samsung tft lcd television manufacturer
Samsung Display (Hangul: 삼성디스플레이), formerly S-LCD Corporation (Hangul: 에스 엘시디, Japanese: エス・エルシーディー), is a South Korean manufacturer of OLED panels and formerly a manufacturer of amorphous TFT LCD panels, owned by Samsung Electronics.
The company was established in April 2004 in Chungcheongnam-do, South Korea as a joint venture between Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd (51% share) and Sony Corporation (now known as Sony Group Corporation)(49% share).
S-LCD, as of April 25, 2008, operated with a monthly production capacity of 100,000 seventh-generation amorphous silicon (a-Si) panels and 50,000 eighth-generation panels based on PVA technology,Samsung Electronics and Sony LCD televisions. S-LCD originally had production facilities in both Japan and South Korea. Due to rising costs and an increasing demand from the Latin American market, S-LCD opened production facilities in Baja California, Mexico, where both Samsung and Bravia have large LCD production facilities.
On December 26, 2011, Samsung Electronics announced that it will acquire all of Sony"s shares. On January 19, 2012, Sony sold to Samsung all of its shares of S-LCD for 1.07 trillion Korean won (72 billion Japanese yen) in cash.
2008: Sony and Samsung announce that due to increased demand, a second eighth-generation production line will operate in the S-LCD factory in the second quarter of 2009.Sharp Corporation, in order to compete effectively with Samsung, a task made difficult by their current collaboration.
December 2011: The company"s partners announce that Samsung will acquire Sony"s entire stake in the joint venture, making S-LCD Corporation a wholly owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics.
Samsung Display will stop producing LCD panels by the end of the year. The display maker currently runs two LCD production lines in South Korea and two in China, according to Reuters. Samsung tells The Verge that the decision will accelerate the company’s move towards quantum dot displays, while ZDNetreports that its future quantum dot TVs will use OLED rather than LCD panels.
The decision comes as LCD panel prices are said to be falling worldwide. Last year, Nikkei reported that Chinese competitors are ramping up production of LCD screens, even as demand for TVs weakens globally. Samsung Display isn’t the only manufacturer to have closed down LCD production lines. LG Display announced it would be ending LCD production in South Korea by the end of the 2020 as well.
Last October Samsung Display announced a five-year 13.1 trillion won (around $10.7 billion) investment in quantum dot technology for its upcoming TVs, as it shifts production away from LCDs. However, Samsung’s existing quantum dot or QLED TVs still use LCD panels behind their quantum dot layer. Samsung is also working on developing self-emissive quantum-dot diodes, which would remove the need for a separate layer.
Samsung’s investment in OLED TVs has also been reported by The Elec. The company is no stranger to OLED technology for handhelds, but it exited the large OLED panel market half a decade ago, allowing rival LG Display to dominate ever since.
Although Samsung Display says that it will be able to continue supplying its existing LCD orders through the end of the year, there are questions about what Samsung Electronics, the largest TV manufacturer in the world, will use in its LCD TVs going forward. Samsung told The Vergethat it does not expect the shutdown to affect its LCD-based QLED TV lineup. So for the near-term, nothing changes.
One alternative is that Samsung buys its LCD panels from suppliers like TCL-owned CSOT and AUO, which already supply panels for Samsung TVs. Last year The Elec reported that Samsung could close all its South Korean LCD production lines, and make up the difference with panels bought from Chinese manufacturers like CSOT, which Samsung Display has invested in.
Samsung has also been showing off its MicroLED display technology at recent trade shows, which uses self-emissive LED diodes to produce its pixels. However, in 2019 Samsung predicted that the technology was two or three years away from being viable for use in a consumer product.
A promotional image of a quantum-dot LED TV (Samsung Electronics)Samsung Display, the display making arm of Samsung Electronics, is poised to fully shut down its unprofitable liquid crystal display panel business for televisions in June, after over 30 years of operation.
“(Samsung Display) will terminate its supply of LCD panels in June,” an industry source said Monday. The company has been manufacturing its lower-end panels in Asan, South Chungcheong Province.
The long-awaited move came as LCD TV panel prices have been on a constant decline. This led to greater losses for Samsung Display, while Chinese competitors have been ramping up their dominance in the global industry supported by state subsidies and tax breaks.
LCD TVs are considered lower-end when compared to those using cutting-edge TV components such as organic light-emitting diode panels and quantum dot display panels.
According to market intelligence firm Omdia‘s estimate compiled by Daishin Securities, 43-inch LCD panel prices fell 46 percent from September 2021 to May this year, while that of 55-inch panels and 65-inch panels both declined 34 percent over the cited period.
