SAN FRANCISCO—Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. held on to the top spot in the global LCD-TV market in the second quarter, partly due to a surge in shipments of its LED-backlit sets, according to market research firm iSuppli Corp.
Samsung's worldwide LCD-TV shipments for the second quarter amounted to 5.7 million units, up 12 percent from the first quarter, iSuppli said. It was the largest unit increase of all LCD-TV brands during the quarter, according to the firm.
The 12 percent growth gave Samsung a market share of 18.5 percent, iSuppli said.
"Samsung in the second quarter was very aggressive in introducing and marketing LCD-TVs that featured LED backlights," said Riddhi Patel, iSuppli's principal television analyst, in a statement. "This put Samsung at the forefront of this fast-growing technology trend, helping to boost the company's sales during the period."
Worldwide shipments of LCD TVs with LED backlights rose to 604,000 units in the second quarter, up 75 percent from 345,000 in the first, iSuppli said. Shipments of such sets are expected to rise by 170 percent in the third quarter and by another 20 percent in the fourth quarter, the firm said.
For all of 2009, shipments of LCD-TVs with LED backlights are predicted to reach 4.5 million units, up by more than 10X from 438,000 in 2008, according to iSuppli. By 2013, shipments will rise to 98.8 million, accounting for 42.5 percent of the global LCD-TV market, the firm predicts.
Global LCD-TVs shipments rose to 30.7 million units in the second quarter, up 14.1 percent from 26.9 million in the first, iSuppli said.
According to iSuppli, trailing Samsung among the global LCD-TV leaders in the second quarter were: LG Electronics (11.5 percent market share), Sharp (9.6 percent), Sony (9.1 percent) and Philips (6.5 percent).
Earlier this month, iSuppli reported that Vizio Inc. maintained the leadership position in the LCD-TV market in the U.S. in the second quarter, though the firm said Samsung closed the gap significantly.
ISuppli is offering for sale a report titled "New Features Keep LCD-TV Momentum Going" through the firm's website.
