TCL aiming to enter Korean QLED TV market?

Entry level QLED taking off

by Andy Bassett
TV News

4

TCL aiming to enter Korean QLED TV market?
China’s largest TV maker, TCL, looks to have been getting its trademark ducks in a row as it prepares to launch its QLED TVs for South Korean consumers.
Reports on the Business Korea website indicate that TCL has filed an application to register a ‘TCL QLED’ trademark with the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO). If there are no objections, then the company can sell its TVs using that branding.

If TCL does indeed have their eye on expanding into the Korean TV segment, it will most likely be at the mid to entry level end of the market. Perhaps emboldened by their recent rise to become the top selling TV manufacturer in the US - considered a premium TV market - with a market share of 26.2 percent versus Samsung’s 21.8 percent, they now feel able to take on Samsung in their own backyard.

Additionally, information analyst specialists, IHS Markit, recently presented figures demonstrating TCL’s overall global penetration has seen it rise to 10.8 percent share in the first quarter of 2019, behind Samsung and LG with 18.8 percent and 12.8 percent respectively.

Samsung’s current domestic near-monopoly as a seller of QLED TVs in South Korea is accompanied by a premium image for the product and some industry commentators wonder whether the lower price and brand recognition that TCL has will undermine the perception of the Samsung QLED as a higher quality product.

In fact, further data from IHS Markit demonstrates that the QLED TV market is expanding, particularly at the entry level end where sales of sub US$1000 QLEDs rocketed by a factor of 17 in Q1 of this year. In addition, the proportion of lower priced QLEDs that make up the total QLED sales has leapt from 1.9 percent to 12.9 percent and is expected to grow to 14.6 percent later in the year.

Samsung’s response to the trademark application was the following statement from Kim Hyun-seok, president of the CE Business Division at Samsung Electronics, who said, "Samsung Electronics does not plan to monopolize the name of QLED as it is a general term and we welcome if other TV companies release products based on the same technology.”

He further added, “Many Chinese companies are researching and developing QLED TV technology, but we are confident that we are ahead of them and will compete with them through technology differentiation in the future."

TCL are continuing to grow and make a name for themselves. How do AVForums members see the brand? A good balance of features and price or too entry level? Have you got a TCL TV and if so what are your thoughts? Let others know in the thread.

Source: www.businesskorea.co.kr
Image Source: YouTube/TCL

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