Incidentally, Roku has announced during the recently-concluded Consumer Electronic Show (CES) 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada that the company, along with its hardware partners including Haier, Hisense, and TCL – all Chinese manufacturers – are planning to introduce close to 60 new Roku TV models this year.
Roku and its hardware partners have sold around one million smart TVs to American consumers since its first foray into the market back in 2014.
Among those upcoming new Roku TVs include the first 4K TV sets powered by Roku’s smart operating system. TCL shall reportedly be the first to ship 4K Roku TVs this spring while the other hardware partners are expected to have their own ultra-high resolution Roku TVs launched and shipped later in the year.
It has been the strategy of Roku to team up with lesser-known and lower-cost manufacturers to sell streaming-capable TVs with a familiar interface and all the necessary apps to consumers who don’t want to spend big money for high-end TV sets from companies like Samsung, LG, Sony, or Sharp.
And the strategy seems to be paying off for Roku as the company now has an eight percent share in the smart TV market in the US.