Samsung Electronics has decided not to participate in ‘AWE,’ China’s largest home appliance exhibition, this year. This marks a 180-degree shift in atmosphere from last year, when top executives made an unusual effort by personally touring the booth.
According to industry sources on Feb. 20, Samsung Electronics has decided not to set up an independent exhibition hall at ‘AWE 2026,’ which will be held at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC) in China from March 12 to 15 (local time).
AWE is Asia’s largest home appliance exhibition, ranked alongside CES in the United States and IFA in Germany as one of the world’s top three home appliance and IT exhibitions. This year, more than 1,200 global companies will participate in the 170,000㎡ exhibition space. LG Electronics is also planning to set up a large-scale booth this year, following last year’s participation.
This will be Samsung Electronics’ first absence from AWE since the COVID-19 pandemic period (2020–2022). Samsung Electronics participated in AWE intermittently until the 2010s, but from 2023, it opened large-scale exhibition halls for three consecutive years, making concerted efforts to target the Chinese market.
Industry analysts interpret this as Samsung Electronics fully launching a customized marketing strategy centered on premium products and B2B (business-to-business) transactions. The analysis suggests that the company has shifted its marketing focus from mass-market (B2C) exhibitions centered on the volume zone (entry-level models) to premium home appliances and B2B business, where it holds a comparative advantage.
The customized marketing approach already began at CES 2026 in the United States in January this year. Samsung Electronics had occupied the central booth in the Central Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC)—considered the prime location of CES—for several years, but this year, it set up an independent booth at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas, separate from the LVCC.
At the time, Samsung Electronics explained, “This was to bring together the ‘AI home appliance ecosystem,’ which had been displayed across multiple booths, in one place to provide a complete user experience.” However, industry observers followed with interpretations suggesting that Samsung Electronics may have also had ‘security’ and ‘B2B’ considerations in mind.
In reality, it was difficult to filter out ‘unwelcome visitors’—such as Chinese company representatives or technology-leak YouTubers—at the LVCC booth, which was exposed to an unspecified mass of people. Accordingly, Samsung Electronics did not display its core products and technologies at the LVCC booth and instead prepared a separate B2B-exclusive space.
Unlike other home appliance exhibitions, 90% of AWE’s participating companies are centered on Chinese firms such as TCL, Hisense, and Haier. Additionally, the declining competitiveness of Korean home appliances in the volume zone appears to have been a factor in Samsung Electronics’ decision not to participate in AWE.
According to market research firm Counterpoint Research, China’s TCL recorded a 16% global TV shipment share in December last year, surpassing Samsung Electronics (13%) to claim the top position. This was the first time in one year—since December 2024—that Samsung Electronics had relinquished the top spot in monthly market share.
