14 DAY TRIAL // For months, Samsung has been designated the main manufacturer of LCD panels, and none of the top 5 most active and advanced competitors posed a real threat to the Koreans' position. However, the Korean-Dutch merger of LG - Philips paid off, taking the lead in the LCD screens manufacturers' top 5.
In the first quarter of the year, LG Philips had a growth of 74% compared to the same period last year, thus securing for itself a market share of 2.3%. Samsung's growth, on the other hand, was of only 33.7%, its market share thus becoming 21.1%. In other words, seeing that the difference between these two major players in the LCD panels manufacturing industry is very small, the innovations and offers they will make during summer and especially in the period when kids return to school will decide which company will take the lead and increase its market share.
Even if the main source of income for the LCD manufacturers is still the desktop monitors segment (an annual increase of 38%), the sales of LCD-TV screens have shown a serious increase of about 84% with respect to last year. In other words, the extinction of the CRT technology grows near, and there's little chance of turning back.
The prices of LCDs have decreased with 10% in the first quarter, following a decrease of up to 40% in the second quarter of last year, announces LG-Philips. Taking into consideration these price changes, the company had losses of 78 million dollars, which is far less than previously estimated.