TCL is now shipping more ultra-large TVs than Samsung, another win for the Chinese-owned maker
In brief: Despite their long-standing market dominance, Samsung and other TV manufacturers are steadily losing ground to Chinese competitors. A striking price difference, and direct involvement of Beijing’s authorities, are making Chinese TV makers an increasingly appealing option for customers.
Consumer electronics company TCL Technology was recently able to surpass Samsung Electronics in the ultra-large TV market for the first time ever. According to recent estimations provided by market research firm Omdia, the state-owned, Huizhou-based corporation was able to ship more premium TV units than Samsung in the second quarter of the year.
The premium market Omdia refers to is for TV-sets that are 80-inch or larger. After surpassing Samsung, TCL was able to keep the lead in the third quarter as well with a 23 percent market share. During Q3, Samsung’s share fell from 26 percent to 19 percent year-over-year. Even Hisense, another rising star in the Chinese TV business, succeeded at closing the gap with Samsung (rising 11 percent to 16.5 percent) and shipped more TV-sets than LG last year.
Once considered a cheap, low-quality alternative to premium devices coming from Korea, Chinese TVs are now good enough to entice wealthy customers looking for extremely large panels. Omdia said that Chinese companies have exploited their dominant position in the supply chain for LCD panels, developing their own ultra-large products at a very competitive price.
How competitive, you might ask? Quite a lot. During last month’s Black Friday shopping craze, TCL was selling a 98-inch, mini-LED TV with a $2,900 price tag, while Hisense had a 100-inch TV on sale for just $1,599. Meanwhile, Samsung offered a 98-inch mini-LED TV for $8,997 during the same period, research firm DSCC said.
It’s safe to say that Chinese manufacturers are eventually going to disrupt the premium TV market for good, after working for years on affordable models to try to boost their shipment quotas. TCL and other big technology companies are directly supported by Chinese authorities, which means Samsung and other premium manufacturers will not be able to keep them at bay for much longer.
“Given China’s state-backed subsidies and low manufacturing costs, it’s almost impossible for Korean companies to lower prices like Chinese brands,” an industry insider stated. A potential alternative route to keep revenues afloat could be software, and embedded operating systems providing paid services to TV watchers. However, Chinese companies are catching up to traditional manufacturers in their devices’ software capabilities as well.
