Samsung and LG are facing tough competition from the Chinese TV brands globally. According to the most recent BusinessKorea report, the global TV market shipment in H1 of 2022 plummeted by 6.6% YoY to 92.604 million units. Also, the market sales fell 12.5% to $47.5 billion during H1 2022.
The combined market share of the top two TV manufacturers in the world, Samsung and LG, also witnessed a decline. On the other hand, the combined market share of their Chinese counterparts—TCL, Hisense, and Xiaomi—rose from 25.3% to 27%. The interesting thing was that TCL was inching closer to LG's market share. TCL's share stood at 11.1% in the first half, whereas LG's market share was 13.7% during the same period.
Major factors for Samsung and LG's declining market share is their concentration on high-end products
The main factor is not only that Chinese TV brands are providing all the must-have and good-to-have features at a reasonable price, but they are also more cost-effective. In fact, some of the LED and LCD products from Chinese brands are comparable to those from Korean brands. Another important factor here is that LG and Samsung are now concentrating on OLED products and advanced technologies such as MiniLED and 8K.
Currently, Samsung and LG are the only two companies in the world producing OLED TV panels. LG Display is dominating the global supply, and Samsung supplies its QD-OLED TV panels to Samsung and Sony. While Chinese companies have ramped up their mobile OLED panel production, they are still far behind in making OLED TV panels. The software experience is also something that Samsung and LG are predominantly focusing on.