China’s TCL and Hisense both saw significant growth in the Premium TV market segment in the fourth quarter of 2023, taking market share away from their South Korean rivals Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, a report from DSCC shows. 

It’s an impressive achievement, and all the more so as the premium TV segment barely grew at all during the quarter, with shipments rising by just 1% from the same period one year ago, hitting 6.9 million units. 

Zooming into DSCC’s data, it’s notable that the premium TV segment’s growth can be attributed to LCD TV sales, which rose by 10% from a year earlier to approximately 5 million units. In the same period, OLED TV sales fell by 17% to just 1.9 million units. 

Unfortunately for TV brands, revenue within the premium TV segment declined for the eighth successive quarter, falling by 3% from one year earlier to just $7.6 billion. Revenues are declining despite the slight uptick in shipments because TV manufacturers have been trying to reduce their prices in order to prop up an industry that has been sluggish ever since the Covid-19 pandemic era boom dissipated. 

According to DSCC, OLED TV revenues fell 18% to just $2.8 billion in the quarter, while LCD TV revenues rose by 9% to $4.8 billion. The analyst firm noted that LCD TV revenues were able to grow due to the more diversified premium offerings from TV brands, which helped to offset some significant price reductions during big sales events, such as Black Friday. 

Samsung Electronics remains the overall leader in the premium TV segment, even though it saw shipments and sales both decline in the quarter. Samsung shipped just 3 million units, down 9%, while its revenue fell 5% in the same period. All told, it still accounted for 42% of the total revenue from the segment, down from 45% one year ago. 

Samsung’s market share is being eroded by TCL and Hisense. The report shows that TCL grew its shipments by an impressive 77% in the quarter, while Hisense did even better, with shipment volumes growing by 135%. That enabled TCL to overtake Sony in market share and become the third largest premium TV brand in terms of volume at 11%, and also surpassing it in terms of revenue. Hisense also surpassed Sony, securing fourth place in both volume and revenue. Sony was the biggest loser in the quarter, with shipments plunging by 33% and revenue down by 35%, knocking it down to fifth place in both categories. . 

LG Electronics was also hurt during the quarter, with shipments falling by 14% and revenue down 22%. That said, it still maintains its dominant position in the OLED TV segment, though shipments and sales eroded there too.