With the aid of AI and big data, the color TV industry is gradually moving into the post-intelligent era. However, whether AI can fully replace the smart stick remains uncertain. First, the market has experienced a significant decline. Second, the replacement cycle for color TVs tends to be longer, often lasting between 6 to 8 years. As a result, it's still too early to claim that AI will drive the next wave of growth in the color TV industry.
The rise and fall of LeTV’s super TV seems to reflect the entire evolution of the intelligent TV era. In this new age of intelligence, AI may take over the role of the smart stick, but whether it can lead a new profitable era for the color TV industry remains to be seen.
Since 2012, under LeTV’s low-cost and high-performance strategy, the intelligentization of the color TV industry exploded rapidly, triggering a wave of replacements. Smart TVs gradually replaced traditional ones in households. According to Orviet data, domestic color TV retail sales reached 42.628 million units in 2012. Over the next four years, the numbers continued to climb, reaching 47.81 million in 2013, 44.61 million in 2014, 46.74 million in 2015, and 50.89 million in 2016.
However, as this round of smart TV replacement came to an end, the domestic color TV market returned to its pre-2012 level. According to data from Aowei.com, retail sales in the first half of 2017 were 21.81 million units, a 7.3% drop year-on-year. The third quarter of 2017 was considered the worst in history, with only 10.41 million units sold—a 12.9% decline compared to the previous year.
The sharp decline in the market is mainly due to saturation. In recent years, smart TVs have been overused, and the long replacement cycle—typically 6 to 8 years—has made it difficult for consumers to upgrade frequently. Many users are still satisfied with their current TVs.
On the other hand, product upgrades and feature improvements within the color TV industry have not significantly boosted user demand. Color TVs are generally divided into hardware and service. While hardware improvements in picture and sound quality are ongoing, they usually take time. OLED and QLED technologies are currently being promoted, but they come with high price tags. For most users, 4K LCD TVs already meet daily needs, making the cost of upgrading a major barrier.
In terms of services, content and application innovations are key. At the content level, smart TVs have successfully integrated various services, though some high-quality content remains scattered among different platforms, making full integration challenging.
Regarding application function innovation, AI plays a crucial role. Currently, AI in TVs is mainly used for voice interaction and intelligent recommendations. While voice control is more convenient than using a remote, issues like accuracy and the need to activate the device with specific commands remain to be resolved.
Although AI TVs haven’t yet achieved the same momentum as smart TVs, the direction of AI-driven TV services is promising. Both internet-based TV manufacturers and traditional TV giants are investing heavily in AI. At the recent CES, Changhong showcased the latest CHiQ AI TV Q5K, featuring a new form of voice interaction.
Micro Whale TV, a leader in the internet TV space, has always focused on user-friendly interactions, starting with voice operations. Users can easily find programs tailored to their interests. Beyond entertainment, Micro Whale TV also acts as a helpful assistant for food, clothing, and accommodation. Features such as voice-activated takeout, large-screen calls, and KTV functions add fun and convenience.
In addition to AI and big data, Micro Whale TV offers personalized content recommendations through “Thousands of People†and has made significant progress in semantic recognition. Even in casual language, the remote control can quickly identify and match high-quality content based on user preferences.
Later, Micro Whale TV introduced the “far voice†feature, allowing users to say “Hello Whale†to wake up the TV without pressing any buttons. This enables true human-computer dialogue.
Now, even cooler products are emerging, with these features already available on Micro Whale projectors. Users can simply say “I want to see what†or “What app to open,†and the TV will respond directly, elevating the interactive experience to a new level.
For the color TV industry, intelligence is an inevitable trend, and the next era will likely be driven by AI. However, the timing of this shift depends largely on technological development and real-world applications. In the AI era, human-TV interaction will serve as the foundation, but it won't be the whole story. When a TV can seamlessly connect with all home devices, a new era of television may finally arrive.
Guangzhou Chengwen Photoelectric Technology co.,ltd , https://www.cwleddisplay.com