Mini-LED Update Update

Mini-LED Update Update

Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) has revealed pricing on some of its 2022 Mini-LED/QD TVs.  While these prices might vary between countries, the prices we have seen are for the US.  While we have tracked Samsung’s Mini-LED/QD line pricing throughout the year and noted an overall decline of 27% across the line yesterday, we were surprised that pricing for most of the 2022 Mini-LED/QD models are the same as last year’s initial pricing, having hoped that Samsung realized that perhaps 2022 might be a year when they lowered initial pricing to be more competitive.  There are some mitigating circumstances, such as the continuing component shortages, however LCD TV panel prices have declined significantly since last year and we would expect the cost of Mini-LED backlights to also have declined as capacity expands.
Obviously our view differs from that of Samsung, who is likely more concerned that the Mini-LED/QD line is well-positioned and will not interfere with sales of its other TV products and less concerned with developing the Mini-LED/QD market.  That said, if the starting point for the new line is the same as last year, we would expect the discounting that we have seen for the 2021 models to be repeated with this year’s models.  While we need to fill in a few more gaps for 2022 model pricing and expect new size categories for some models, the pricing trend for Samsung’s Mini-LED/QD line looks to be about the same as last year.