LG welcomes more rivals entering OLED TV market

LG Electronics, the dominant No. 1 company in the organic light-emitting diode TV market, said Wednesday it welcomes more tech firms, including its archrival Samsung Electronics, entering the fast-growing OLED TV market.

Ahead of the official release of its 2023 TV lineup, LG held a press briefing with a group of local reporters at the company's research and development campus in Seoul and boasted its confidence in the quality of its OLED TV products.

“As observing an increasing number of tech firms’ desire to jump into the OLED TV business, it’s worthwhile that we have been pursuing the premium TV market with OLED TVs for 10 years,” LG Electronics' home entertainment product planning division leader Baik Seon-pil said.

“The key business in the premium TV market ended up being OLED and we’re proud to have led the trend. … We welcome competitors joining the business in terms of expanding the size of OLED market,” he added.

LG introduced OLED TVs to the world in 2013, overcoming a variety of technical difficulties and much skepticism from industry experts. It has dominated almost 60 percent of OLED TV sales globally, shipping about 15 million units as of the end of last year, according to the company, citing data from global market researcher Omdia.

“LG Electronics was the only firm that saw the potential of OLED TVs 10 years ago. We’ve been leading the OLED TV market for a decade and established our position as a premium market leader,” said Jung Jae-chul, the senior vice president at LG Electronics who also leads an R&D lab.

“There are currently 21 OLED TV brands around the globe in line with customers’ strong preference for the products. LG Electronics was right (to kick off the OLED TV business). We’ve been changing the way customers watch TVs completely by providing new experiences to them,” he added.

In celebration of the 10th year of launching its first OLED TVs, the tech giant looks to create a synchronized screen experience that perfectly fits everyone's taste and lifestyle under the vision of “Sync to You, Open to All.”

It is looking to cement its leadership in the premium TV market with the upcoming 2023 TV lineup, which includes the new OLED evo TVs. Comprised of 29 TV models in seven series, the industry’s largest lineup will be released both at home and abroad, starting Monday.

While its crosstown rival Samsung is bracing for its grand comeback to the OLED TV market after a decadelong hiatus on Thursday, the global industry is paying keen attention to whether LG will keep its dominant position in the market.

"LG's only competitor is the TVs we make today," Baik said. Based on its accumulating experience and expertise in OLED TV-making technology, LG aims to expand the proportion of its OLED TV sales by more than 35 percent this year from the previous year's 4 million units in shipment, he explained.

The brand-new LG OLED TV model’s price here will range from around 3.19 million won ($2,420) to 9 million won depending on size.