LG Electronics Accounts for 54%
Global OLED TV shipments arrived at 1.1 million units in the fourth quarter of last year, exceeding 1 million units in quarterly sales for the first time, according to market researcher IHS Markit on Feb. 20.
LG Electronics launched OLED TVs in 2013 for the first time among TV makers. OLED TV shipments grew from 4,000 units in 2013 to 2,514,000 million units in 2018 as other TV manufacturers began to turn out OLED products.
Last year, OLED TV shipments remained stable at the level of 600,000 units per quarter in the first three quarters, and soared 66.5 percent on quarter in the fourth quarter due to increased demand during the peak season. As a result, annual shipments in 2019 reached three million units. OLED TVs’ share of the overall TV market climbed from 1.1 percent in 2018 to 1.3 percent in 2019.
This growth was fueled by LG Electronics. In the fourth quarter of last year, LG Electronics' OLED TV shipments amounted to 598,000 units, accounting for 53.9 percent of the total. LG Electronics' cumulative OLED TV shipments amounted to 5,456,000 million units, accounting for more than 60 percent of the world's cumulative OLED TV shipments of 8,245,000 units.
As the number of companies joining the OLED TV group has increased, LG’s share in the overall market has decreased. But LG is taking the lead in driving up the growth of the OLED TV market while steadily increasing its shipments.
TV industry experts forecast that the OLED TV market will continue to grow based on favorable market responses. OLED panel shipments will increase 50 percent to 4.5 million units in 2020 and reach 6.7 million units in 2021, 9.35 million units in 2022, and 11.5 million units in 2023, IHS Markit forecasts. Accordingly, the proportion of OLED TVs in the overall TV market is expected to top 10 percent in 2023.
Meanwhile, China (33.0 percent) surpassed Korea (32.1 percent) for the first time in 2019 based on OLED shipment volume. The share of Japanese TV companies led by Sony fell from 16.2 percent in 2017 to 12.1 percent in 2020 as they had been pushed down by Chinese TV makers.
In terms of sales-based shares, however, Korea still maintained its top position with a market share of 47.2 percent, up 1.8 percentage points from 2018. China rose by only 0.7 percentage point to 22.3 percent, while Japan stood at 16.6 percent, down 1.9 percentage points from the previous year.