The good news out of Korea is that Samsung and LG own the TV market, carving out about 30% of volume and dominating in the premium sector which means about 45% of the value. According to Omdia, Samsung shipped over 17 million TVs in the first half of the year, that’s 18.3% of the total market, but Samsung also managed to crush it with 52.8% of the $2,500+ segment. By contrast, LG sold nearly 11 million units, 11.4% of the total market, 16.6% of the revenues,
Most of Samsung’s sales in the greater than $1,500 band of pricing, where the company has over 50% share, are QLED TVs. By every indication, brand matters when consumers are parting with large amounts of money on a purchase.
Who are these consumers that can spend that much on a TV and are willing to pay a premium for branded products, in large numbers? It may that the audience for these TVs isn’t just well-off boomers who are still entranced by the big home screen. Movie going has been shrinking as TVs have been growing, and that is the best news the TV industry could have had. And sports did play a big part in bringing audiences back to TV this year with Warner Brothers Discovery recently reporting that it got 77% more new paid subs compared to Tokyo 2020.
For Korea’s display giants, the TV market, and Apple’s business, are the two big drivers of prestige and a way to hold back the tide of Chinese competitors. Not that Chinese competitors seem to be too worried for now because they are just warming up with their own premium display investments.
According to UBI Research, the market for foldable phones is expanding rapidly, with shipments more than doubling to 9.94 million units in the second quarter of this year compared to the first. This growth in the foldable segment is expected to continue, with projections that by 2028the market could reach approximately 140 million units. However, despite this rise in shipments, Korea’s overall sales are anticipated to decline starting in 2025, acccording to UBI Research. This expected decline is primarily due to the increasing supply of flexible OLED displays from Chinese manufacturers, which is likely to drive down prices.
In the mid-to-large OLED market, Apple has helpt to increase total supply volume for OLED panels for the year, projected to be around 7.5 million units by UBI Research. This has sparked investments in newer technology, particularly in 8.6G production lines, which Chinese panel manufacturers are actively pursuing.
Chinese panel makers may be content right now to build up dominance in smartphones and tablets, biding their time before they take on the TV market in earnest because even with TCL and Hisense doing a great job of building up market share, the premium market branding of LG and Samsung seems immune to technology and pricing concerns.
