“TCL will pass LG and was the second largest TV maker in 2022”
The Chinese manufacturer TCL was the second largest television maker last year. This is according to market research agency Omdia. It is the first time that TCL has finished in second place, knocking LG out of second place. Samsung remained the largest.
Business Korea writes based on Omdia’s report that Samsung had a market share of 19.6 percent in 2022, placing it comfortably in first place. TCL came in at 11.7 percent, taking second place, and LG Electronics had an almost similar market share of 11.69 percent, taking third place. Between number two and three there was a difference of 30,000 televisions delivered. Fourth and fifth place were taken by two other Chinese manufacturers: HiSense (10.5 percent) and Xiaomi (6.2 percent). The three Chinese manufacturers had a combined market share of 28.4 percent in 2022.
The rapid growth of Chinese manufacturers has to do with a decline in the global TV market, writes Business Korea based on an unnamed TV industry expert. Global total deliveries reached 203.26 million units in 2022, while 213.54 million televisions were still delivered in 2021. This reduction is related to a reduced demand, which was the case in North America, for example. On the other hand, sales grew in ’emerging markets’ such as China, South America and Africa. HiSense, Xiaomi and TCL have a relatively large share in China compared to Samsung and LG. On the Chinese TV market, these three manufacturers have a market share of 21, 20.3 and 15.7 percent respectively. Samsung and LG do not exceed 1.1 and 0.3 percent respectively in China.
The 2022 TCL C93 and C83, LCD TVs with mini LED backlight
Another factor is the fact that the cheaper models are more popular in emerging markets. That is an advantage for the Chinese manufacturers; they have a stronger position in low-end and mid-range models, while Samsung and LG are more dominant in the premium TV segment. The latter is also reflected in the 2022 ranking in terms of sales turnover. Samsung is still lord and master with a market share of 29.7 percent, followed by LG with 16.7 percent and TCL with 9.4 percent.
It should be noted in the above that Omdia bases its market share percentages on the number of deliveries from manufacturers to shops and not to consumers. At least, Business Korea quotes another expert who says so. If the figures were based on sales to end users, the picture might have been slightly different and a little less favorable for the Chinese manufacturers. In 2022, Samsung and LG would have made an adjustment to the number of copies they sent to stores in order to normalize their TV inventory. The Chinese manufacturers had an advantage in that area: they have a huge market share in China and chose to bring televisions to stores as much as possible. That may have affected the market share rankings.