'A 40 inch screen smart TV, monitored with voice, run on smart operating system' is the text for an ad for a smart TV model found on the internet with the selling price of VND5 million.

Smart TVs with the same size screen and functions cannot be found at home appliance supermarkets. However, there are tens of choices for customers on online shops.

Just in the last year, the number of smart TVs has doubled with nearly 10 new brands appearing in the market. The products are mostly sold online, and are not available in retail shops or large home appliance centers.

The most popular brands are Xiaomi, TCL and Skyworth from China and UBC and Darling from Vietnam. There are also other Southeast Asian brands such as Coocaa from Indonesia and Aconatic from Thailand.

The common features of the new brands are cheap prices and screen size under 55 inches. Most of them are priced below VND109 million, and a few are sold at VND10-20 million. There is no product in the high-end segment. The brands do not have large screens and don’t use new technologies such as OLED and QLED.

Since the products are cheap, they can attract many customers, though they are not advertised on a large scale.

On some e-commerce websites, the popularity of the models such as Coocaa, TCL and Darling is higher than products bearing famous brands such as Samsung and Sony.

The owner of a Xiaomi TV shop on Lang Road in Hanoi said he can sell about 10 products each day, though he only advertises online.

Observers note that the domestic TV market is witnessing a super-cheap product trend like the super-cheap smartphone product wave in the past. New smart TV brands mostly target the low-end market segment.

“People buy these products because of curiosity and because of the big price difference,” said Le Quang Vu, director of a large home appliance distribution chain in the north.

With VND7 million, users can buy 32 inch HD smart TV made by Samsung, such as Samsung N4300 and LG LM6300. However, Coocaa, Xiaomi, Darling and UBC brands have larger 40-43 inch screen TVs and Full HD.

They do not have specifically developed operating systems like TIzen of Samsung, or WebOS of LG, but low-cost smart TV models have many important features. Some models use Google Assistant which allows commands and searches with the user's voice.

Le Ha

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