Huawei Overtakes Samsung in China’s Premium TV Market

Samsung has lost its title as the top premium TV brand in China, with its market share seemingly dropping substantially year by year, allowing rival Huawei to overtake it in terms of market share.

Huawei V75 Super. Credit: Huawei

According to data by display-based products analytics group Display Supply Chain Consultant (DSCC), as cited by The Elec, the South Korean company’s high-20% market share in 2019 dropped to the high-10% mark in 2021. Notably, its market share fell below 20% for the first time during the fourth quarter of 2020 and would further drop to 13% the year after.

In contrast, Huawei’s market share significantly went up in the same two years, with it increasing to a high-20% in 2021 from 10% in 2019.

This seemingly suggests that the homegrown telecommunications equipment supplier may have stolen some of Samsung’s consumers in that span of time. DSCC claims Samsung’s shipments declined due to it kicking up TV prices. Samsung’s new Neo QLED 8K Smart TV (QN900B) was launched earlier this year with a starting price of US$4,999.99 for the 65-inch model. Even for the high-end segment, that’s quite a steep price.

Samsung Neo QLED 8K TV. Credit: Samsung

For context, the premium market described by DSCC covers LCD panels with quantum dot films, which Samsung markets as QLED, along with LCD TVs with LED backlights, 8K LCD TVs and OLED TVs.

Other Chinese TV brands didn’t share the same good fortune as Huawei, with the market shares of Hisense and TCL similarly dropping over the same period. LG’s sales, meanwhile, didn’t see much change, with its market share remaining below 3%.

Globally, Samsung’s premium TV market share also declined from 60% to 50% over the same two years. Even outside of China, consumers might also be finding it hard to justify the price of Samsung’s newer, more expensive TVs.

LG’s worldwide shares, on the other hand, saw an increase in the same two years, rising from mid-10% to mid-20%.

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• Samsung has lost its title as the top premium TV brand in China, with its market share seemingly dropping substantially year by year, allowing rival Huawei to overtake it in terms of market share.

• The South Korean company’s high-20% market share in 2019 dropped to the high-10% mark in 2021.

• In contrast, Huawei’s market share significantly went up in the same two years, with it increasing to a high-20% in 2021 from 10% in 2019.

• DSCC claims Samsung’s shipments declined due to it kicking up TV prices.