Samsung Electronics is expecting big things in 2020, with plans to ship more than 8 million of its QLED TVs by the end of the year, up from 5.3 million in 2019.
The company, which reportedly controls a 90% share of the global QLED TV market, is aiming to extend its lead over main rival LG Electronics in the high-end TV arena. LG has almost no presence in QLED as it chooses to focus on OLED display technology, where it has a significant lead over Samsung. LG Electronics shipped around 65% of all OLED TVs last year, and its sister company LG Display manufactures the vast majority of those sold by other brands, The Elec reported.
Although LG is historically its main rival, Samsung competes in the QLED market against companies including Huawei, Hisense, TCL and Vizio. Vizio reportedly sold around 380,000 of its P-series Quantum QLED TVs last year, while Huawei and TCL reportedly shipped another 50,000 each. Hisense sold 30,000 QLED TVs in the last year, and all four companies are expecting to increase their number of shipments this year, along with Samsung.
The report comes just days after Samsung Electronics was named as the best selling TV brand in the world for the 14th successive year, with rival LG coming in a distant second place. Samsung reportedly led the market in both sales and revenue, and QLED TVs accounted for around 12% of its total TV sales, an increase of around 100% from 2018.
Samsung was followed in terms of revenue by LG Electronics, with Sony, Hisense and TCL rounding out the top five. In terms of shipments, Samsung led the way followed by LGE, TCL, Hisense and Xiaomi.
Samsung also reportedly led the way in the premium TV segment with a 52.4% share of the market, more than double that of second place Sony.
Samsung's flagship QLED TV this year is its Q950TS 8K model that was first seen at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, featuring an “infinity design” that eliminates the bezel on three sides.