This marks the end of Samsung’s three-decade LCD TV panel business. Once the largest LCD TV panel supplier in the world, Samsung Display‘s market share has gradually shrunk from 22 percent in 2014 to around 2 percent this year.
Samsung Display had sought to exit the business from before 2021, but has been hanging on in part due to Samsung Electronics’ LCD panel supply shortage.
Choi Kwon-young, executive vice president of Samsung Display, confirmed the company’s full exit from the LCD TV panel business within this year in a first-quarter conference call in April.
Given that Samsung’s LCD TV panel exit has long been anticipated and carried out gradually, Samsung Electronics will “unlikely be affected by Samsung Display‘s LCD panel exit” in terms of its continuity in the LCD TV set business, noted Kim Hyun-soo, an analyst at Hana Financial Investment on Monday.
Samsung looks to pivot to quantum dot display technologies for its TV panel business, using quantum dot light-emitting diodes or quantum dot organic light-emitting diodes.
As for the anticipated collaboration between TV maker Samsung Electronics and the world‘s sole white-OLED TV panel supplier LG Display, Kim of Hana said the launch of Samsung’s OLED TV is unlikely within this year due to prolonged negotiations.
There has been a significant shift in the global display industry lately. Apart from new display technologies, the display world is now dominated by players in Asian countries such as China, Korea, and Japan. And rightly so, the world’s best famous LCD module manufacturers come from all these countries.
STONE Technologies is a proud manufacturer of superior quality TFT LCD modules and LCD screens. The company also provides intelligent HMI solutions that perfectly fit in with its excellent hardware offerings.
STONE TFT LCD modules come with a microcontroller unit that has a Cortex A8 1GHz Standard 256MB. Such a module can easily be transformed into an HMI screen. Simple hexadecimal instructions can be used to control the module through the UART port. Furthermore, you can seamlessly develop STONE TFT LCD color user interface modules and add touch control, features to them.
In this post, we list down 10 of the best famous LCD manufacturers globally. We’ll also explore why they became among the reputable LCD module manufacturers in the world.
Samsung is the world’s largest semiconductor and consumer electronics manufacturer by revenue. The electronics giant is well-known for its smartphones and home appliances, but the company also manufactures LCD, LED, and OLED panels.
The success of this company didn’t come overnight. Samsung worked hard to establish independent product innovation and technology development strategies. All of these undertakings started in the late 1990s and paved the way for the success that Samsung is now enjoying since the 2000s.
Probably the most in-demand and popular display panel product for Samsung is their OLED technology. Most of its current smartphones use their trademark Super AMOLED displays. The technology allowed Samsung’s smartphones to be ultra-thin, with better image brightness, and less energy consumption.
Samsung now produces panels for smart TVs. With their ever-evolving technological expertise and high-quality products, the company shows no signs of slowing down as one of the world’s best famous LCD module manufacturers.
Stone provides a professional product line that includes intelligent TFT-LCD modules for civil, advanced, and industrial use. Furthermore, Stone also creates embedded-type industrial PCs. The company’s products are all highly-reliable and stable even when used with humidity, vibration, and high temperatures.
Stone Technologies caters to a wide range of clients and industries, being among the world’s best famous LCD module manufacturers. The company’s products are used in the following industries:
Originally, LG Display was a joint venture of mother company LG Electronics and the Dutch company Phillips. They dedicated the company to creating active-matrix LCD panels. Another joint venture called LG. Phillips Displays was created to manufacture deflection yokes and cathode ray tubes.
LG Display has risen above the rest because of its world-class module products. Because of this, the company caters to a massive range of famous clients including Hewlett Packard, Apple, Sony, Dell, Acer, and Lenovo. LG Display also creates LCD modules and similar display panels for the company’s television product range.
Innolux Corporation is another famous LCD module manufacturer. This company was established in 2003 and is currently based in Zhunan, Miaoli County, Taiwan.
The company is a well-known manufacturer of display panels in Taiwan. Innolux supplies TFT-LCD and LED panels, open cells, and touch modules for the following products:
What makes Innolux stand out from other LCD module manufacturers is the company’s commitment to its humanistic qualities. Innolux believes that they are in the business to contribute to the well-being and prosperity of their customers. This is then achieved by creating world-class products that satisfy its clients.
Sharp is a Japanese company founded in 1912. It is now based in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture. The company produces various kinds of electronic products including mobile phones, LCD panels, calculators, PV solar cells, and consumer electronics. Sharp has produced TFT-LCD products as early as the 1980s.
For the regular public consumers, Sharp produces a variety of smart TVs and LCD TVs marketed under the Aquos brand. The company’s television line-up boasts of impressively high-quality technology. The TVs are equipped with technologies that support 4K and 8K UHD display, allowing for a great high-resolution viewing experience.
