[사진 출처 = 삼성전자]While global TV demand this year is expected to record the lowest level since 2010, OLED TV demand is expected to remain solid while LCD TV is expected to show a relative weakness.
According to market research firm Omdia on the 8th, TV shipments this year are expected to be 21,1639,000 units. This is a decrease of 1898,000 units from last year’s shipments, and is the lowest annual shipment for 12 years since 2010.
This is because TV demand has decreased as the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) special has withered and high inflation has continued in the United States and Europe. In the first quarter of this year, demand in the three major TV markets: North America, Europe and China has already decreased by 20% compared to the same period last year.
However, despite this downward trend, OLED TV demand is expected to rise steadily thanks to the rising trend of the premium TV market.
Previously, Omdia predicted that global OLED TV shipments this year will reach 8 million units, up 23% from the previous year. The expected market share based on shipments this year is about 4%, which is significantly lower than that of LCD TVs (96%).
On the other hand, LCD TV demand is highly likely to decrease. This is because the position of Korean companies in the LCD TV panel market has decreased due to the low price offensive by Chinese companies, and the selling price is continuing to decrease.
In fact, it is predicted that major TV manufacturers will reduce LCD panel orders. TrendForce, a market research firm, recently saw that Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics lowered their panel purchase orders at the end of March, and that Chinese companies are highly likely to reduce panel orders in the second quarter.
Panel suppliers also announced that they would reduce their LCD TV panel business as their profits were hurt by the drop in panel prices. In announcing its earnings in the first quarter of this year, LG Display said, “We will operate the LCD business, where competition has intensified (price), focusing on areas where we have a competitive edge.” said.
Samsung Display, which has a low proportion of LCD TV panels in sales, is also known to be considering a plan to completely withdraw panels currently supplied to Samsung Electronics in the second half of this year.
It seems that the products leading the TV market are changing from LCD to OLED. Experts believe that in order to avoid repeating the precedent of losing the lead of LCD TV to Chinese companies, Korean companies must achieve a super-gap in OLED panel technology.
So far, Korean companies have dominated the OLED TV market. Currently, LG Electronics has a share of 99%, and Samsung Electronics, which has not been focusing on OLED TVs, announced its entry into the market by introducing its own technology, Quantum Dot (QD)-OLED TV, to the North American and European markets. It is known that China has not been able to mass-produce OLED TV panels so far.
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