Yoon Boo-keun, president of
Samsung’s visual display division |
By Kim Yoo-chul
Staff Reporter
The global television industry is entering a twilight phase after a year-long saturation period, a top executive of the world's biggest TV maker said Thursday.
"The global television industry is waning after passing through the saturation period. Samsung expects the global TV market to shrink by 12 percent this year from the previous year," Yoon Boo-keun, president of Samsung's visual display division, said in a business forum held in a Seoul hotel.
"We are forecasting the global TV demand to reach $97.5 billion in total by the end of this year from $111.3 billion in 2008 as the prices for LCD television sets have been falling by 30 percent a year since 2006."
Yoon said the rush of LCD TV makers into the LCD TV business brought around such a result, adding that even the industry leader Samsung will suffer from falling profits as the price is the top barometer in gauging profitability.
"But the falling curve is expected to be mild from next year thanks to the increasing demand for LCD TVs with light emitting-diode (LED) backlights," Yoon said.
TVs featuring LED backlights are about one-third thinner than those lit by traditional cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFLs) and have a longer lifespan. They offer more vivid images, with greater contrast and color range.
With LCD models storming the world TV market, attention is heavily being focused on propelling a greener version that needs less power. Samsung is taking up its LED-backlit model named "LED TVs."
Samsung plans to sell over 10 million units of LED TVs in 2010 up from an estimated 2.5 million this year, the executive said.
This year's LED sales forecast comes on top of an initial sales target of 22 million for all LCD sets.
The initial target was below DisplaySearch's forecast of a 15 percent growth in the global LCD TV market, and Samsung had said it would strive to post higher growth.
DisplaySearch said Samsung was expected to have a 59.8 percent global market share in the LED television market in 2009, with Japanese rival Sharp following at 27.9 percent.
"LED televisions reduce energy consumption by up to 40 percent over traditional LCD screens. If every TV in the world switched to LED, we could save 13 million kilowatts of electricity."
Crisis Is Opportunity
Most of the industry's leaders have been mired over falling operating profits in recent years as general consumers cut back on spending amid a weak economy.
Although Samsung was hit by weaker profits during the previous quarter, Yoon said the company's "market share expansion strategy" has paid off.
"We thought the crisis would be a chance to expand our market share in the global market. We were facing difficulties to save our bottom line in the TV business. But the aggressive strategy worked," according to the top executive.
Citing an improved supply chain management (SCM) system, Yoon said Samsung is now capable of introducing the latest display products within four weeks after their development from 16 weeks that was previously required for logistics.
"That's a huge improvement. Strong SCM structure has also helped us lift and maintain Samsung as the global leader," the TV chief said.
Yoon acknowledged that more time would be needed for commercialized ultra-thinner or AM-OLED television models to become profitable as LEDs are the leading force.
Samsung has still been in the development phase of the OLED segment as part of its future TV strategy, according to the executive.
Samsung is the main proponent of AM-OLED screens used in small display screens such as mobile phones and media players.
Japan's Sony launched the world's first AM-OLED TV in late 2007, but has not followed with new models.
LG Electronics, Samsung's home rival in televisions, unveiled a 15-inch television set using AM-OLED technology, the largest commercial model so far, and even promised a 40-inch model in the not so distant future.
yckim@koreatimes.co.kr
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