The company manufactures display products for smartphones, computers, televisions, monitors, tablets, vehicles, wearable devices, and medical equipment. Specifically, here are some of the display products that BOE creates:
Sustainability is among the ultimate goals of AU Optronics. The company takes steps to integrate green solutions into their products for more sustainable development. This commitment to sustainability, among other strong qualities, makes AU Optronics one of the best LCD manufacturers in the world.
Most of these products use TFT-LCD panels alongside other technologies to create ultra-high-definition images. Also, modern Toshiba display products incorporate IoT and artificial intelligence for a smarter product experience.
Kyocera is a Japanese LCD manufacturer. The company started in 1959 as a fine technical ceramics manufacturer but gradually added consumer electronics products to its offerings.
The Japanese company acquired Optrex Corporation in 2012. The acquisition paved the way for creating an R&D center and more production, sales, and marketing bases. Hence, Kyocera’s global LCD business boomed even more.
The company also operates factories, R&D centers, and marketing facilities in Asia, the Middle East, Europe, Africa, North and South America, and Oceania continents. Kyocera has a vast worldwide reach that makes it one of the world’s best famous LCD module manufacturers.
To wrap all this up, we listed 10 of the world’s best famous LCD module manufacturers. These are all highly-respected companies that built their reputations and climbed up the ladder of LCD module manufacturing. Their quality products, dedication to their craft, and excellent customer service truly make them among the world’s best display solutions providers.
S-LCD Corporation celebrated completed construction of the world"s largest generation 7 amorphous TFT LCD panel production building in Tangjung, South Korea. The "S-LCD Grand Opening Ceremony" was held with approximately 1,000 guests, including government personnel from both Korea and Japan and personnel from related enterprises. A manufacturing equipment move-in event also took place and was broadcasted for the audience in the ceremony. Mass production is expected to start in the first half of 2005 after production testing.
S-LCD Corporation is a joint venture company that was established on April 26th 2004. It is an equal joint investment* by Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (hereafter Samsung) and Sony Corporation (hereafter Sony) dedicated to the manufacturing of amorphous TFT LCD panels for LCD TVs. The facility boasts the most advanced manufacturing equipment for 7th generation LCD panels, with a production capacity of 60,000 panels/ month. The facility will operate as a major source for LCD panels to both Samsung and Sony.
The LCD panel production building is composed of 4 floors, with a total floor area of 32,000 m2. The module assembly building with a total floor area of 15,000 m2 is also completed. LCD module production from S-LCD will be customized uniquely for Samsung and Sony, with integration of peripheral devices such as back-light and driving circuitry.
S-LCD Corporation will create a stable supply base for amorphous TFT LCD panels for both Samsung and Sony. Its efficient production output will support the development of LCD TV businesses at both Samsung and Sony.
"The cooperation between Samsung and Sony offers an opportunity to lead the rapidly growing LCD TV market and standardization of glass substrate and LCD TV sizes. It is a win-win situation for both companies. We are committed to developing Tangjung Crystal Valley as the center of the world"s display industry and making the joint venture into a success." said S.W. Lee, President and CEO of Samsung Electronics" LCD Business.
"It is a great pleasure to know that the preparations by S-LCD Corporation are progressing smoothly and both Sony and Samsung have great expectations for the beginning of mass-production next year." said Ken Kutaragi, Executive Deputy President and COO of Sony Corporation. "Television is a key product category for Sony. S-LCD panels will be at the core of our flat panel TV strategy, further strengthening our overall vision for television. There is tremendous potential for expansion in the market for digital TVs, and Sony will apply its unique signal processing technology, device technology and design skills to deliver products that allow customers around the world to enjoy varied contents."
Samsung Electronics topped the global TV market for the 15th consecutive year, according to market research firm, Omdia. Newly released data published on February 23 notes that Samsung Electronics recorded 31.8% in global TV market share by revenue in Q4 2020 and retained the largest annual category market share by revenue in 2020, at 31.9%.
Samsung’s growth across the Visual Display Business reflects a commitment to the most premium at-home viewing experiences, coupled with the fast-growing QLED portfolio, category leadership in the ultra large screen segment over 75-inches, the introduction and expansion of a Lifestyle TV portfolio, and a series of industry, category and product “firsts” made possible thanks to Samsung’s constant drive for innovation.
“Consumers use screens every day to entertain, connect with loved ones, work, exercise from home and do much more. And we have seen how different lifestyles and routines have not only evolved, but converged,” said Jong-hee Han, President of Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics. “We continue to be incredibly humbled by the trust placed in our vision and products; it is what drives our relentless pursuit to deliver cutting-edge innovation and a best-in-class screen experience that meets the needs of the modern-day consumer.”
