Though the big theme at this years’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) was ultra HD displays, but last year’s CES zeitgeist is just starting to take off in the consumer market. Smart TV technology is beginning to become standard for nearly all new TVs sold in established markets, and a new report has provided a breakdown of all the manufacturers that are benefiting.
The report, out from market research firm Strategy Analytics, shows that Samsung is leading the smart TV market by a wide margin. The firm estimates that the Korean company increased its global market share by 1% year-over-year to stand at 26.4% during the all-important fourth quarter 2013. Samsung is followed closely by fellow Korean manufacturer LG, which increased its market share 2.5% last year to stand at 14.4% during the fourth quarter, and Sony which held onto 14.3% of the market despite a 1.4% year-over-year drop.
The entire flat-panel TV market shows a similar breakdown of market leaders. As of the fourth quarter 2013 Samsung leads the market with 21.1% and LG follows with 13%. Chinese company TCL followed next with a 7% market share, though Sony is following close behind at 6.2%. TCL last month announced a partnership with Roku to manufacture smart TVs.
“Samsung and LG have done well in growing their overall FPTV [flat-panel TV] market shares while also refreshing their line-ups with more high value-added products like Smart TVs that have slowed ASP [average sale price] decline at these two companies,” said Eric Smith, analyst for Connected Home Devices at Strategy Analytics. “Not coincidentally, both companies witnessed a surge in Smart TV market share in the same period.”