Samsung and LG raise premium TV contest to bigger and high-performing screens

[Photo by LG Electronics Inc.]

Korean TV makers responsible for half of global TV shipments and dominating the premium home screens are vying with bigger and higher-performance displays to keep comfortable lead in the high-end market.

Samsung Electronics early this year launched its micro LED TV with a 110-inch screen and now is prepping to add 99-inch, 88-inch and 76-inch versions for household use. Among them, the 99-inch micro LED TV is ready to hit the Korean market to meet the household demand for premium, supersize TVs after it earned radio wave clearance from the domestic authority recently.

LG Electronics is expected to unveil a 97-inch OLED TV early next year.

The launch of such super-large OLED TVs will likely entice other OLED players such as Sony to follow suit, further intensifying the market race between industry peers, analysts say.

In the premium market, TV makers are in competition for a leadership in not only size but also new technology.

Samsung Electronics plans to introduce its next-gen premium line Quantum Dot (QD)-OLED TV at the CES 2022 early next year, joining the heated OLED TV race. Samsung Display’s QD-OLED uses blue OLED emitters instead of white, while LG Display panels use white OLED emitters.

[Photo by Samsung Electronics Co.]

Analysts now are upbeat about the growth of the OLED TV market. London-based market research firm Omdia recently revised up its outlook for this year’s OLED TV shipments to 6.5 million units from earlier 6.1 million units estimated in late June. It is its second revision since it upped the estimation to 6.1 million units from 5.8 million units earlier this year.

“We’re expecting to safely achieve the annual sales target of 4 million units this year, nearly doubling the record of last year. Of the sales, the ratio of OLED TVs is estimated to increase to 32 percent from 24 percent,” said an official from LG Electronics. The company now is reviewing to expand its reliance on OLED TV for better profitability.

The industry expects demand for premium TVs would grow in major European and South American markets with global sports events due to be held from the latter half of the year as more countries opt to live with Covid-19 thanks to rapid vaccination rollouts. “The market will grow in sync, with the TV makers vying for a leadership with new releases,” said an industry source.

Premium LCD, mini LED sales have been skidding.

Global shipments of mini LED TVs are estimated to reach 2.1 million units this year, halved from earlier estimates of 4.9 million units as of August, according to Omdia. Mini LED TV makers are projected to change their strategies for cost reduction such as by reducing the number of LEDs mounted on backlight.

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