IFA 2011: Changhong Who?

Two Chinese manufacturers that usually make televisions for other brands have decided to start selling TVs under their own names in Europe. You may have already heard about one of the firms—Haier—on DigitalVersus recently, but the other—Changhong—is perhaps less well-known.

Changhong held a stand at this year's IFA tech show in Berlin, keen to get its name out there as it sets its sights on the European audio-visual market. We had a chat with one of the firm's European sales managers who filled us in on the brand's history and upcoming products.
Changhong was founded in 1958 in China. The firm has been making TV sets since 1978 and today employs 45,000 people (!). One of its factories in the Czech Republic currently makes TVs for sale in Europe (with a production capacity of 1 million TVs a year), while a second factory in China is the fruit of a joint-venture with screen-panel maker AU Optronics. We can therefore logically assume that Changhong will mainly be using MVA panels in its TVs. The firm also has two research and development centres in China.


Changhong's presence on European markets has been pretty discreet for the time being, typically making re-branded TV sets for sale in supermarkets or for business-to-business customers. However, we could soon see some Changhong-branded TV sets—including 3D plasma and LCD models—arriving on shelves or in online stores.

- Changhong 3D plasma TVs will use active 3D technology. Quality will be closer to Samsung models than Panasonic's more impressive 3D plasmas—something Changhong freely admits.

- Changhong 3D LCD TVS will have Edge LED backligthing and use passive 3D technology.



We found a couple of things quite surprising things about Changhong:

- First of all, the design of some of its TVs can be quite unusual, as they look quite different from the classic models produced by rival tech firms. Changhong therefore clearly knows a thing or two about innovation and how to keep both consumers and the competition on their toes! Several of the models we saw on the Changhong stand wouldn't look out of place in a more design-conscious brand's product range.

- Second, the firm is insisting on keeping the Changhong name in every European country it launches products in—which is a surprising choice, since the name can be a bit of a mouthful in several European languages and isn't necessarily all that easy to remember.


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