Looking back over the last 15 years, Samsung’s innovation-led growth agenda has incorporated groundbreaking new technologies, while spanning multiple categories, reaching a wide range of consumers and use cases.
In 2021, Samsung expects to maintain its industry-leading market position with the introduction and expansion of core products and by incorporating proprietary technology and features across all TV lineups. This includes Samsung’s new Neo QLED lineup along with Samsung’s MICRO LED, Lifestyle TVs and a company-wide alignment of operations through long-term sustainability programs. Over the next few years, Samsung will also continue to invest in R&D and product development in strategic business areas to strengthen its core and emerging technology offers.
From black and white to color, analog to digital, and digital to smart TVs—Samsung Electronics has been there for all the key historic moments in the development of the television. Over time, Samsung has established itself as a global television leader by applying innovative technologies and staying a step ahead when it comes to identifying global lifestyle trends.
And Samsung’s innovation hasn’t slowed in 2021. Even in the unprecedented era of the global pandemic, the company recorded a revenue-based TV market share of 31.9%1 in 2020. This was the highest figure the company had ever recorded, and means that Samsung has retained its number one spot in the global TV market for the 15th consecutive year. In this two-part series, Samsung Newsroom will explore the legacy of Samsung TVs, which have long been pioneers in the sector.
Samsung released its initial ‘world’s first’ television in 1998 with the launch of its 55-inch projection TV. The company’s initial securing of this title was partially brought about by its helping to lead the global transition from analog to digital television.
Samsung went on to further change the game by releasing its LCD TV in the early 2000s. Around this time the company successfully popularized wall-mountable LCD TVs, leading to the inception of the golden age of LCD TVs. Samsung also launched a 46-inch (116cm) LCD TV—which was then the largest in the industry—and consequently altered the approach of an industry that had not been focused on large-screen TVs up to then. The 46-inch LCD TV, which cost more than USD 13,000 back then, was widely welcomed and helped spur the success of LCD TVs.
The Bordeaux LCD TV, released by Samsung in 2006, is another example that shows how innovation-based, outside-the-box thinking has changed the face of the sector forevermore. Developers began to question the long-term feasibility of thick, heavy, vacuum-tube-based televisions and instead started to dream of TVs that were lightweight and aesthetically sophisticated. The Bordeaux TV was the result, with its sales numbers exceeding one million in the first six months of its release. The Bordeaux TV featured a speaker that was relocated from both sides of the TV to the bottom, and highlighted its sophistication with a crimson color and curved edges. In addition to marking the launch of the Bordeaux TV, 2006 was also the first time in the company’s history that Samsung ranked first in the global television market. The company has continued to hold that position for 15 consecutive years, and still holds it today.
Aiming to provide the absolute best experience to its television users, Samsung has maintained a keen commitment to improving image resolution. In a time of constantly changing lifestyle patterns and an ever-expanding pool of content, true technological innovation remains a primary driving force when it comes to retaining the TV industry’s top spot.
At CES 2009, Samsung introduced the beginning of the LED TV era. The company’s LED televisions used light emitting diodes (LEDs), which are semiconductor-based light sources that emit light when current flows through them, to realize very clear image resolution. About 50 engineers worked for around two years to completely redesign all components of the TV, obtaining more than 3,000 patents as they worked to realize the potential of LED TV technology. The resulting televisions would go on to distinguish themselves by creating a whole new domain for the industry.
Samsung’s QLED TV, which achieved 100 percent color volume for the first time in the industry, is another product that reached the peak of screen technology. In 2017, Samsung released this next-generation television, which was based on quantum dot (QLED) technology. The TV takes quantum dot technology to new heights with advancements in light efficiency, stability and a wider color spectrum. At this time, Samsung emphasized that it would be creating a new standard for the global TV market in accordance with its slogan, ‘The Next Innovation In TV.’
Samsung revealed its 2021 Neo QLED, a whole new display technology, during its First Look event ahead of CES 2021. Neo QLED is underpinned by Quantum Mini LED technology, which features LEDs that are 1/40th the height of conventional LEDs and are precisely controlled by Samsung’s own Quantum Matrix Technology and Neo Quantum Processor, a powerful picture processor with enhanced upscaling capabilities. Thus, Samsung, which has remained a step ahead when it comes to introducing future display technology, continues to lead the global TV sector while further strengthening its unique position in the market.
After leading the global TV market for 15 consecutive years, Samsung’s innovations have come to transform users’ lifestyles and daily routines too. As more and more users gained the ability to handpick the content they wanted to watch, Samsung launched the Samsung TV App Store in 2010. In particular, the app provided a variety of high-quality local content for different countries, which helped to expand viewer pools. By developing the app according to the viewing preferences of each region and accentuating content like sports, movies, and cooking, Samsung helped make the viewing experience more enjoyable and further advanced its leadership.
