Samsung Electronics retains top TV vendor status in shrinking market

South Korea’s two home appliances giants – Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc. – dominated the global TV market in the first half amid shrinking demand due to rising inflation and other economic uncertainties.

According to London-based market tracker Omdia on Tuesday, about 92.6 million TVs were sold worldwide in the first six months of the year, down 6.6% from a year earlier.

In value terms, the decline was more pronounced, falling 12.5% from the year-earlier period, with sales reaching $47.5 billion at the end of June.

The weak sales were due to the Russia-Ukraine war, China’s lockdown of major cities amid the resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic and surging inflation, Omdia said.

Despite the falling demand, Samsung and LG retained their rankings, buoyed by strong sales of their premium and large-screen models targeting high-end consumers.

Omdia data showed Samsung to be the dominant player with a 31.5% market share in value terms, up 0.5 percentage points from the first half of last year.

LG came in second with a 17.4% market share, followed by China’s TCL Technology (8.7%), Chinese multinational home appliance group Hisense (8.2%) and Japan’s Sony (7.4%).

In terms of volume, Samsung controlled 20.1% of the global TV market, followed by LG Electronics (12.3%), TCL (11.1%), Hisense (9.5%) and Xiaomi (6.4%).

SAMSUNG’S QLED TVs

Samsung said it has maintained its market leadership, helped by robust sales of its Neo quantum light-emitting diode (QLED) TVs.

Since the launch of the model in 2017 until end-June of this year, the company has sold a total of 30.65 million Neo QLED TVs.

In the first half alone, Samsung sold 4.64 million Neo QLED TVs, up 16.3% from a year earlier.

QLED TVs use tiny LED chips that generally range in size from 100 to 200 micrometers for backlighting, providing higher resolution and better clarity.

Samsung also performed well in the large-screen and premium segments.

In the 80-inch-and-above-size TV market, Samsung ranked top with a 48.6% market share.

In the premium segment, selling at $2,500 or higher, the company took a 53.6% share, followed by LG (21.5%) and Sony (17.2%).

Industry watchers said Samsung will retain its overall TV market leadership for 17 years if the current trend continues to the end of the year.

Samsung ascended to the industry’s top post in 2006 with the launch of its Bordeaux LCD TV.

The company has since unveiled a series of market-leading models, including an LED TV in 2009, a smart TV in 2011 and its first QLED model in 2017.

Last year, it launched several flashy flagship TV models, including new Mini LED TVs, one dubbed the Neo QLED, and MicroLED TVs in various sizes.

LG, TOPO OLED TV VENDOR

Meanwhile, LG Electronics, the world’s second-largest vendor in the overall TV market, saw its organic light-emitting diode (OLED) TV shipment rise despite weak market conditions.

LG was the top vendor of OLED TVs – the highest-end premium TV segment – with 1.69 million sales, accounting for 62% of the market in the first half.

In the 40-inch OLED segment, LG’s TV sales rose 81.3% from the first half of 2021. The company’s 70-inch and larger-size OLED TV sales grew 17% from the year-earlier period.

Demand for OLED TVs that offer stunning picture quality has been growing rapidly as consumers, including gamers, are attracted to large-size LED TVs as big-screen gaming gains popularity.

LG plans to strengthen its premium TV lineup by launching a 97-inch OLED TV, the world’s largest, by the end of this year.

Earlier this month, affiliate LG Display Co. unveiled the 97-inch OLED.EX, the biggest OLED TV panel ever made.

Write to Shin-Young Park at nyusos@hankyung.com
In-Soo Nam edited this article.