Another TV battle looming

Another TV battle looming

Members of Girls’ Generation pose with LG Electronics’ latest 3D Cinema Smart TV in this recently-released photo. By Yoon Ja-young The war in the TV market between Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics is expected to be fiercer than ever this year. LG Electronics released a new model this month, around a month earlier than usual. It used to sell the previous year’s models at the beginning of the year, but this time seems to be an exception. As Samsung Electronics is also releasing new smart TVs from February, the all-out war over the latest products is soon to intensify. The TV market has some events that the companies shouldn’t miss out on. The London Olympics this summer, often a motivation for households to buy new sets, and the halt of analogue broadcasting, which means people will need digital TVs, are expected to boost the local TV market to around 2.8 million sets this year from 2.3 million last year. Smart TV vs. 3D Most of the latest sets are smart, 3D TVs. However, Samsung is focusing on the smart side while LG is emphasizing its 3D capabilities. “Smart TVs have a lot more to offer consumers. 3D TVs are useless unless there is content to enjoy. We are emphasizing that this content is provided to the customers through a smart TV platform,” a Samsung spokesman said, when asked why his company is emphasizing that TVs are “smarter” in its marketing campaign. As a smart TV senses the motion and voice of the user, the volume, channel selection or Web browser can be controlled without having to touch a remote control. It also enables sharing family photos or birthdays through diverse devices, such as smartphones, tablets or desktop computers. An “evolution kit” can upgrade the TV’s core processor and memory. Samsung won the Best of Innovation Award at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas for its Super OLED TV. LG Electronics is focusing on how it offers a comfortable 3D experience, and that being “smart” is a basic feature of the TV. It announced that the firm became the top player in the 3D TV market last year, but Samsung denies this. It is open to dispute as the local TV market has no official sales data. It is true that LG seems to be on an upward curve. It recorded a 27 percent market share in the 3D LCD TV market of the United States in the fourth quarter, which compares with a mere 8 percent of the first quarter last year. The two manufacturers are expected to compete in the Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLED) TV market as well, which offers brighter and clearer colors. However, each of them are supporting different technologies. LG chose white OLED while Samsung selected red-green-blue (RGB) technology. While Samsung is emphasizing its system offers better quality, LG is likely to enjoy a competitive edge in price.