Samsung Electronics, the world’s No. 1 flat-screen TV maker, said Tuesday that it led the North American TV market in the first half of the year on the back of rising demand for high-end TVs.

Samsung Electronics’ first-half market share for digital TVs stood at 35 percent in terms of value of the units sold in the U.S. and Canada to maintain its status as the region’s top seller for a sixth straight year since 2006, the company said, citing data compiled by NPD Group, a U.S.-based market researcher.

The Seoul-based company’s market share in the North American TV market by sales came in at 25.3 percent, also topping the list of TV makers.

Samsung Electronics’ market share in the region’s flat-screen TV market stood at 35.4 percent in terms of value.

The electronic firm’s sales of 3-D TVs and LED TVs also ranked first in the region with a market shares of 44.1 percent and 54.5 percent, respectively, it said.

Samsung said its dominance of the North American market is expected to continue as demand for its premium TVs remains strong.

Particularly in the North American 3-D TV market, Samsung noted that its market share surpassed 50 percent in terms of both value and units, meaning that one out of every two 3-D TVs in the region were manufactured by Samsung.

Reports of Samsung’s top status in the North American market comes as TV manufacturers are suffering from sluggish sales, with industry watchers and researchers expecting sales to remain almost unchanged from last year at about 210 million units.

Local TV makers, however, have been faring better than expected with high-end televisions with smart functions and mega-sized displays.

By Kim Ji-hyun and news reports  (jemmie@heraldcorp.com)