Samsung TVs – The Gift That Keeps On Giving
We have noted that Samsung’s (005930.KS) Mini-LED/Quantum Dot TV line struck us as being a bit on the expensive side, especially when compared to TCL’s (000100.CH) Mini-LED TV line, but apples-to-apples comparisons are hard to make given the number of features available to each model. That said, we have also noted that Samsung has already begun to discount a portion of the new TV line, and in some cases more than once, with the most recent reductions being during the last 24 hours. While this is a bit unusual given that a number of the sets have only been available for a few weeks and display and component costs have been rising quickly, the fact that Samsung has been so aggressive toward TV pricing would indicate that they priced the new line too high and that they are searching for price points where the new models become more attractive to consumers.
The discounts vary across the line but of the 32 models in the 2021 offering, 18 (56.25%) have seen a change in price thus far and 10 (31.25%) have seen two price reductions, while one model (3.13%) has seen three price reductions. Looking at just the 15 models that feature both Mini-LED and quantum dots (includes both 8K and 4K sets), 3 (20%) have seen one price reduction, 8 (53.3%) have seen two price reductions, and 1 (6.7%) have seen 3 price reductions, meaning 80% of the models with Mini-LEDs and quantum dots have seen at least one price reduction. Finally, looking at just those sets that feature both Mini-LED and Quantum Dots but are 4K resolution, all 5 have seen at least one price reduction.
In this last set of price reductions Samsung began lowering the price on what would be considered low to mid-priced 4K QD TVs for the first time, albeit making small reductions between 3.7% and 6.7%, but some of the more feature-rich sets have seen total reductions as high as 24.0%, with the average reduction among the Mini-LED/QD sets being 14.9%, and among just those with quantum dots -7.5%. We believe these offerings are particular to targeted Samsung.com customers and don’t always show up on popular CE product sites such as Best Buy (BBY), but are likely available to any customer that inquires. That said, as the US TV market has been the strongest globally for the last few quarters, we expect Samsung assumed that strength would carry through much of the new line, but we still believe that Samsung was overly aggressive toward pricing in the US this year, particularly with its Mini-LED sets, and is now bringing in pricing to more reasonable levels.
The discounts vary across the line but of the 32 models in the 2021 offering, 18 (56.25%) have seen a change in price thus far and 10 (31.25%) have seen two price reductions, while one model (3.13%) has seen three price reductions. Looking at just the 15 models that feature both Mini-LED and quantum dots (includes both 8K and 4K sets), 3 (20%) have seen one price reduction, 8 (53.3%) have seen two price reductions, and 1 (6.7%) have seen 3 price reductions, meaning 80% of the models with Mini-LEDs and quantum dots have seen at least one price reduction. Finally, looking at just those sets that feature both Mini-LED and Quantum Dots but are 4K resolution, all 5 have seen at least one price reduction.
In this last set of price reductions Samsung began lowering the price on what would be considered low to mid-priced 4K QD TVs for the first time, albeit making small reductions between 3.7% and 6.7%, but some of the more feature-rich sets have seen total reductions as high as 24.0%, with the average reduction among the Mini-LED/QD sets being 14.9%, and among just those with quantum dots -7.5%. We believe these offerings are particular to targeted Samsung.com customers and don’t always show up on popular CE product sites such as Best Buy (BBY), but are likely available to any customer that inquires. That said, as the US TV market has been the strongest globally for the last few quarters, we expect Samsung assumed that strength would carry through much of the new line, but we still believe that Samsung was overly aggressive toward pricing in the US this year, particularly with its Mini-LED sets, and is now bringing in pricing to more reasonable levels.
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