For the first time in its history, Samsung Electronics sold more OLED televisions than Mini-LED models, according to data from Omdia.
The report came via The Elec, a Korean-language website, which also said that global Mini-LED TV sales came in lower than OLED TV sales, in contrast to earlier forecasts that the former technology would surpass the latter.
Omdia admitted that it was spectacularly wrong about its prediction last year that Mini-LED TV sales would overtake those of OLED. It said total OLED shipments in 2024 topped 6.8 million units, while Mini-LED came to just over 4.7 million units. It said this was primarily due to Samsung’s unexpected pivot to OLED technology.
According to Omdia, Samsung was initially expected to focus more on Mini-LED, only to instead put its efforts into promoting its OLED televisions.
The world’s number one TV brand had long resisted OLED technology. After making a half-hearted effort to launch RGB OLED TVs in 2012 and 2013, it gave up on the technology and switched focus to Mini-LED, which it markets as Neo-QLED. However, it once again picked up the OLED baton in 2022 with the launch of its first QD-OLED models, and later agreed a deal to purchase millions of WOLED panels from LG Display, enabling it to flood TV stores globally with OLED televisions.
The result is that Samsung is now selling more OLED models than Mini-LEDs. Omdia said its Mini-LED TV shipments fell from 2.3 million in 2022 to 1.7 million in 2023 and then just 1.4 million last year. As for Samsung’s OLED TV shipments, they jumped from 1 million in 2023 to 1.44 million last year, edging out Mini-LED.
It's likely that Samsung will increase its OLED TV sales yet again, for its latest models, such as the S95F OLED TV, deliver some impressive picture quality improvements:
While the popularity of Samsung’s OLED TVs is one main factor behind Mini-LED’s decline, it’s also notable that the company is facing increased competition from rivals such as TCL and Hisense, which sell plenty of very capable, and more affordable Mini-LED models. Some of their premium Mini-LED TVs are actually superior to Samsung’s, with more local dimming zones, yet they often cost less.
Even so, Omdia stands by its forecast that Mini-LED TV sales will surpass OLED at some point, and it could happen this year. The analyst firm said it believes 9.2 million Mini-LED TVs will be shipped in 2025, compared to just 7.1 million OLEDs. That suggests Mini-LED will have quite a commanding lead, so we’ll be surprised if Omdia gets it wrong for a second year.
The caveat to this forecast is that some of those TVs might not be what we would consider to be “true” Mini-LED TVs. That’s because Samsung has labeled some of its inferior, edge-lit televisions, such as the Samsung QN70F and The Frame Pro as being Mini-LED, even though they have nowhere near as many local dimming zones as one would expect from Mini-LED. With fewer zones, the picture quality of these TVs is likely to be subpar compared to traditional Mini-LED models.
