LG, Samsung overtake TCL as global leaders

HONG KONG, Sep 27: South Korea's LG Electronics Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. have overtaken China's TCL Multimedia as the world's top two television sellers in the second quarter of this year, data shows.

LG Electronics' market share for global television unit shipments stood at 11 percent in the second quarter, up from 9.7 percent in the first quarter, thanks to its strong line-up of thin-screen TVs, according to data released by iSuppli Corp.

Samsung -- also a strong player in the market for liquid crystal display (LCD) and plasma TVs -- saw its second-quarter market share rise to 10 percent from 8.6 percent in the previous quarter, it said.

This is the second time TCL, which rocketed to the number one spot with its purchase of the money-losing TV assets of France's Thomson in 2004, has fallen to number three position. Its market share dropped to 9 percent from 11.2 percent.

The first time it lost its ranking as world number one was in the fourth quarter of last year.

TCL's loss in the second quarter resulted from a slowdown in shipments in its domestic market as the Chinese New Year season, which normally boosts sales, ended, iSuppli said.

Global television shipments would rise 5.7 percent from last year to 187.7 million units in 2006, it said.

''The rapid decline in cathode ray tube (CRT) television shipments is rippling through the market as flat-panel TVs become increasingly price competitive,'' Riddhi Patel, principal analyst for television systems with iSuppli, said in the statement.

Demand for digital televisions began to take shape in the second quarter and consumers started to buy more flat-panel TVs in the 40-inch size range, compared with the 27 to 29-inch sector a few years ago, Patel said.

iSuppli estimated that CRT TVs would lose their historical dominance of the TV market in 2009, when they would account for about 42 percent of unit shipments, while LCD TV's share would rise to 47.9 percent.

In the fast-growing LCD arena, Sharp Electronics was the market leader in the second quarter, with 14.5 percent of the market share, followed by Samsung with 14.2 percent and Sony Corp. with 13.8 percent.

REUTERS