[Digital Times, Kim Eun] The market share of smart TVs in the global TV market this year is expected to exceed 60%. Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are leading the growth of related markets by incorporating voice recognition, artificial intelligence (AI), and content on smart TVs.

According to market researcher IHS Markit and the electronics industry on December 26, the portion of smart TVs in the global TV market this year is expected to account for more than 60% of the total. The proportion of smart TVs in the overall market has increased from 13% in 2011 to 35.3% in 2013 and 47% in 2016. Smart TV refers to a digital TV that uses various operating systems (OS).

Samsung and LG are leading the growth of smart TV. Samsung Electronics` total TV sales volume is expected to exceed 70% for the first time this year. Samsung Electronics` smart TV sales ratio has been growing year by year since its first launch in 2011, with 32% in 2012, 47% in 2014 and 65% in 2016.

Therefore, Samsung Electronics has increased the number of smart TV alliance contents from about 1,000 to about 3000 this year, and plans to apply `Bixbee`, an AI speech recognition technology, to smart TVs next year. A Samsung official said, "We will use TV as a key device to connect household appliances and automobiles together with family hub refrigerators and Samsung AI speakers."

Meanwhile, LG Electronics is using OTT (Over The Top) technology to operate a channel plus service that allows users to watch broadcasts and movies on the Internet without a set-top box. In Korea, it has secured 54 channels and plans to expand it to 58 by this year. It also provides a service for viewing terrestrial super high definition (UHD) broadcasting from last month to next March.

Besides, recording function is added to the `Magic Zoom` function which can enlarge a certain part of the broadcast screen, and when the user connects the TV with contents stored in a removable storage disk (USB) or external hard disk with a 360 degree camera, Allowing 360-degree content to be viewed.

"The alliance of TV manufacturers and content producers will spread even more to provide diverse content as the demand for smart TVs grows," an industry expert stated.

According to the IHS, Samsung Electronics ranked first with 37.9% and LG Electronics second with 12.5% of global smart TV market share last year followed by Sony with 8.4%, Vizio with 5.9% and Philips with 3.4%.


By Kim Eun silverkim@


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