Samsung is still top TV maker says DisplaySearch although Sony has been knocked off the No. 2 spot.
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The Korean make now holds 18.5 percent share of flat panel market in first quarter of 2011, selling almost nine million sets (8.87m).
This is the 21st consecutive quarter in a row that Samsung have done the business although it was followed by another Korean giant LG who reclaimed the number two spot from Sony with 14 percent, with the Japanese make following in third place with 9.4 per cent.
Sony’s sales fell by 2.9 to 4.51 million sets, according to DisplaySearch research.
Both Samsung and LG, who recently launched their 2011 Smart TV range in Australia saw sales jump 0.7 percent and 1.8 percent respectively compared to the previous quarter.
The global flat panel TV market grew 8.8 percent year-on-year selling a total of 47.9 million sets with one in every three sets sold made by Koreans.
This comes as several manufacturers said they expect LCDs to surge in 2011 looking to the Chinese market for boom times, which looks set to be the single biggest global TV market as European and US markets fatigue.
“We see the LCD market tightening and swinging back to a short supply condition in the second half,” Kevin Choi, LG head of TV sales and marketing said at the Reuters Technology Summit in Seoul last week.
“Prices have just started rising and will continue to rise steadily toward the second half as the worldwide panel inventory has now returned to historically normal levels and TV demand tends to pick up in the fourth quarter,” Choi said.
And analysts agree, and are even suggesting market shortages later in the year, believing the latest Smart TV releases are buoying consumer demand.
“TV makers keep updating their 3D and LED-backlit LCD set line-ups and they are now quite likely to trigger strong consumer demand and drive the market into a shortage in the second half,” analyst Jeff Kang, Daishin Securities told Reuters.
Sharp (-0.7) all suffered declining figures as did and Panasonic (-1.7), which now hold fourth and fifth place respectively.
