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Sharp Plummets from the Top LCD-TV Rank; Samsung now leads

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Sharp Corp. in the fourth quarter of 2006 was toppled from the top spot in the global LCD-TV market, falling to fourth place, down from first in the third quarter, according to a new market share ranking from iSuppli Corp.

Sharp Corp. in the fourth quarter of 2006 was toppled from the top spot in the global LCD-TV market, falling to fourth place, down from first in the third quarter, according to a new market share ranking from iSuppli Corp.

The dramatic shake-up in LCD-TV market share is due to the rapid progress made by Sharp's competitors and their capability to capitalize on declining prices during the holiday season.

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. took Sharp's previous position at the top of the rankings with a 16.8 percent share of LCD-TV unit shipments in the fourth quarter, up from 13.5 percent in the third quarter. Second place belonged to Philips Electronics with 15.1 percent of the market, while Sony Corp. came in third with a 13.1 percent share of unit shipments.

Sharp was fourth with 11.4 percent of the market in the fourth quarter, down from 13.9 percent in the third quarter. Rounding out the Top 5 was LG Electronics Co. Ltd. with a 7.8 percent market share of LCD-TV shipments in the fourth quarter.

"This is a significant blow to Sharp, which had been the dominant LCD-TV seller going into 2006," said Riddhi Patel, principal analyst for television systems at iSuppli Corp. "While its market share had been declining, Sharp had managed to maintain a considerable distance from its competitors. However, this is no longer the case."

The table below and attached presents iSuppli's market share ranking for the Top-5 LCD-TV manufacturers for each of the four quarters of 2006.

iSuppli Table 1: Worldwide Top-Five LCD-TV Market Share Ranking by Quarters in 2006 (Ranking by Percentage of Unit Shipments)

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Source: iSuppli Corp. February 2007

For the entire year of 2006, Sharp was the third-largest seller of LCD TVs with a 13.3 percent share of unit shipments. Samsung took the top spot for all of 2006 with 14.6 percent market share, and Philips ended in second place with a 13.4 percent slice of shipments.

Total shipments of LCD TVs to the North American market in the fourth quarter amounted to 4 million units—a 30 percent increase from the third quarter. Philips led all companies with 17.2 percent of North American shipments. Samsung followed with a 12.4 percent market share and Sharp came in third with 10.5 percent of the market.

Among the Top-10 players in North America, three were value brands, i.e. Westinghouse Electric Corp., Vizio Inc. and Syntax-Brillian Corp. Together, these companies accounted for a total of 21.5 percent market share in the fourth quarter.

The highest-volume LCD-TV size in North America in the fourth quarter was the 32-inch variety, with the 40-to-42-inch dimension coming in second. Of the 4 million LCD TVs shipped in North America in the fourth quarter, 78 percent of them were either XGA or High-Definition (HD) sets.

Looking at the market for all types of televisions, Samsung continued to lead the world in the fourth quarter of 2006, with 11.2 percent of total unit shipments. Samsung had emerged as the No. 1 manufacturer of televisions in the third quarter of 2006, supplanting LG Electronics at the top position.

Philips leapfrogged from the fourth position in the third quarter to second place in the fourth quarter of 2006 by dramatically increasing its LCD-TV shipments. This allowed the company to finish the quarter with 9.6 percent of the overall television market.

Number-three LG in the fourth quarter accounted for 9.3 percent of the market and TCL Corp. came in fourth with a 7.7 percent share. Panasonic (Matsushita Electric) rounded out the Top 5 in the fourth quarter with 5.4 percent of total television unit shipments.

The table presents iSuppli's overall television market share rankings for each quarter of 2006.

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iSuppli Table 2: Worldwide Top-Five Television Market Share Ranking by Quarters in 2006 (Ranking by Percentage of Unit Shipments)

Source: iSuppli Corp. February 2007

The total television market achieved a 19 percent increase in the fourth quarter of 2006 to 56.8 million units, compared to 47.6 million units in the third quarter. LCD TVs attained 48 percent quarter-on-quarter growth in unit shipments while Plasma Display Panel (PDP) TVs posted a 27 percent quarter-on-quarter expansion in the fourth quarter.

"The fourth quarter was great for flat panels because there were fantastic price deals available. This resulted in record sales of flat-panel televisions," Patel said.

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