Samsung, LG vie for top spot as premium TV players at CES 2021

Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc., the world’s two largest TV makers, are showcasing a series of new models at the world’s biggest tech expo amid intensified global competition for the high-end TV segment.

The two South Korean companies are expected to steal the show at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), set to open on Jan. 11 for four days, as their Chinese competitors such as Huawei Technologies Co. and Xiaomi Inc. decided to skip this year’s tech exhibition, which will be online only due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Samsung, the top TV player, said it is unveiling a new 110-inch Micro LED TV at the CES as it aims to further tighten its leadership in the premium segment.

The Micro LED TV will sell at 170 million won ($156,400) a unit, putting it among Samsung’s most expensive TV models. Samsung said it will launch a 99-inch Micro LED TV in March or April, and smaller 70-80 inch models later this year.

Micro LED TV uses micrometer-sized LED chips as singular pixels that can also self illuminate, providing better resolution and higher clarity.

Meanwhile, LG is unveiling its latest premium TV, the OLED evo, which comes with an upgraded OLED panel that has a better contrast ratio and picture quality.

To compete in the large-size TV segment, LG recently unveiled an 83-inch OLED TV and increased its number of 70-inch and larger models from four to seven.

According to industry tracker Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC), the global Micro LED TV market is expected to expand from around $25 million in 2020 to $228 million by 2026.

COMPETITION IN MINI LED TV SEGMENT

The two home appliance giants are also competing in next-generation mini LED TVs that use tiny LED chips that generally range from 100 to 200 micrometers in size for their backlights.

Samsung’s Neo QLED TV, which comes with a 4K and a higher resolution 8K quality, will debut in the market some time in the first quarter.

LG will unveil 10 models of its mini LED TVs under the QNED brand. The company said its mini LED TVs will use up to 30,000 tiny LEDs to enhance the screen quality.

Industry research firm TrendForce said the global shipments of mini LED backlight TVs are projected to reach 4.4 million units in 2021, accounting for about 2% of the overall TV market.

Overall, Samsung sold 14.85 million TVs worth $9.32 billion, claiming a record-high 33.1% of the global market in the July-September period of 2020, according to market tracker Omdia.

LG Electronics was the runner-up with 16.6% share in value terms, followed by Sony Corp. (10.1%), China’s TCL Technology (7.3%) and Hisense Group (7.3%).

Write to Jeong-Soo Hwang and Su-Bin Lee at hjs@hankyung.com
In-Soo Nam edited this article.