Competition in the global TV space will remain fierce in 2018 as vendors will unveil new OLED, QLED, 8K and other models to grab a greater share of the market, according to industry sources.
Shipments of OLED TVs have been gaining momentum in 2017 as more brands such as Sony have joined LG to promote such models. Total OLED TV shipments are expected to reach 1.5 million units in 2017 and further increase to 2.5 million units in 2018, said the sources.
On the other hand, sales of QLED TVs, as promoted by Samsung Electronics, TCL and Hisense, have been flat in 2017, particularly in the high-end segment.
While QLED makers have used QuantumFilm to improve the external quantum efficiency of QLED TVs, this process, which requires the use of a backlight unit (BLU), has increased the overall thickness of QLED TVs, which is a disadvantage as compared to OLED models, indicated the sources.
However, QLED makers and upstream QuantumFilm suppliers are jointly exerting efforts aiming to bring down the production cost for the film materials, which is likely to help ramp up QLED TV shipments in 2018.
In addition to OLED and QLED TV models, new models made of micro LEDs and 8K displays look to become competitors in the market sooner or later. While market speculations have indicated that Apple is developing micro LED display products, Samsung is also likely to unveil its micro LED TVs at the upcoming CES 2018 at the earliest, indicated the sources.
Meanwhile, Sharp has launched 8K TVs in China, Taiwan, Germany and Japan, and a number of vendors are likely to follow suit to release 8K TVs in 2018, the sources added.
Samsung is expected to lead rival vendors with total TV shipments reaching 43 million units in 2017. The Korea vendor will continue to serve as the top vendor in 2018 with shipments totaling 42 million units as the company will focus more on larger-size, higher-margin models.
TCL, Hisense and Sharp will be the three major players to see their TV shipments increase significantly in 2018. Sharp is expected to ramp up its TV shipments to 12 million units in 2018, up from 9.4 million units estimated for 2017.
Sharp is expected to ramp up its TV shipments in 2018.
Photo: Shihmin Fu, Digitimes, December 2017
