Samsung Electronics has announced the domestic launch of new OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) TV models for the first time in 10 years, challenging LG Electronics' dominance in the OLED TV market. With Samsung Electronics being the global leader in overall TV sales, its full-scale entry into the OLED market is expected to intensify the competition between the industry’s top two players, Samsung and LG. The display industry, which is facing difficulties due to a slowdown in demand for IT devices, is also closely watching whether Samsung will successfully establish itself in the market.
Samsung Electronics will officially start selling its 2023 OLED TV models in 77, 65, and 55-inch sizes on the 9th of next month. Lee Jae-yong, Vice Chairman of Samsung Electronics, personally visited the TV production site and paid meticulous attention to every detail, including the remote control buttons of the upcoming new TV models. This marks Samsung’s first domestic OLED TV launch in 10 years since 2013. Samsung first introduced a 55-inch OLED TV in 2013 but did not release any follow-up OLED TV models. At that time, Samsung judged that the OLED market was still immature, with issues in technology, yield, and profitability.
On the other hand, LG Electronics has consistently released products for 10 years since it became the first in the industry to start the OLED TV business in 2013. This year marks its 10th year as the industry leader. Market research firm Omdia reported that LG Electronics shipped 3,824,000 OLED TVs globally last year. The cumulative shipments over 10 years reached 15 million units, ranking first worldwide. Its market share approached 60%. While Samsung Electronics holds the top spot in the global overall TV market with a 30% share, LG Electronics has effectively monopolized the highly profitable OLED TV market.
Samsung Electronics, which has focused on premium products based on LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) Neo QLED TVs rather than OLED, has belatedly decided to launch OLED TVs domestically to respond to the growing demand for OLED. The company judged that despite global economic uncertainties causing consumers to tighten their wallets for regular TVs, demand for OLED TVs continues to grow steadily. In fact, global TV shipments last year totaled 203.25 million units, down 5% from 2021. LCD TV shipments also fell by about 5%, dropping below 200 million units for the first time since 2010. However, the situation is different for OLED TVs. This year, OLED TV shipments are expected to grow 14% compared to last year, and OLED accounts for 49.8% of the premium TV market priced above $1,500. In other words, OLED is dominating the premium TV market.
The display industry is placing high hopes on Samsung Electronics’ success in establishing itself in the OLED TV market. OLED, which has technological competitiveness compared to LCDs that face intense price competition from Chinese companies, plays a bigger role in improving profitability. In particular, if Samsung’s OLED TV sales strategy succeeds, not only Samsung Display, which supplies QD-OLED display panels for Samsung TVs, but also competitor LG Display could benefit.
Currently, Samsung Display, which has raised the yield of QD-OLED panels to around 90%, can produce about 1.5 million panels annually. This is far less compared to LG Display’s large OLED panel production capacity, which is up to 10 million units per year. If Samsung Electronics’ OLED TVs equipped with QD-OLED panels sell well, Samsung will need to contract with LG Display to increase production. An industry insider said, "Sony simultaneously sources QD-OLED panels from Samsung Display and OLED panels from LG Display to sell OLED TVs," adding, "If Samsung Electronics’ OLED TV sales are successful, they will have no choice but to consider contracts with LG Display to handle the order volume."
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