Samsung’s TV Strategy
Samsung Electronics is about to pick out its TVs to be exhibited at CES 2018 scheduled for January next year, according to industry sources. Potential candidates include those with a screen size of at least 70 inches.
The mainstream at CES 2017 was those ranging from 50 to 69 inches, 65- and 55-inch in particular, as those ranging from 50 to 59 inches were very popular in the emerging markets including the Middle East and China. The 60- to 69-inch TVs functioned as a kind of trendsetting products at the show early this year. Next year, 75- and 65-inch products are likely to take their place.
According to market research firm Witsview, the global average TV screen size was 44.7 inches in the first half of this year, showing a year-on-year increase of 1.7 inches. The average size reached 40 inches in 2013 and is expected to reach close to 50 inches in 2018. At present, the mainstream in emerging markets is 30 to 49 inches and the mainstream of the premium TV market is at least 50 inches.
Samsung Electronics is planning to display advanced quantum-dot technology at CES 2018, too. Last month, the company exhibited a 65-inch ultra-slim curved LCD module at International Meeting on Information Display (IMID) 2017 in Seoul. The LCD module has a thickness of only 4.9 mm thanks to the adoption of a glass instead of plastic light guide plate.
Samsung Electronics is currently reducing the thickness of its TV products to 7 mm to 8 mm by using the LCD module. In addition, the glass light guide plate can be coated with quantum dots as it is and does not require quantum-dot sheet attachment and, as such, quantum dots can be applied in a more advanced way and picture quality can be improved.