Samsung Electronics Co said it intends to sell 2 million light-emitting-diode (LED) TVs this year, bringing the ultra-slim and power-efficient TVs to a 10 percent share of the company’s overall liquid-crystal-display (LCD) TV shipments for this year, a company executive said yesterday.
The figure would be two times higher than the world’s 3 percent average this year, according to the latest forecast by market researcher DisplaySearch released yesterday.
GROWING TREND
The research house said leading LCD TV brands including Samsung, Philips, Sharp and Sony were planning to increase use of LED backlights in the second half of this year as LED backlight’s cost premium over cold-cathode-fluorescent-lamp (CCFL) backlights narrows.
“Our LED TVs have received wide population in the US and Europe. We have sold 400,000 units since they made their debut,” Samsung Electronics Taiwan Co president Smile Kim said yesterday.
The fast uptake has caused supply constraints for some components such as LED chips, Kim said, adding that the company was communicating with Taiwanese companies to increase supply.
PROJECTIONS
For this year, Samsung, the world’s biggest TV maker, said it expects to sell 2 million LED TVs with screen size ranging from 32 inches to 55 inches, Kim said.
In other words, shipments of LED TVs would account for 10 percent of Samsung’s total LCD TV global shipments this year, he said.
That may be an ambitious target, as DisplaySearch forecast that LED TV shipments could grow to 3.6 million units this year.
Next year, global LED TV shipments may increase to 15 million units, making up 10 percent of the global LCD TV shipments, the researcher said.
Separately, Samsung said it aims to expand its local market share to 10 percent by revenues after its new LED TV series hit the Taiwanese market this month, compared to 2 percent in the first three months of the year.
Samsung’s LED TVs will be available at prices ranging from NT$65,900 to NT$179,900 per unit, depending on the screen size and specifications, the company said.
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