[Video] Samsung TV throughout the Past Ten Years: History of Challenge and Creativity

Samsung Electronics had been leading the TV market with more than 20% share of units for 8 consecutive years by the end of 2013. Just then, its competitors were trying their best to gain the upper hand with lower priced TV models. Against this backdrop, Samsung decided to push ahead with its curved TV lineup, showcasing all of them in its TV booth at CES 2014. Although curved TVs offer a more immersive picture and viewing environment that is much easier on the eyes, no other manufacturers had attempted mass production of large-sized curved TVs back then. Given the circumstances, it seemed to be too much of a gamble for the market leader to take such a risky strategy.

“It is our everlasting goal to continue to provide a more immersive, best-possible viewing experience to consumers,” said Hyun-Suk Kim, President of Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics. “In the near future, our children will describe their TVs at home as something with a curved screen, not the flat one that had long been in use.”

Samsung has been the number one brand in the global TV market for ten consecutive years since 2006, selling over 427 million TVs. Throughout the past decade of its TV manufacturing history, Samsung has acted much more like a start-up meeting risks head on, never slowing down the pace of challenge and creativity.

Challenging the Norm in the TV Industry

In addition to producing a number of world firsts, the company has continued to innovate within the overall technologies and components that enhance the performance and quality of its products. State-of-the-art design has also been a major focus for the company’s TV lineup.

With the 2006 launch of the three million unit-selling R7 (‘Bordeaux’) TV, followed by the ToC (Touch of Color, or Crystal design) TV, the Full HD 3D TV with the world’s first 3D screen, to today’s immersive Curved UHD TVs, Samsung has created products that successfully anticipate, understand and meet consumer needs. Significant industry milestones include the creation of the 29.9mm world’s slimmest TV in 2009, the 110-inch world’s largest UHD TV in 2013 and the 105-inch Curved UHD TV in 2014.

As a result of Samsung’s continuing exploration to find the better ways to enjoy TV, smart TVs became a mainstay in homes around the world. In 2010, Samsung opened the world’s first TV application store and adopted the smart TV user interface – Smart Hub – a year later in 2011. Since then, the company has introduced voice, gesture and facial recognition technology, as well as incorporating the Tizen operating system for improved, intuitive usability and connectivity.

Samsung’s 2016 Smart TVs make it easier for consumers to discover and access all their favorite content and services, from TV and movies to games and program information, all in one place. The Samsung Smart Control remote serves as a single control unit for nearly all devices connected to a Samsung Smart TV, eliminating the need for multiple remote controls. Featuring IoT hub technology, the 2016 SUHD TV can also connect with and control more than 200 SmartThings compatible devices – whether it’s to see who is ringing the doorbell, lock the doors or turn off the lights – all from the TV.

The Launch of the SUHD Era

For the best viewing experience possible, Samsung’s biggest focus has been on improving picture quality—the essential value of TVs. This is well demonstrated in how Samsung has been spearheading the improvements in picture quality of modern TVs; from FHD to UHD, 2D to 3D, smaller to bigger displays, and from the conventional flat displays to curved ones.

The 2015 launch of the SUHD TV was a major contributing factor to achieve the ten-year market leader milestone, enhancing the brand’s overall product line. The popularity of this premium TV range can be attributed to SUHD offering the best possible picture quality, design and connected user experience, enabling consumers to enjoy ultra high definition television in any environment.

At CES 2016, Samsung announced the latest SUHD TV with Quantum dot display – featuring the world’s only cadmium-free, 10 bit panel Quantum dot technology. Quantum dot is a next-generation display material that uses nano-size semi-conductor particles to express dazzling brightness, a broader range of colors and the most accurate color representation of any display material.

Setting the year 2016 as a starting point for the next decade of leadership, Samsung will continue to push the envelope to the limit in order to demonstrate why the company is still in the lead and what its TVs are truly capable of.

“Over the last ten years, our TV sales and rate of innovation have been buoyant and are born from our ongoing desire to offer the best in technology, content and services,” said Hyun Suk Kim. “As we move into a new era, in which the TV experience is more immersive and spectacular than ever, we will not lose sight of the values and consumer understanding that has helped us earn our longstanding market leadership.”