Samsung Dominates TV Market But Sees Profit Drop

Samsung held on to the top spot among global television brands in the first quarter of 2007, accounting for nearly 12 percent of global television sales, according to a new report from iSuppli Corp. LG followed with 11 percent, TCL Corp with 8 percent, Philips with 7 percent and Sony with 5 percent. "Samsung is maintaining its leadership by leveraging its flat-panel television shipments while continuing to ship large numbers off CRT TVs to developing nations," Riddhi Patel, principal analyst for television systems at iSuppli, said in a statement. The company led LCD-TV shipments again as well, with a 17 percent market share in the first quarter. LCDs are gaining popularity because of lower pricing on flat-panel televisions and a lack of consumer interest in CRT TVs, according to iSuppli. Though Samsung's LCD division saw a revenue increase of 17 percent, the company today announced that second-quarter net profit fell 5 percent from a year ago due to price declines on its computer memory chips.