Data: TV shipments fall in 2023
December 6, 2023
By Chris Forrester
TV shipments will fall by 2.1 per cent this year. The world’s major manufacturers are still shipping millions of units, and some have enjoyed growth, but Samsung – still with the largest market share (18.5 per cent) – is likely to suffer the hardest with a 9.8 per cent decline in shipments (to 36.3 million sets).
The data, from analysts at Display Daily and quoting Trend Force numbers, says the 2.1 per cent fall in overall total units shipped is the lowest shipment volume in almost a decade.
Trend Force suggests that Europe’s “strained economic climate” is responsible for much of the overall decline. There is a bright spot in sales of Samsung’s QD OLED TVs, which jumped 153 per cent to 890,000 units. But Samsung’s overall market share still eroded by 1.2 percentage points to 18.5 per cent in 2023. OLED sets usually command a higher price and better margins.
Chinese brands Hisense and TCL enjoyed greater market share on the back of lower retail prices and localised manufacturing. Hisense shipments climbed 12.4 per cent to 27 million units, while TCL volumes expanded 16.3 per cent to 26.2 million.
South Korean giant LG Electronics suffered from declining OLED TV uptake, registering a 7.4 per cent YoY contraction in total shipments (to 22.91 million units).
TrendForce blames the decline on constrained consumer budgets in Europe and the US due to high interest rates on borrowings, as well as the anxieties over real estate values in China suppressing demand.
Moreover, there have been sharp rises in TV panel pricing in 2023 which led manufacturers to cut back on promotional campaigns, further curtailing shipments. Although quarterly TV shipments exhibited some growth in 2023, the critical Q4 pre-holiday peak season saw muted shipment expansion of just 4.7 per cent YoY.
The report says that with tepid holiday sales volumes, TV demand has been prematurely exhausted worldwide, with changing consumer habits and lingering economic uncertainty holding back any recovery