- Samsung’s OLED TVs outsold its Neo QLED (mini-LED) TVs for the first time
- Samsung often prices its Neo QLED close to its OLED TVs
- If price isn’t a factor, OLED seems to be the popular choice
Sales of Samsung‘s own OLED TVs surpassed its Neo QLED (mini-LED) range in 2024, signalling the first time this has happened since Samsung re-entered the OLED market in 2022.
Samsung, maker of some of the best TVs, sold 1.44 million OLED TVs in 2024 compared to 1.4 million Neo QLED TVs, as reported by The Elec (via FlatpanelsHD).
This continues a trend in falling sales of Samsung’s mini-LED TVs where sales peaked at 2.3 million in 2022, before falling to 1.7 million and finally 1.4 million in 2023 and 2024 respectively. Its OLED sales however increased from 1 million in 2023 to 1.44 million in 2024, according to a report from research company Omdia.
Samsung had previously been a strong proponent for QLED and then mini-LED TV over OLED, before returning to the OLED market in 2022 (having briefly dabbled in it over a decade ago), where it introduced QD-OLED to the world with the Samsung S95B TV. Despite this, it still touted mini-LED as the superior technology, and as such priced flagship Neo QLED and OLED TVs at similar levels.
So why is it that Samsung mini-LED sales have fallen and its OLED sales increased?
Price and competition
Samsung’s pricing for its TVs has always been different. Compared with other brands that dabble in both OLED and mini-LED – LG, Panasonic, Sony – Samsung’s mini-LEDs generally are either the same as its OLEDs or even pricier in some cases.
For example, the 65-inch Samsung S90D (its mid-range OLED) costs roughly $1,499 / £1,299 / AU$4,295 at the time of writing, whereas the Samsung QN90D 65-inch, its flagship 4K and one of the best mini-LED TVs is priced at $1,499 / £1,199 / AU$3,995. A lot of people deem OLED to be the more premium panel tech, and yet the two are matched in price – Samsung is the only brand that really does this (though Sony partially does as well).
The Samsung S95D – one of the best OLED TVs of 2024 – has a 65-inch model that costs $2,399 / £1,999 / AU$4,195, and the closest TV we can compare it to (in terms of features and premium specs) is the 8K Samsung QN900D, which costs $2,399 / £2,499 / AU$3,395.
This sales report suggests that if you give consumers the choice between OLED and mini-LED TVs at the same prices, OLED is the preferred choice. This is one reason why Samsung’s sales have changed – but it’s not the only one.
Of course, another factor in Samsung’s reduced mini-LED sales is likely to increasingly fierce competition from brands that undercut it on price – Hisense and TCL offer rival mini-LED TVs that offer similar performance and features at a more competitive, and often aggressively low, price. The Hisense U8N and TCL QM851G were two of our favorite mini-LED TVs in 2024 and they gave Samsung’s sets a real run for their money.
This follows the report that TCL overtook LG in the ‘premium TV’ market in 2024, and this was likely due to TCL’s ability to offer mini-LED TVs with impressive specs at a fraction of a cost of LG’s OLEDs, taking advantage of people’s desire for larger screens without larger prices.
But Samsung’s numbers seem to prove that when the price is equal, people will happily choose OLED over mini-LED. Whether this will be the case in 2025 remains to be seen – perhaps Samsung will balance out its prices by offering cheaper mini-LED, or perhaps some other factor will come into play.
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james.davidson@futurenet.com (James Davidson)
