‘TCL will overtake LG and be second largest TV maker in 2022’
Chinese manufacturer TCL was the second largest television maker last year. This is stated by market research agency Omdia. It is the first time that TCL finished in second place, knocking LG from 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, comfortably placing first. TCL came in at 11.7 percent and took second place and LG Electronics had an almost comparable market share of 11.69 percent, taking third place. There was a difference of 30,000 televisions delivered between numbers two and three. Fourth and fifth places 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 is related to a decline in the global TV market, Business Korea writes, citing an unnamed TV industry expert. Global total deliveries reached 203.26 million units in 2022, while 213.54 million televisions were delivered in 2021. This reduction is due to reduced demand, which was the case in North America, for example. On the other hand, sales actually 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. In 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
What also plays a role is the fact that 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 midrange models, while Samsung and LG are more dominant in the premium television segment. The latter is also reflected in the 2022 ranking in terms of turnover achieved from sales. Samsung is still the 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 that Omdia bases its market share percentages on the number of deliveries from manufacturers to stores and not to consumers. At least, Business Korea quotes another expert who says so. If the figures had been based on sales to end users, the picture might have looked slightly different and slightly less favorable for the Chinese manufacturers. In 2022, Samsung and LG are said to have made an adjustment to the number of units they sent to stores to normalize their TV inventory. The Chinese manufacturers had an advantage in that regard: 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.