Samsung leads global smart TV market

Samsung retained its leadership in the global smart TV market in the final quarter of 2013, according to research from Strategy Analytics.

Amid a competitive holiday season, Samsung accounted for 26.4% of the market share, with the company’s nearest competitor, LG, following with a 14.4% share of the market.

Sony came in third place with 14.3%, and Panasonic in fourth (7%).

“As smart TV becomes a more standard feature in TVs, dictated by both the vendors’ desire to raise ASPs and consumers’ desire to future-proof their big ticket purchases, smart TV market shares will begin to more closely resemble that of the overall flat panel TV market,” said David Watkins, director of connected home devices, Strategy Analytics.

“We see this fluctuation sorting itself out among the Japanese vendors which came to the segment early and fast-growing vendors like TCL.”