Samsung has also been offering its Samsung TV Plus2 service since the service’s launch in 2015. Samsung TV Plus is the company’s free Smart TV video service, which provides instant access to news, sports, entertainment and more. The service has now been expanded to 12 countries, bringing access to over 60 million Samsung Smart TVs.
Samsung, which has always been ahead of the pack when it comes to making our societies smarter, will continue to put the users first by allowing them to select what they want to consume and catering its offerings to their tastes. As it continues to demonstrate the power of content, Samsung is planning to further expand its Smart TV experiences by increasing the number of countries where it can provide its services, as well as reinforcing its cooperation with broadcasting companies and content providers from around the world.
2 Samsung TV Plus is currently available in select regions including the U.S., Canada, U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, Korea, Australia, and Brazil. Service availability may vary by region and product.
Samsung’s growth across the Visual Display Business reflects a commitment to the most premium at-home viewing experiences, coupled with the fast-growing Neo QLED portfolio, category leadership in the ultra large screen segment over, the introduction and expansion of a Lifestyle TV portfolio, and a series of industry, category and product “firsts” made possible thanks to Samsung’s constant drive for innovation.
Looking back over the last 16 years, Samsung’s innovation-led growth agenda has incorporated groundbreaking new technologies, while spanning multiple categories, reaching a wide range of consumers and use cases.
In 2022, Samsung expects to maintain its industry-leading market position with the introduction and expansion of core products and by incorporating proprietary technology and features across all TV lineups.
This includes Samsung’s new Neo QLED lineup along with Samsung’s MICRO LED, Lifestyle TVs, including the portable screen the Freestyle, and a company-wide alignment of operations through long-term sustainability programs. Over the next few years, Samsung will also continue to invest in R&D and product development in strategic business areas to strengthen its core and emerging technology offers.
Back in 2016, to determine if the TV panel lottery makes a significant difference, we bought three different sizes of the Samsung J6300 with panels from different manufacturers: a 50" (version DH02), a 55" (version TH01), and a 60" (version MS01). We then tested them with the same series of tests we use in all of our reviews to see if the differences were notable.
Our Samsung 50" J6300 is a DH02 version, which means the panel is made by AU Optronics. Our 55" has an original TH01 Samsung panel. The panel in our 60" was made by Sharp, and its version is MS01.
Upon testing, we found that each panel has a different contrast ratio. The 50" AUO (DH02) has the best contrast, at 4452:1, followed by the 60" Sharp (MS01) at 4015:1. The Samsung 55" panel had the lowest contrast of the three: 3707:1.
These results aren"t really surprising. All these LCD panels are VA panels, which usually means a contrast between 3000:1 and 5000:1. The Samsung panel was quite low in that range, leaving room for other panels to beat it.
The motion blur results are really interesting. The response time of the 55" TH01 Samsung panel is around double that of the Sharp and AUO panels. This is even consistent across all 12 transitions that we measured.
For our measurements, a difference in response time of 10 ms starts to be noticeable. All three are within this range, so the difference isn"t very noticeable to the naked eye, and the Samsung panel still performs better than most other TVs released around the same time.
It"s unfortunate that manufacturers sometimes vary the source of their panels and that consumers don"t have a way of knowing which one they"re buying. Overall though, at least in the units we tested, the panel lottery isn"t something to worry about. While there are differences, the differences aren"t big and an original Samsung panel isn"t necessarily better than an outsourced one. It"s also fairly safe to say that the same can be said of other brands. All panels have minute variations, but most should perform within the margin of error for each model.
This statistic shows the global market share held by TV manufacturers from 2008 to 2019 (measured from shipments). In 2019, Samsung held a share of 17.8 percent of the worldwide TV shipments.
In 2019, Samsung was the market leader in the manufacture of TVs in terms of its share of global shipments. The South Korean company held approximately18 percent of worldwide shipments in 2019, almost five percent more than the share of its closest competitor, TCL Electronics. As a result of Samsung’s continued success in this market, as well as its significant share in the smartphone market, the company’s global revenue exceeded 200 billion U.S. dollars three years in a roll in 2019.
