Samsung Paces World Q1 LCD TV Shipments

By Greg Tarr -- TWICE, 6/14/2007

El Segundo, Calif. — Samsung had a comparatively strong first quarter in global LCD TV shipments, while Philips saw its market share drop, according to a global category ranking from market research firm iSuppli, based here.

The research firm said all of the global top five LCD TV brands suffered seasonal declines since the fourth quarter of 2006, but Philips was hit the hardest in the period, relative to the other top five brands.

Philips Electronics saw a 26 percent slide in sales from the fourth quarter of 2006, causing it to fall to third place in the market, down from second in the fourth quarter of 2006, iSuppli said.

Overall, global LCD TV shipments declined to 13.99 million units in the first quarter, down 8 percent from 15.2 million in the fourth quarter, as is typical for the season.

All the top five LCD TV brands experienced sequential declines in shipments during the first three months of the year, iSuppli said.

“However, Philips of The Netherlands fared the worst among these companies, with its shipments dropping to 1.7 million units, down from 2.3 million in the fourth quarter. Philips’ global LCD-TV market share dropped to 12.2 percent in the first quarter, down from 15.1 percent in the fourth quarter,” according to a statement issued by the market research firm.

Andrew Murray, iSuppli display systems senior director, attributed Philips’ performance to a lack of direct control over its panel shipments.

“Philips continues to pay the price for its lack of direct control over the supply of its LCD panels,” said Murray said. “The company clearly has a close relationship with panel supplier LG.Philips LCD Co. Ltd. — but it doesn’t have total control, making it hard to get the favorable delivery and pricing terms enjoyed by some of its competitors.”

Sony also underperformed the market in the first quarter, with a 13.7 percent decline in shipments, allowing the Japanese company to claim the No. 2 position from Philips, while Philips dropped to third place, iSuppli said.

Samsung, meanwhile, outperformed the market with a 7 percent sequential decline in shipments. Samsung’s LCD TV shipments declined to 2.4 million, down 7.3 percent from 2.5 million in the fourth quarter, iSuppli said. Company market share rose to 16.8 percent, up from 16.7 percent in the fourth quarter.

Samsung continues to outperform because it has good control over its production costs and is very aggressive in its marketing campaigns, Murray added.

North American LCD-TV Brand Ranking (Ranking by Unit Shipments)

Q4 Rank	Q1 Rank	Company	Q1 Shipments	Q1 Mkt Share	Q1-Q4 Change	Q4 Shipments	Q4 Mkt Share
2	1	Samsung	445,683	12.21%	-10%	494,950	12.35%
1	2	Philips	420,800	11.52%	-39%	687,463	17.16%
4	3	Sony	412,232	11.29%	18%	350,621	8.75%
3	4	Sharp	392,955	10.76%	-7%	421,141	10.51%
6	5	Vizio	343,704	9.41%	23%	279,021	6.96%
		Others	1,635,895	44.80%	-8%	1,774,085

		Grand Total	3,651,269	100.00%		4,007,281	100.00%

iSuppli Table: Worldwide Top-5 LCD-TV Shipment Ranking For Q1 2007 (Ranking by Unit Shipments)

Q1 Rank	Q4 Rank	Company	Q1 Shipments	Q to Q Growth	Q1 Market Share	Q4 Shipments	Q4 Market Share
1	1	Samsung	2,354,978	-7.30%	16.83%	2,540,777	16.70%
2	3	Sony	1,765,063	-13.70%	12.61%	2,044,435	13.44%
3	2	Philips	1,700,449	-26.00%	12.15%	2,297,944	15.11%
4	4	Sharp	1,581,963	-8.80%	11.31%	1,735,354	11.41%
5	5	LG Electronics	1,093,636	-8.30%	7.82%	1,192,181	7.84%
		Others	5,496,851	1.80%	39.28%	5,400,668	35.50%

		Total Market	13,992,939	-8.00%	100.00%	15,211,359	100.00%