Samsung just lost the TV gold medal at the 2026 Winter Olympics to TCL

I was watching the 2026 Winter Olympic Games on my Samsung Neo QLED TV over the weekend, and I couldn’t help but notice that one of Samsung’s biggest rivals, TCL, was getting far more time in the spotlight.

As an official Olympics partner, Samsung seemed almost entirely focused on promoting its latest flagship phones and Galaxy AI. When it came to TVs, however, TCL emerged as the clear gold medal winner during the opening weekend.

Samsung appeared to pour most of its energy into launching the Flip 7 Olympic Edition and featuring the Galaxy S25 Ultra at the Opening Ceremony. Beyond a few Galaxy cameos, Samsung’s brand presence felt surprisingly muted.

Nearly every large display and wall-sized screen I saw at the Games carried TCL's branding, not Samsung's.

That was unusual and honestly a bit disappointing. Samsung has a long history of powering world-class stadiums and sporting events — including F1 circuits — with its display technology. Yet so far, TCL looks like the clear display winner at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics.

TCL came dangerously close to dethroning Samsung last year, capturing 16% of the global TV market, just 1% shy of Samsung’s top spot. So I couldn’t shake a sense of disappointment, and even concern, over the absence of both Samsung and Samsung Display at the Winter Olympics — at least so far.

Samsung has led the global TV market for 20 consecutive years. And seeing TCL's recent advancement in the global TV market, the Olympics seem like a particularly bad moment for Samsung to concede ground to a rival.

Maybe Samsung had no choice. Both companies are Olympic partners. Maybe Samsung deliberately prioritized mobile. Either way, as a Samsung fan, watching the TCL logo dominate Olympic broadcasts on my Samsung TV didn’t feel right. I can only hope this exposure doesn’t give TCL the final push it needs to overtake Samsung's TV business this year.