China raises copycat concerns at CES

Chinese firms challenge Koreans with greater surface similarity

By Lee Min-hyung

LAS VEGAS ― Concerns over copycat issues initiated by Chinese companies are diluting the impact of home appliances displayed by Samsung and LG at this year’s consumer electronics show (CES) fair.

The so-called “copycat concern” is nothing new, as over the past years, Chinese technology companies have tried to steal the limelight at influential international expos by presenting models with great similarity in surface design to those by Samsung and LG with a cheaper price.

This year failed to make a difference, as Chinese tech firms try to entice visitors with their aggressive pricing strategy and the resemblance to surface designs of those by global tech leaders.

Such growing concerns over Chinese copycats are forcing the two Korean consumer electronics giants to remain passive over announcing major product development plans.

Yoon Boo-keun, one of Samsung’s co-CEOs who is also leading the company’s home appliances business, refused to offer a detailed product-development roadmap during a dinner meeting with the Korean media. Rather, Yoon said Samsung is trying to find ways to differentiate itself from others.

CES 2016 kicked off on Thursday (KST) in Las Vegas, with more than 150,000 visitors packing exhibition areas for a peek at technology trends for this year, ranging from the Internet of Things (IoT) and virtual reality to connected vehicles. But as usual, the four-day tech fair was all about televisions.

On the first day of the fair, visitors packed booths featuring large-sized TVs equipped with state-of-the-art technology.

Market leaders such as Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics have differentiated their massive-sized TVs by converging with IoT features.

But the booths of Chinese TV makers such as Hisense, Haier and TCL, though smaller than Samsung and LG, also showcased their up-to-date TVs with their own technology. In particular, Hisense sought to promote its products with an aggressive pricing strategy.

“We have showcased TVs with our proprietary ULED technology,” said an official from China’s state-owned electronics company. ULED TVs can express high dynamic range (HDR) images with a brightness of 1,000 nits using quantum dot display technology, the company official said. “However, our models offer three times cheaper price than OLED TVs,” he added.

The company also prepared a special booth to compare image definition between OLED and ULED, which seemed similar to the naked eye.

TCL, another Chinese TV giant, has been aggressive in promoting its quantum dot ultra-high-definition (QUHD) televisions. An TCL official at the booth said its flagship Xclusive (X1) model comes with key technologies such as HDR expression and 4K resolution.

Haier, the world’s largest white goods company, has also caught attention with its 55-inch UHD television with a thickness of 7.9 millimeters.

“Chinese companies’ technological prowess has significantly progressed, but they still lag behind market-leading companies in terms of image resolution and display thickness,” said an LG Electronics official while visiting the booths of its Chinese rivals.

Global TV market leaders Samsung and LG also unveiled their eye-catching TVs.

Samsung drew attention with its 170-inch quantum dot SUHD TV, the world’s largest.

LG Electronics tried to differentiate itself by holding a special promotion event to show HDR videos in its booth.

The nation’s no.2 electronics company also held a press conference where Kwon Bong-seok, the company’s TV business chief, said, “We do not have any plans to lower the price for our OLED TVs this year.”