Samsung Electronics No. 1 in global TV market for 16 years straight

Samsung Electronics has maintained its lead in the global TV market for 16 consecutive years by pursuing a premium strategy with its QLED TVs, the firm said.

According to market tracker Omdia Sunday, the South Korean tech giant last year topped the global TV market, commanding 29.5 percent by sales amount and 19.8 percent by market share.

“Samsung Electronics propelled the No. 1 position via a premium strategy centered on QLED TVs. Since their launch in 2017, more than 26 million units have been sold,” a company official said.

Omdia data shows that Samsung sold 9.43 million QLED TVs last year alone, a staggering figure compared to 800,000 in 2017, 2.6 million in 2018, 5.32 million in 2019 and 7.79 million in 2020.

Also, Samsung sold 42.1 percent of high-end TVs priced $2,500 or more last year. Of supersize TVs with screens 80 inches or bigger, the company accounted for 44.9 percent in the market.

Meanwhile, crosstown rival LG Electronics enjoyed its record market share of 18.5 percent, buoyed by the robust sales of its flagship model OLED TVs.

LG Electronics sold more than 4 million OLED TVs last year, which is almost double from 2 million units on-year. Also, the figure accounts for roughly 62 percent of total global OLED TV sales last year.

“OLED TVs are more than three times more expensive than LCD TVs on average. This allowed LG Electronics to expand its shipment and sales even though the global TV market slowed down after reaching its peak in the second half of last year,” an LG official said.

By Kim Byung-wook (kbw@heraldcorp.com)