April 27, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] Samsung Electronics shipped the largest number of liquid-crystal display TVs last year, followed by LG Electronics, Hisense, TCL and Sony, WitsView, a division of market research firm TrendForce, said on Feb. 2.

Globally, a total of 219.2 million LCD TVs were shipped last year, up 1.6 percent from a year ago largely due to strong sales in North America. 

Samsung Electronics President and TV chief Kim Hyun-seok speaks at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in early January.

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Samsung and LG shipped 47.9 million and 28.2 million TV sets, respectively.

“Samsung posted flat annual growth for 2016 as it experienced shortage of midsize panels through the year,” said Ricky Lin, research manager of WitsView.

“As Samsung and other TV brands competed for panel supply and switched to products belonging larger size segments, the average size of LCD TV sets also grew larger than originally anticipated for 2016.”

Its crosstown rival LG suffered a 4.1 percent decline mainly because of its strategic shift from expanding shipments to raising product margins and controlling its inventory level.

China’s Hisense and TCL increased 3.9 percent and 0.8 percent, shipping 13.3 million and 13.2 million units, respectively.

Sony ranked fifth in annual shipments with 11.7 million units, down 3.7 percent from 2015.

WitsView predicted some impact from Samsung’s L7 LCD plant suspension and Sharp’s decision to halt supplies to top TV rivals such as Samsung, Hisense and LG in the global display market in the coming months.

Still, the research firm said this year’s total LCD TV shipment could reach 225 million units, a 2.6 percent growth from last year.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)