Global TV unit shipments (both HD and lower formats) grew 7 percent quarter-to-quarter and 3 percent year-to-year to 45.5 million units, according to DisplaySearch, which has released numbers for the third quarter of 2006.
Samsung led the global market in Q3 on both a unit and revenue basis. (The South Korean maker has gained revenue share for the past six consecutive quarters.) It was tops in units sold in Europe, and runner-up in North America and the rest of the world.
"Average" TV prices were up 25 percent Y/Y to $548 as flat-panels continued to increase share overall. But sequentially, prices were down 3 percent as LCD prices fell 8 percent and plasma was down 7 percent Q/Q, in order to stimulate demand. But TV revenues were up 28 percent, rising about 4 percent Q/Q to $24.9 billion.
Regionally, China was up 17 percent in unit sales to 9.4 million, while North America was up 8 percent Y/Y to 9.3 million. DisplaySearch said "this rapid growth more than offset weakness in Europe and Japan, which were down 16 percent and 7 percent Y/Y, due to unrealized World Cup expectations and channel inventory concerns." Every TV technology type experienced Q3 sales declines in Europe and Japan, the market research company said, which is not uncommon.
