Hisense

A brief history

Hisense was founded in 1969 in Qingdao, Shandong as a state-owned manufacturer of radios under the name Qingdao No. 2 Radio Factory. The company moved into television production in 1979, took on the Hisense brand in 1994, and listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in 1997. International expansion through the 2000s and 2010s came partly through acquisitions — the 2015 purchase of Sharp's North American TV operations and the 2017 acquisition of Toshiba's TV business gave Hisense durable brand portfolios in the US, Japan, and Southeast Asia. The company is now the third-largest TV manufacturer in the world by units shipped, behind only Samsung and TCL, and operates one of the largest single-brand laser-TV businesses globally through its L-series ultra-short-throw projectors. Hisense also makes home appliances (refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners) and was a major Olympic and FIFA World Cup sponsor through the late 2010s and 2020s, which sharply lifted brand recognition in Western markets.

What Hisense is known for

Hisense's strongest franchise on vsMars is its ULED and Mini-LED television lineup. The U-series flagships compete directly with TCL on brightness-per-dollar, with the U9-class sets routinely matching or exceeding 5,000-nit peak HDR and shipping with 144 or 165 Hz panels at price points that the major Korean and Japanese brands cannot reach. Hisense is also one of the few major TV makers to support both Dolby Vision and HDR10+ on a single set, which removes one of the persistent format compromises buyers used to face. The laser-TV business — short-throw projector-and-screen combinations sold as a single furniture unit — is the most mature consumer ultra-short-throw lineup outside of professional A/V channels. Hisense soundbars and the budget end of the projector market round out the AV portfolio. Smart-TV software is split between Google TV (international) and the company's own VIDAA OS on lower-tier and certain regional models.

Where Hisense excels on vsMars

Hisense is one of the most represented brands in the TVs category and appears throughout best TVs, particularly in the value Mini-LED tier and at very large diagonals. The L-series and PX-series ultra-short-throw projectors anchor much of projectors and appear in best projectors. Hisense soundbars surface in soundbars.

Trade-offs to know

The same caveats that apply to TCL Mini-LED apply largely to Hisense. Peak brightness numbers are impressive, but color volume and tone-mapping consistency at the very top of the HDR envelope lag Sony and high-end Samsung. Local-dimming algorithms have improved generation over generation but still show more blooming around bright objects on dark backgrounds than the best OLEDs or the top Samsung Neo QLEDs. Software experience varies sharply by region — VIDAA OS in particular is less polished than Google TV and ships fewer streaming apps. Motion handling and judder on cinematic content trail Sony's Bravia processor noticeably. Firmware update commitments are short, and several mid-cycle features promised at announcement (Filmmaker Mode behaviors, AV1 support on older models) have been delivered slowly or not at all. Warranty service and replacement-panel availability outside North America, Europe, and Australia are uneven, and unit-to-unit panel-uniformity variation is higher than on premium competitors.