Although Sony remains amongst the largest TV manufacturers, it has seen its market share more than halve from 13.7 percent in 2008 to just 4.2 percent in 2019. Yet LCD TVs remain a key segment, which is the largest sector for Sony in its consumer electronics business segment.Read moreGlobal market shipment share held by LCD TV manufacturers from 2008 to 2019CharacteristicSamsungTCLLG ElectronicsHisenseSkyworthXiaomiSonyChanghongAOC/TP VisionKonkaSharpHaierPanasonicVizioToshibaOthers-----------------
DisplaySearch, & TCL, & IHS. (May 4, 2020). Global market shipment share held by LCD TV manufacturers from 2008 to 2019 [Graph]. In Statista. Retrieved January 24, 2023, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/267095/global-market-share-of-lcd-tv-manufacturers/
DisplaySearch, und TCL, und IHS. "Global market shipment share held by LCD TV manufacturers from 2008 to 2019." Chart. May 4, 2020. Statista. Accessed January 24, 2023. https://www.statista.com/statistics/267095/global-market-share-of-lcd-tv-manufacturers/
DisplaySearch, TCL, IHS. (2020). Global market shipment share held by LCD TV manufacturers from 2008 to 2019. Statista. Statista Inc.. Accessed: January 24, 2023. https://www.statista.com/statistics/267095/global-market-share-of-lcd-tv-manufacturers/
DisplaySearch, and TCL, and IHS. "Global Market Shipment Share Held by Lcd Tv Manufacturers from 2008 to 2019." Statista, Statista Inc., 4 May 2020, https://www.statista.com/statistics/267095/global-market-share-of-lcd-tv-manufacturers/
DisplaySearch & TCL & IHS, Global market shipment share held by LCD TV manufacturers from 2008 to 2019 Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/267095/global-market-share-of-lcd-tv-manufacturers/ (last visited January 24, 2023)
Global market shipment share held by LCD TV manufacturers from 2008 to 2019 [Graph], DisplaySearch, & TCL, & IHS, May 4, 2020. [Online]. Available: https://www.statista.com/statistics/267095/global-market-share-of-lcd-tv-manufacturers/
Once upon a time, there were just a handful of shows, there was only a choice between two stations, NBC and CBS, and televisions sat on the floor in huge cabinets with poor picture quality.
With all of the changes and advances in television technology, the companies who make television sets have come and gone. The wave of change in the industry seems to be moving faster and companies that were household names just a decade ago are gone now.
Since technology is a global industry, it’s not surprising that the United States has slid so far in comparison to some other countries that are leading the way. There is only one television set producer in this list that’s an American company.
A true leader in not only television technology, Samsung Electronics is the world’s second-largest manufacturer of consumer electronics by revenue. Samsung makes cellphones, batteries, tablet computers, memory chips, televisions, and more. This South Korean company has a place in almost every home in one way or another.
One of the reasons Samsung does so well in the television market is because they’re experts at screens. Not just television screens but also tablets, phones, and computer screens. They’ve taken this market to a new level with thinner and better quality screens.
But that’s not all they’re known for. They also have created incredibly thin LCD panels so screens can be larger and lighter weight. Then there is curved display technology and they’ve even created a flexible display. Interestingly, in 2020 they announced they were leaving the LCD business behind.
And we’d be remiss if we only focused on the screens; it was Samsung who introduced internet TV to the market in 2007 and later rolled out the Smart LED Tv.
Sony has been a leader in televisions for a long time. This Japanese company first became well-known in the United States in the 1950s with a transistor radio. By 1959 they had introduced the TV8-301, the world’s first all-transistor television. Their televisions went through popular names like Trinitron, WEGA, BRAVIA.
Sony held the number one market share in the global television market for decades but finally lost that title in 2006. Even though they seemed to be doing well, there were some struggles.
Another South Korean electronics company, LG Electronics is part of LG Corporation and they are also widely diversified. The parent company has four business units: Home Entertainment (which includes televisions), Mobile Communications, Home Appliances Air Solutions, and Vehicle Components.
It was the acquisition of Zenith, a huge name in television sets, in 1995 that gave them such a head start in the field. Since 2008, they’ve maintained the world’s second-largest LCD television manufacturing position.
In 2007 LG introduced NetCast Entertainment Access, which was their version of an internet-capable television. They later renamed it to the LG Smart TV and added more interactive services.
Panasonic is a popular television brand to customers in the United States but you might be surprised to stop in at Best Buy and find that you’re unable to purchase or even locate a Panasonic television.
That’s because in 2016 this Japanese television giant stopped selling TV sets in the United States, including ceasing all sales with their major distributor, Best Buy.
Not only do they sell electronics, but their sales of Li-ion auto batteries are also very well-known. But while they were focused on other products, their plasma television sets began to fall out of favor and their TV division suffered.
Hisense Group is one of the lesser-known television set producers on this list but they’re still a huge force in the industry. Hisense is a Chinese state-owned company focused on large appliances and electronics.
This company also got its start making radios and debuted in 1969. Their first television model, the CJD18 was produced in 1978 and they earned the right to sell televisions in the United States in 2015.
At that time, they sold televisions in the United States under the brand name of Sharp, which is probably why Hisense is not a household name; people in the U.S. know them as Sharp.
