Losing Competitiveness

Major products except semi-conductors are losing global market shares with Chinese manufacturers supplying competitive products at low prices.
Major products except semi-conductors are losing global market shares with Chinese manufacturers supplying competitive products at low prices.

The global market shares of Samsung Electronics’ non-semiconductor business items such as TVs, smartphones and display panels have been on the decline for years with Chinese manufacturers supplying competitive products at low prices.

According to industry sources, Samsung Electronics posted a share of 20.1%, down 1.3 percentage points from a year ago, in the global TV market in the first quarter of this year. The market share, which exceeded 20% for six years in a row until last year, is estimated to fall below 20% this year for the reason mentioned above. Meanwhile, the market share of Chinese TV manufacturers like TCL and Hisense exceeded 30% for three years in a row until last year. Early this year, TCL, the third-largest TV manufacturer in the world, unveiled an 8K QLED TV to which artificial intelligence is applied as in Samsung’s product.
 

In the global smartphone market, Samsung Electronics’ share fell from 21.4% to 18.9% during the same period. For reference, its market share had amounted to 28.6% in the first quarter of 2013. In the meantime, Chinese smartphone suppliers are nipping at the heels of Samsung with sophisticated design and advanced camera features. For instance, Vivo is going to unveil its NEX next month. This product has a bezel width of merely 1.8 mm on the upper side and 4.3 mm on the lower side and the screen-to-main body ratio amounts to 99%. For reference, the ratio is approximately 85% in Samsung’s newest flagship Galaxy S9. Two months ago, Huawei unveiled the P20 Pro, the first triple camera phone in the industry.
 

In the display panel market, Samsung Electronics’ share dropped from more than 20% to 13.2% from 2015 to the first quarter of this year. Chinese display panel manufacturers are planning to build at least 19 additional plants in their home country by 2022 for manufacturing of 8th-generation and above panels.

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