US sanction against Chinese firms to benefit Samsung and LG
LG to defend No.2 spot from TCL
US sanctions against Chinese companies, especially Huawei and TCL, is set to benefit their South Korean rivals Samsung and LG.
US’s Department of Homeland Security was reviewing sanctioning TCL, according to Reuters. Acting Secretary Chad Wolf told the Heritage Foundation that TCL was installing backdoors on its TVs and violating user privacy and leaking datas.
TCL denied the allegations. It said it has received no notification related to a US government investigation against it. The Chinese company said its TVs old in the US uses operating systems of Roku or Google. It was updating the security systems of its TVs with these partners, TCL added.
TCL is at the tails of LG. According to Omdia, TCL ranked second in the second quarter in the global TV rankings based on shipment. It had a market share of 12.7%, while LG had 9.8%. It marked the first time that TCL has surpassed LG in shipment.
But increased sanctions against the company, level to that of those imposed against Huawei, may allow LG to regain the shares it lost.
Sanctions against TCL will be a critical blow to the company as it sells more TVs in the US compared to China. According to Omdia, US accounted for 36.6% of TCL’s total TV shipment from the first quarter to the third quarter this year. China accounted for 27.8%.
Last year, Samsung ranked top in TV shipment with 44.1 million units, followed by LG Electronics’ 25.6 million units and TCL’s 20.4 million units, according to Omdia.
In smartphones, Samsung has benefited from the ban against Huawei. In September, US government’s sanction that prevents Huawei from procuring components made with US technology without government approval went into effect.
According to CounterPoint, Huawei had a market share of 20.2% in smartphones, slightly surpassing Samsung’s 20%. But in the third quarter, Samsung controlled 22% while Huawei had 14%. In October, Samsung had 31% while Huawei had 11%.
Huawei’s share is expected to fall further going forward. Last month, the company sold its Honor sub-brand, which will further decrease its market share.