tier Samsung or LG ranges. It comes down to what you're actually using the TV for and how fussy your eyes are.

How to shop smart if you're buying one

A few things I'd actually check before clicking buy, regardless of brand:

Look at the specific model number, not just "Hisense". Ranges vary a lot between entry-level and their higher-tier ULED sets, so the model number tells you far more than the badge does.

Check which smart TV platform it runs, since this affects the apps you'll actually get and how long you'll receive updates.

Compare the price against similarly specced sets from other brands before assuming it's automatically the best deal, because "cheaper" doesn't always mean "better value" once you factor in longevity.

If you're in the market, it's worth keeping an eye on our electronics deals, where TV prices swing about a fair bit depending on retailer stock and time of year. Big electronics retailers like Currys and Argos both carry Hisense ranges regularly, and it's always worth checking voucher codes before you check out, because a lot of people skip that step and just hand over full price for no reason.

The bottom line

Hisense makes Hisense TVs, full stop, and it also makes the Toshiba TVs sold in the UK these days under a licensing deal. It's a proper manufacturer with its own panel production, not some mystery badge-slapping operation. Whether a cheap Hisense set is right for you comes down to what you actually want from a telly, not where it was built.

If you spot a genuinely good price on one, pop over to the live deal feed and see what's going, or set up an alert in settings so you're not stuck refreshing pages like I used to before Rapid Savings existed properly.