Even so, Hisense is still a global leader in television sales and if you’re in the market for a television, you might now see Hisense televisions in your favorite big box stores under their actual brand name, not the Sharp name.
Chinese company Skyworth sells television and audio-video products and invests in properties. They have a broad base, but they are very well known in other countries for their television capabilities. This is another one of those Chinese companies that doesn’t have much recognition in the United States, but that may change.
In 2017 Skyworth opened its first American corporate branch office in California. Skyworth was planning on shipping smart TVs to the U.S. market in 2020 but the pandemic interrupted that business plan. They are hoping to make an impact in the U.S. market in 2021 with a lineup of OLED smart televisions and LED-backlit LCD TVs.
a long history in the television business, so it may become a very well-known brand within the next few years. They might even earn a higher spot on this list.
TCL is a well-known producer of television sets in the United States. They claim to be America’s fastest-growing television brand and the second-largest TV manufacturer in the world. They sold more than 32 million television sets across the globe last year alone.
TCL, a Chinese-owned company, has taken a vertical integration approach. That means that they make every component that goes into their television sets. Most other companies take a different approach, pulling together different components from different outsourcing companies.
In 2007 Vizio was the largest LCD television seller in North America, which was good for them because the plasma market was beginning to fail. This was further emphasized when Vizio announced they would stop making plasma televisions in 2009.
Poised to enter the smart TV realm, Vizio’s offering was SmartCast TV which let users control their televisions from a tablet or mobile app. By the next year, 2017, they relaunched their smart TV offering to include apps already on the screen of the television set.
Kristin Kizer is an award-winning writer, television and documentary producer, and content specialist who has worked on a wide variety of written, broadcast, and electronic publications. A former writer/producer for The Discovery Channel, she is now a freelance writer and delighted to be sharing her talents and time with the wonderful Zippia audience.
In 1991, a business unit called Samsung Display was formed to produce the panels used in products made by its parent company, Samsung Electronics. Afterward, it was a leading supplier of LCD panels not just for Samsung Electronics but for other companies in the industry as well.
The business received a stay of execution when the pandemic led to a global surge in demand for consumer electronics, but that demand is now declining, and projections aren"t good for LCD panel revenue.
Add to that the fact that emerging technologies like QD-OLED are the future for TV and monitors, and the case for keeping Samsung Display"s LCD business going becomes a hard one to make.
It was previously reported that Samsung planned to sunset the business at the end of 2020, but The Korea Times claims that the faster-than-expected falloff in consumer demand accelerated the timeline.
Samsung Display will now focus heavily on OLED and quantum dot. Most of the employees working in the LCD business will move to quantum dot, the publication claims.
The Korea Times has accurately reported similar stories like this before, but it has also occasionally missed the mark, so keep an eye out for an official statement from Samsung.
Even if there isn"t a statement about a change in direction, the writing has been on the wall for Samsung"s LCD business. Unless something radical changes, it"s more a question of when than if at this point.
The C2 represents the pinnacle of picture quality at a price that"s admittedly high, but not too crazy. It beats any non-OLED TV on this list, including the Samsung QN90B below, with its perfect black levels, unbeatable contrast and superb off-angle viewing. It also has superb gaming features, making it the perfect companion to an Xbox Series X or S, PlayStation 5 or both. The C2 comes in a variety of sizes as well, although the bigger models are expensive.
Looking for a high-end TV with spectacular image quality, but don"t want an OLED? The Samsung QN90B is your best bet. This TV uses QLED TV tech augmented by mini-LED for a brighter image than any OLED TV. The spectacular contrast of OLED still won out in our side-by-side tests, but the QN90B QLED screen comes closer than ever.
Samsung is the brand that sells more TVs than anyone, and one of its most popular is the Q60 series. Its sleek QLED screen design stands out compared with the other TVs on this list -- even though the ultrathin OLED models are sleeker -- and it offers better features, image quality and more sizes than models like the TCL 4-Series and Sony X80K. The TVs listed in this article are all superior values, but if you want a Samsung TV and can"t afford the QN90A, this is a great choice.
In our reviews, OLED TVs, which use organic light-emitting diode technology, have always had better picture quality than LED TVs, which are basically LCD TVs that use LED backlights. The main reason is that OLED TVs can produce a perfectly dark shade of black with no stray illumination of blooming, which leads to better contrast and pop. LED TVs can get brighter, however, and usually cost less than OLED TVs.
At CNET our favorite is Roku for its simplicity, but different systems like Google TV, Amazon Fire TV, Samsung and LG have different strengths, in particular for voice commands. In any case, we don"t consider the built-in smart TV system that important because you can always connect a streaming device to any TV.
