Report: Samsung leads TV shipments in Q2
August 24, 2020
By Chris Forrester
Samsung continued to dominate TV shipments globally during Q2 even though actual volumes shipped declined slightly compared with the same period in 2019.
In the same period, Chinese multinational electronics brand TCL leapfrogged LG Electronics into the Number 2 spot.
The latest update of the DiScien Monthly Global TV Shipment Report covers quarterly TV shipments for the top 15 global TV brands by brand, screen size, display technology, resolution, and geographical region and reported by Display Digest.
Worldwide TV shipments from the top 15 brands declined by 2 per cent year-on-year to 38 million. Looking at the demand picture by region, there was a big increase in North America plus a smaller increase in China but not enough to remedy some sharp declines in emerging regions. TV shipments to North America increased 39 per cent year-on-year to 9.5 million, and shipments in China increased 5 per cent year-on-year to 11 million, but shipments to Eastern Europe, Latin America and Middle East/Africa declined by 22 per cent, 35 per cent and 31 per cent year-on-year, respectively.
In the TV brand battle, Samsung retained the #1 position but shipments from the top brand decreased by 6 per cent year-on-year to 8.5 million. TCL shipments increased 27 per cent to 5.6 million, allowing the Chinese brand to surpass LG to take the #2 position. LG shipments fell by 25 per cent year-on-year to 4.4 million, its lowest level since before 2016, and LG got passed not only by TCL but also by Hisense, which took the #3 position with an 18 per cent year-on-year gain to 4.7 million.
LG has struggled to maintain its market position as it tries to increase the volume of OLED TV sales without decreasing price, and faced with a vast price gap between LCD and OLED TV panel prices. In its Q2 earnings release, LG reported that its Home Entertainment business segment reported a 24 per cent year-on-year sales decline to KRW 2.26 trillion ($1.85 billion) and operating profit declines by 26 per cent to KRW 110 billion.
Outside the top four brands, Vizio rode the strong sales in North America with a 14 per cent shipment increase year-on-year to 1.5 million, while Sony is headed in the other direction with a 27 per cent decrease year-on-year to 1.5 million.