Samsung tops global TV market for 16th straight year

SEOUL, Feb. 21 (UPI) -- Samsung Electronics topped the world's 2021 TV market for the 16th consecutive year, according to London-based consultancy Omdia.

Samsung's market share decreased slightly from 31.9% in 2020 to 29.5% in 2021 in terms of sales revenue, Omdia announced Sunday, but the figure was high enough to beat its competitors.

In particular, the tech giant dominated the premium market for TVs larger than 80 inches, with a share of 44.9 percent.

Samsung said its strategy of focusing on high-end products like QLED TVs has worked.

Its cross-city Seoul rival LG Electronics ranked second with its largest-ever market share of 18.5%, followed by Japan's Sony with 9.5%. Also included in the Top 5 list were China's TCL and Hisense.

LG Electronics' strength rests on OLED TVs, as the company doubled the shipment of the premium TV sets from 2 million in 2020 to 4 million last year.

When it came to the market share in terms of sales volume last year, Samsung Electronics accounted for 19.8%, while LG Electronics carved out 12.8%.

"Currently, Samsung Electronics concentrates on QLED TVs, while LG Electronics bets on OLED TVs to compete in the upscale market," HMC Investment & Securities analyst Cho Jun-woo told UPI News Korea.

"The market is expected to be more interesting this year as Samsung Electronics is set to introduce a new technology, while LG Electronics is trying to upgrade its OLED TVs," he said.

QLED TVs use quantum dots to come up with a broad color spectrum, while OLED TVs have pixels that work independently without using a backlight.