That’s what we found in our analysis of more than three years of Consumer Reports’ TV ratings. Our crack team of statisticians looked at prices and CR’s test results from March 1, 2019, through March 1, 2022, for a number of leading TV brands sold in the U.S. The results are shown in the charts below, broken out by screen size, which is the first factor people usually consider when shopping for a television.
As you can see, TVs from LG, Samsung, and Sony earned top scores in our testing across just about every size range. And generally, sets from these companies cost more than their competitors’ TVs.
The takeaway, however, remains the same: Though it’s sometimes tempting to buy a much cheaper TV, especially during big sales events, you could be accepting a trade-off in quality. And you might not have to pay much more—or even any more—to get a better television.
The average price figures we show are a bit higher than the average for all big TVs on the market. That’s both because the largest sets carry a premium and because CR tends to purchase a lot of expensive, high-end sets. That allows us to test the latest features, such as Mini LED backlights in LCD/LED TVs, which can help boost contrast and reduce halos, and high dynamic range (HDR), which can produce brighter, more vibrant images.
We test these flagship models from all the brands, but with major brands there is a much greater difference in pricing between the least and most expensive sets they offer. For example, for TCL there’s a $600 difference between the cheapest ($700) and priciest ($1,300) 75-inch TVs in our current ratings. With Samsung, that difference is dramatic: $1,900. (See the best big-screen TV bargains for sets 70 inches and larger.)
You’ll see that Sony, Samsung, and LG top the list in terms of average Overall Score and average price. Given their high average scores, sets from any of these TV brands might be worth considering. Sony TVs tend to be expensive in part because the company, like LG, now offers OLED TVs, which tend to cost more, but also because it exited the budget TV market. The takeaway for shoppers is that a premium set from Sony might not be more expensive than a premium set from a competitor—the company just doesn’t compete in lower performance tiers.
This has become a popular screen size for people looking for a large TV. And you’ll see that LG, Samsung, and Sony top the list in average Overall Score and average price here, as well. One reason for the fine showing by both LG and Sony is they offer OLED TVs that have consistently been at the top of our ratings. Samsung’s top QLED (and Neo QLED) TVs have also done very well in our ratings, and the best of those sets now rival OLED TVs in performance. All these sets tend to be pricy.
In this size category, we again see much greater differences in pricing between the least and most expensive sets from major brands than from smaller players. For example, there’s a $600 difference between the cheapest ($400) and priciest ($1,000) 65-inch Hisense TVs in our current ratings. With Samsung and Sony, that difference is a whopping $2,400. One reason for Samsung’s large spread is the debut of itsfirst QD OLED TV ($3,000), which is now in our ratings (though it arrived too late this year for our statistical analysis). Sony TVs tend to be expensive in part because the company offers several OLED TVs, which tend to cost more, and because it stopped making lower-end LED/LCD sets. (See the best 65-inch TVs under $1,000.)
As in the 70-inch size category, Hisense, TCL, and Vizio appear to be good options for those on tighter budgets. Their better-performing sets tend to be pricier but still less expensive than comparable TVs from LG, Samsung, and Sony. Hisense has the best balance of price and performance of the group. But given the wide differences in performance and price between the best- and worst-performing models within these brands, you should look at specific models to determine the best value.
Average prices go from a low of $342 (for Toshiba, which makes Fire TV Edition sets sold at Amazon and Best Buy) to a high of $1,034 (Sony’s average). As we note above, Sony focuses on higher-priced sets, and both Sony and LG’s average prices are pulled up by their OLED sets—these TVs can look great, but they tend to cost more than all but the very best LED/LCD models.
Two years ago, Vizio began offering OLED TVs, but that hasn’t yet had a big impact on its average price, because the majority of its sales are still less expensive LED/LCD TVs.
For those shopping for a TV in this size range, CR’s analysis shows that Samsung, Sony, and LG again tend to have the highest-performing TVs—along with the most expensive ones.
There aren’t a lot of surprises—Sony, Samsung, and LG offer the best performance. The least expensive of these brands is LG, but Insignia also emerges as an especially attractive option, given its average price and an Overall Score just a point away from LG’s. In Insignia’s case, the average price is actually below several brands’ that have lower Overall Scores.
You may notice that Samsung is missing from this size category; there weren’t enough tested models in our analysis this year for it to be included. It’s the only brand in our current ratings that offers 32-inch 4K TVs with HDR, but those sets are more expensive, and consumers don’t seem to want to pay for the higher resolution in sets this small. Samsung does offer a number of less expensive HD sets, which are in our ratings. Shoppers seem to buying based on price rather than brand.
As you can see in the chart, with Samsung absent, along with Sony, LG becomes the clear top brand based on performance, and its average price isn’t all that much higher than prices on other brands.