Samsung Mini-LED – The Party’s Over…Almost
We have been tracking Samsung’s (005930.KS) new line of Mini-LED/QD TVs closely, with the goal of understanding how accurately Samsung priced the sets when pricing was first announced in May. As we have noted previously, Samsung began a series of price reductions within a week of the release and has continued that trend, at least until now. As we also noted, LG Electronics (066570.KS) released pricing on its cadre of Mini-LED/QD sets last week, which we believe gave Samsung a reference point from which to adjust set pricing again.
In the case of Samsung’s 8K Mini-LED/QD sets, prices have now increased since our last check on 6/25 for all models other than one, the largest (85”) high-end model, which was also the only 8K Mini-LED/QD model that had not seen any price reduction from its initial price. We would expect that Samsung was holding out as long as possible on the initial price until it had a comparable from LG, which came out at $6,500, 27.8% lower than Samsung’s price. While Samsung has raised prices on most other 8K/4K Mini-LED sets currently, they dropped the price on the top of the line 8K 85” Mini-LED/QD set by $1,500 to $7,500, but still $1,000 above LG’s equivalent. The other sets in Samsung’s 8K line, which consists of two 75” and two 65” models, have all seen price increases between 3.4% and 18.2% since our last check. Whether Samsung is adjusting set price due to higher costs or to narrow the price gap between its 8K and LG’s 8K models is an unanswered question, but the trend has certainly changed.
In the case of Samsung’s 8K Mini-LED/QD sets, prices have now increased since our last check on 6/25 for all models other than one, the largest (85”) high-end model, which was also the only 8K Mini-LED/QD model that had not seen any price reduction from its initial price. We would expect that Samsung was holding out as long as possible on the initial price until it had a comparable from LG, which came out at $6,500, 27.8% lower than Samsung’s price. While Samsung has raised prices on most other 8K/4K Mini-LED sets currently, they dropped the price on the top of the line 8K 85” Mini-LED/QD set by $1,500 to $7,500, but still $1,000 above LG’s equivalent. The other sets in Samsung’s 8K line, which consists of two 75” and two 65” models, have all seen price increases between 3.4% and 18.2% since our last check. Whether Samsung is adjusting set price due to higher costs or to narrow the price gap between its 8K and LG’s 8K models is an unanswered question, but the trend has certainly changed.
Samsung 8K Mini-LED/QD 900/800 Series Set Pricing - Source: SCMR LLC, Company Data
All but two models in Samsung’s 4K Mini-LED/QD line have also seen price increases, ranging from 3.7% to 23.1% from our last check, which is a bit surprising given that they were equal to or slightly lower than LG’s equivalent 4K sets. This would indicate that Samsung is taking into consideration the cost of LCD panels, which continues to rise, and is passing on that cost to consumers. We expect that mini-LED production costs have declined a bit over the last few months but we are still in the relatively early stages of Mini-LED production and competition,, which will keep price pressure on Mini-LED backlight prices going forward.
As we have noted, we were surprised that Samsung priced its 8K and 4K Mini-LED/QD sets as high as they did in May, but lower pricing from LGE seems to have helped to push them toward more reasonable pricing. That said, a more direct analysis of the Mini-LED/QD line vs. more standard backlight/QD models is needed to determine how much of a premium Samsung has baked into the Mini-LED line. That said, the series of price reductions that Samsung undertook was likely to pull in as many sold units as possible before the end of the 2nd quarter so the company could use that as a talking point going forward. We doubt they will give much granularity as to sales of the Mini-LED/QD line in the 2Q conference call, but any detail will help to map out price elasticity of the Mini-LED product.
As we have noted, we were surprised that Samsung priced its 8K and 4K Mini-LED/QD sets as high as they did in May, but lower pricing from LGE seems to have helped to push them toward more reasonable pricing. That said, a more direct analysis of the Mini-LED/QD line vs. more standard backlight/QD models is needed to determine how much of a premium Samsung has baked into the Mini-LED line. That said, the series of price reductions that Samsung undertook was likely to pull in as many sold units as possible before the end of the 2nd quarter so the company could use that as a talking point going forward. We doubt they will give much granularity as to sales of the Mini-LED/QD line in the 2Q conference call, but any detail will help to map out price elasticity of the Mini-LED product.
Samsung 4K Mini-LED/QD - 90/85 Series Set Pricing - Source: SCMR LLC, Company Data
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