While some companies are holding press conferences over last year's disappointing HDTV sales, Samsung is celebrating. Apparently, the company is ending the year on a high note -- and they plan to soar even higher in 2012.
According to Reuters, Samsung sold about 43 million TVs in 2011. The company is hoping to hit 50 million this year. That could be a low estimate, considering that the company is planning to introduce cheaper TVs for cost-conscious consumers.
Samsung's move to lower prices will meet a high demand for more affordable viewing options. The report says that lesser known companies such as E-Mart Co. are currently selling TVs for 40 percent cheaper. We've even seen some of these brands take a bite out of TV sales in the U.S. Most notably, TCL HDTVs have spent considerable time in the top 20 of Amazon's Best Sellers chart.
"As long as there's demand, we're open to get into that segment," said Kim Hyun-suk, executive vice president of Samsung's visual display division.
Kim says that Samsung has been studying the market, with plans to introduce those cheaper HDTVs within the next two months. Of course, the company isn't planning to abandon its premium models just yet.
In fact, Samsung just introduced the ES8000, which is being touted as the company's most premium-filled model yet. Besides 3D and web support, the ES8000 features voice, motion and face recognition functions. Samsung expects to start selling 46- and 65-inch sizes in South Korea first, before going global in March.
Samsung's success and lofty goals are quite the contrast to other current manufacturer news. Earlier this week, we reported that Panasonic, Sony and Sharp had announced total losses of $17 billion for the year. Besides weak consumer demand and other obstacles, the companies also cited competition from Samsung as one of the factors that contributed to the poor year.
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