Samsung retains top spot in U.S. premium TV market in Q1

SEOUL, May 18 (Yonhap) -- Samsung Electronics Co. of South Korea remained the top seller of premium TVs, including those with liquid crystal displays (LCD), in the United States in the first three months of this year, far outstripping Sony Corp., a market researcher said Monday.

Samsung Electronics' market share stood at 26.9 percent in the January-March
period in terms of the number of TV units sold. Japan's Sony had 14 percent,
according to the market research firm NPD.
LG Electronics Co., also a Korean firm, trailed with 8 percent.
In terms of U.S. dollars, Samsung increased its market share up to 34.3 percent
followed by Sony, which also increased its share to 19.9 percent. LG Electronics'
market share dropped to 8.2 percent.
Samsung also led the liquid crystal display (LCD) TV market, with 26 percent of
unit volume share during the period and 34.6 percent of retail sales dollars,
beating Sony by more than 10 percentage points in both.
It was also the leading seller of 40-inch and larger plasma-display projection
(PDP) TVs.
Despite a severe recession, 4.52 million digital TVs were sold in the U.S. in the
three-month period, up 29 percent from a year earlier, according to NPD.
ygkim@yna.co.kr