In the global premium TV market, as Chinese corporations increase their market share with mini LED TVs, Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are expected to respond this year by focusing on organic light-emitting diode (OLED) TVs.
According to market research firm Counterpoint Research, Samsung Electronics maintained its position as the top player in the global premium TV market by shipment volume in the first quarter of this year, but its market share decreased by 11 percentage points over the year. During the same period, LG Electronics' market share also fell from 23% to 16%, dropping its rank from second to fourth.
In contrast, Chinese leading TV corporations, Hisense and TCL, have seen their shipments more than double year-over-year, recording market shares of 20% and 19%, respectively, quickly closing in on Samsung Electronics.
The growth of Chinese corporations has been driven by mini LED TVs, a premium liquid crystal display (LCD) TV. China is producing mini LED TVs with competitive pricing by securing an LCD panel supply chain.
Counterpoint Research noted, "Due to the cost difference between OLED panels and LCD panels, consumers are faced with the choice of either smaller OLED TVs or larger mini LED TVs," adding that "increasingly, more consumers are choosing mini LED TVs."
However, the cost competitiveness of OLED panels has improved this year, narrowing the price gap with LCD panels. A source familiar with LG Display stated that "as the depreciation of equipment in LG Display's OLED production line effectively comes to an end, production costs are expected to gradually improve," adding that "therefore, the operating rate of LG Display's large OLED factory is also on the rise."
Samsung Electronics, the industry leader, aims to increase the sales proportion of next-generation OLED TVs over quantum dot (QD)-OLED TVs this year, thereby enhancing its dominance in the premium markets of North America and Europe. Recently, it has been reported that Samsung Electronics is increasing its purchases of OLED panels for TVs from LG Display.
LG Electronics is also maintaining its competitiveness in the global OLED TV market by leveraging differentiated technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) features and wireless audio-video (AV) transmission solutions. LG OLED TVs surpassed cumulative global shipments of 20 million units last year.
Meanwhile, according to market research firm Omdia, in the first quarter, LG Electronics ranked first in market share by OLED TV shipments with 52.1%, followed by Samsung Electronics with 30.8%.