LG Elec makes strides in high-end TV market in Japan as OLED joins mainstream

South Korea’s LG Electronics Inc. has made strides in the Japanese TV market heavily dominated by local brands with its premium OLED TVs.

In the January-March period this year, LG Electronics took up 12.6 percent in the Japanese OLED TV market to elbow out Toshiba and rank No. 4 after Sony, Panasonic, and Sharp, according to market researcher Omdia on Monday.

OLED TV share in the country’s entire TV market has grown by 3 percentage points on average every year since it exceeded 20 percent in 2019. This year, OLED TV is expected to account for 30.6 percent of the overall Japanese TV market, which would be doubled from 14.9 percent in 2018.

OLED TV has been quickly joining the mainstream around the world.

OLED TV occupied 13.3 percent of the global TV market, including 20.6 percent in Europe and 17.3 percent in North America.

LG has a better chance to expand its presence in the heavily guarded TV market in Japan through the proliferation of OLED types with unmatched economies of scale as the pioneer of the high-definition screen.

Samsung Electronics withdrew its TV and other consumer electronics business in Japan in 2009 after years of losses.

LG Electronics’ latest success in the Japanese TV market owes largely to its advanced TV technology, which is widely acknowledged by Japanese experts and consumers. Japan’s renowned audio/video magazine HiVI recently picked LG OLED evo Gallery Edition and LG OLED evo as the best OLED TV models in its review for this year’s Best Buy Awards.

LG Electronics has rolled out the high-end Objet Collection in Japan to strengthen its foray.

On Tuesday, shares of LG Electronics rose 5.9 percent to close at 95,500 won ($73.43).

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