This Year is Different
We have been tracking Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) Premium TV set pricing since they began marketing Mini-LED/QD sets in 2023 and their OLED lines since 2022. The purpose is to compare the short and long-term pricing trends for particular TV set lines and for a more general view of Samsung’s premium TV set pricing on a year/year basis. This gives us a monthly, quarterly and yearly trend that can help to understand how the company, which is the largest TV set producer globally, views the TV set market at any given time.
On a short-term basis, Samsung has been consistently following pricing pattern trends with both this year’s (2025) line and last year’s, as shown in Figure 1, with both year’s pricing moving in close synchronization. That said, when we compare the rate of change in TV set pricing for the first 90 days that each line was available to consumers, one can see that this year has been quite different than previous years. Each year since the Mini-LED/QD and OLED lines have been available, the price of each set category has declined during the first 90 days of avaialability, except this year, where prices have increased for all Mini-LED/QD categories and remained relatively flat for OLED types. There have been ups and downs, typically holiday based, but the 90 day trend this year is certainly different than in previous years and would indicate a focus for Samsung more toward profitability than unit volume growth, at least in the Mini-LED/QD set lines.
The competition in the Mini-LED LCD TV space has continued to intensify, with Chinese brands, particularly Hisense (600060.CH) and TCL (000100.CH) expanding their lines with larger size models and more aggressive pricing, and with additional help from the Chinese government’s “New for Old” subsidy program, Samsung and other non-Chinese brands face considerable price competition, which tends to push Samsung’s general TV set positioning more toward higher-end premium sets, where there is a bit more margin flexibility.
In the US, Samsung has a considerably better position, with Chinese sets facing higher tariffs limiting competition from Chinese brands, which we expect has given Samsung the chance to keep premium TV set prices higher than normal during the early part of the year. But as the year progresses, Samsung will have to begin the process of bringing down set prices to stimulate sales volumes. If Samsung is to meet its goal of becoming the world’s largest OLED TV vendor, it will be necessary to bring OLED pricing more in line with seasonal norms, and while we are unsure if Samsung has similar goals with its Mini-LED/QD lines, we expect the same pricing issues will exist for those lines.
On a short-term basis, Samsung has been consistently following pricing pattern trends with both this year’s (2025) line and last year’s, as shown in Figure 1, with both year’s pricing moving in close synchronization. That said, when we compare the rate of change in TV set pricing for the first 90 days that each line was available to consumers, one can see that this year has been quite different than previous years. Each year since the Mini-LED/QD and OLED lines have been available, the price of each set category has declined during the first 90 days of avaialability, except this year, where prices have increased for all Mini-LED/QD categories and remained relatively flat for OLED types. There have been ups and downs, typically holiday based, but the 90 day trend this year is certainly different than in previous years and would indicate a focus for Samsung more toward profitability than unit volume growth, at least in the Mini-LED/QD set lines.
The competition in the Mini-LED LCD TV space has continued to intensify, with Chinese brands, particularly Hisense (600060.CH) and TCL (000100.CH) expanding their lines with larger size models and more aggressive pricing, and with additional help from the Chinese government’s “New for Old” subsidy program, Samsung and other non-Chinese brands face considerable price competition, which tends to push Samsung’s general TV set positioning more toward higher-end premium sets, where there is a bit more margin flexibility.
In the US, Samsung has a considerably better position, with Chinese sets facing higher tariffs limiting competition from Chinese brands, which we expect has given Samsung the chance to keep premium TV set prices higher than normal during the early part of the year. But as the year progresses, Samsung will have to begin the process of bringing down set prices to stimulate sales volumes. If Samsung is to meet its goal of becoming the world’s largest OLED TV vendor, it will be necessary to bring OLED pricing more in line with seasonal norms, and while we are unsure if Samsung has similar goals with its Mini-LED/QD lines, we expect the same pricing issues will exist for those lines.
Figure 1 - Samsung 2024/2025 Premium TV Set Composite Pricing Patterns - Source: SCMR LLC, Company Data
In the most recent 30-day period, Samsung’s premium TV set pricing has moved as follows:
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