Global TV shipments in the first quarter hit the highest for a first quarter since the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to market research firm TrendForce on the 21st, global TV shipments from January to March came to 47.12 million units, up 3.3% from a year earlier. First-quarter shipments were the highest for the same quarter in six years since 2020.
The first quarter is traditionally an off-season for the TV market, and demand itself did not increase due to reduced trade-in subsidies in China, but shipments rose as TV makers moved to secure inventory in advance to ease expense pressures from a sharp rise in memory chip prices.
By company market share, Samsung Electronics ranked first with 19.1% (9 million units). Shipments increased 4% from a year earlier.
Next, China's TCL narrowed the gap with Samsung with a 16.3% share (7.68 million units), posting an 11.3% year-over-year increase in shipments. TCL is pursuing an aggressive strategy by expanding its business in North America and emerging markets and strengthening promotions for mini light-emitting diode (LED) TVs and large-size products.
China's Hisense ranked third with 15.1% (7.1 million units, up 3.8%). LG Electronics was fourth with 12.1% (5.7 million units, up 5.6%).
TrendForce projected that global TV shipments for the year will total 194.2 million units, down 1% from the previous year.
TrendForce said, "Some brands that had focused on small and mid-size TVs are gradually shifting to mid- to large-size models over 65 inches to reduce expense burdens from rising memory prices."