New reports claim that one of the biggest TV manufacturers in the world, Samsung, is eyeing to ship more than 40 million TVs in 2023. This forecast is to make sure that it cements its top spot in the TV market. While the South Korean giant believes it will be able to reach the 40 million mark, it would be quite a challenge because of the economic slowdown in the category in the coming quarters.
However, Samsung needs to be optimistic despite the adverse conditions to guarantee its leadership in the industry. Out of the projected 40 million TV units, around 39 million units will be Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) TVs, and 1.5 million units are planned for quantum dot OLED (QD-OLED) models.
Like LG, Samsung won't be entering or launching any White OLED (W-OLED) models. W-OLED models are currently only made by LG Display. Samsung will be relying on CSOT, HKC, LG Display, BOE, and AUO for LCD panels for its TVs.
Samsung to give an edge to its Chinese supplier CSOT over BOE for display supply
Among all these suppliers, the Chinese CSOT (a subsidiary of TCL) will be the major one for Samsung, supplying around 10 million units (via TheElec). Samsung is also supporting CSOT more than BOE because of the dispute it has with the latter over marketing agreements. Moreover, Samsung Display, a subsidiary of Samsung, also owns shares in CSOT and sold its Suzhou factory to a Chinese partner earlier. All these favorable buildups definitely give CSOT an edge over other suppliers.
BOE, at one time, was the second-largest supplier of LCD panels to Samsung for TVs. But with the ongoing dispute and other factors, the position of BOE on Samsung's portfolio of suppliers has declined in recent times. Not only the dispute, but Samsung is also looking to diversify its LCD supply because of the hit the TV industry took because of the pandemic.
