In the past two years, the performance of the television market has been less than optimistic. According to data from Lutu Technology, global TV shipments in 2023 reached 201 million units, a decrease of 1.6% compared to 2022, marking the lowest total in nearly a decade. Among them, global OLED TV shipments totaled 5.48 million units, a decrease of 20.6% compared to the previous year. Meanwhile, Mini LED TVs, one of the most widely accepted high-end television technologies in the market, saw steady growth with shipments reaching 4.25 million units, a year-on-year increase of 24.7%.
Against the backdrop of declining OLED TV sales while Mini LED continues to rise, one can't help but wonder if Mini LED stands a chance to surpass OLED technology. In this regard, Lutu Technology predicts that the growth of Mini LED TVs in 2024 will expand to reach 6.59 million units, and by 2025, the figure will exceed 10 million units. As for 2024, global OLED TV shipments are expected to reach 6.4 million units, a 17% increase compared to the previous year, according to Lutu Technology. Nevertheless, this forecast indicates that for the first time, Mini LED TV shipments will surpass those of OLED.
Industry insiders believe that this could have a certain impact on LG, Sony, and Samsung. According to the data, Sony, LG, and Samsung dominate the majority of the market share, with the combined shipment volume of the three companies accounting for 85.5% in 2023, an increase of 3.5 percentage points from 2022, with LGE accounting for 55% of the shipments.
For domestic manufacturers, this could represent a new opportunity for overtaking in the fast lane. Over the past two years, Mini LED TVs have become a focal point for many manufacturers, with almost all major brands launching flagship products featuring this technology in an attempt to stimulate market demand for upgrades.
At the same time, some manufacturers have begun to gradually lower the prices of such products in order to accelerate the popularization of Mini LED technology. For example, Xiaomi TV, as noticed by insiders, recently launched pre-sales of its new S Mini LED series at this year's AWE flagship event, offering two sizes: 55 inches for an initial price of 2799 CNY and 65 inches for 3499 CNY. Moreover, Xiaomi has recently announced the pre-sale prices for the 75-inch and 85-inch models of its S Mini LED TVs, at 5499 CNY and 7999 CNY respectively.
With Xiaomi TV leading the charge in popularizing Mini LED TV products, many domestic brands are poised to accelerate their own Mini LED product deployments, with the opportunity to surpass foreign brands. In recent years, fueled by the rapid development of mobile internet technology, smartphones and other consumer electronics have occupied the majority of people's time. It's undeniable that there's a shift in people's demand and purpose for TVs. The TV industry is undergoing a period of adjustment as competition from alternative electronic products continues to rise, gradually diverting the functionalities of TV products. The competition across multiple categories for consumers' "time and space" is an inevitable trend, which will drive TV products towards higher-end technologies. In this process, domestic brands have the opportunity to comprehensively surpass foreign brands with Mini LED technology.
