Samsung tops in global flat TV market in 2014

Samsung Electronics Co., South Korea's tech powerhouse, gained supremacy in the global flat TV market last year, backed by strong sales in the North American market, data showed Monday.
  

The market share of the world's top electronics company reached a record high of 29.2 percent as of end-Decmeber 2014, based on annual revenue, according to the data compiled by global market tracker DisplaySearch.
  

In 2013, Samsung saw its flat TV market share come in at 26.7 percent, slightly down from 27.4 percent a year earlier. LG trailed behind with 16.7 percent in 2014, up from 15.2 percent a year ago, the data showed.
  

Other rivals followed with a minor single-digit share, with Japan's Sony Corp. at 7.9 percent and China-based HIsense Co. at 5.5 percent as of end-2014.
  

Samsung attributed the rise in the share to brisk sales in the North American market, boosted by firm demand for premium lineups including the ultra high-definition TVs and the new curved models.
  

In the North America alone, Samsung's share trumped others with 35.4 percent.
  

The tech giant also saw its global market share for the UHD TVs soar by more than 20 percentage points to 34.7 percent last year from a year earlier, buoyed by the two-track strategy that targeted Chinese buyers with the budget line as well as the high-end products.
  

Samsung ranked first in the Chinese UHD TV market with 20.4 percent over the same period.
  

Samsung said it will shore up efforts to tighten its grip in the global flat TV market this year, with its latest SUHD TV based on quantum dot technology, which touts a high color reproduction.
  

DisplaySearch forecast the global share of UHD TVs in the broader TV market to eclipse 30 percent by 2018. (Yonhap)