South Korea's tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. solidified its position as the No. 1 TV seller last year with a strong market share for its products across the board, data showed Thursday.

Samsung took up 40 percent of the world's market for 60-inch and wider TVs in the fourth quarter of 2013, up from 34.7 percent a quarter earlier, the data by market researcher DisplaySearch said.

The number beats the combined market shares of rival players such as Japan's Sharp and Sony and the U.S.'s Vizio, which held comparable figures of 15.9 percent, 11.6 percent and 11.9 percent, respectively, over the cited period.

Samsung's market share also marked a sharp increase from the 31.4 percent posted in the January-March period, when Sharp's figure was 32.9 percent.

For all 2013, Samsung accounted for 36 percent of the large-screen market, trailed by Sharp with 21.2 percent. Vizio and Sony took up 11.4 percent and 9.9 percent, respectively.

Industry watchers expect Samsung to continue its strong market presence on the back of its Ultra HD line-up, one of the highly anticipated sectors in the global display business this year.

The tech behemoth had rolled out a series of UHD TVs at the U.S. Consumer Electronics Show last month and also launched the world's first curved-UHD TV at home last week.

Samsung held 14.9 percent of the global UHD TV market in the fourth quarter of 2013, quickly narrowing its gap with the top UHD player Sony, which commanded 18.2 percent.

Samsung also outperformed its rivals around the globe last year in flat-panel TV sales to retain its top place for the eighth consecutive year. The company is estimated to have sold some 49 million units of flat-panel TVs in 2013. (Yonhap)