What was unthinkable 10 to 20 years ago, has been reality for quite some time now: Not Japanese but Korean electronics companies are dominating the TV hardware market. American market research firm DisplaySearch says regarding shipment value, Samsung has maintained its position as the leader in the global flat-panel TV market last year. And another Korean company is becoming stronger, too.

Samsung now commands a market share of 23.3% (up 0.2 points from last year) in the flat TV segment, which – under DisplaySearch’s analysis – includes LCDs, plasmas and even OLEDs for some reason (the picture shows Samsung’s 40-inch OLED TV prototype).

And for the first time, another Korean electronics company, LG, has managed to climb up the ranking to reach the second position: With 12.4% market share, LG (+2 percentage points) is now on par with Sony (whose share fell 2.9 points). According to DisplaySearch, 2005 was the last year Sony was on top of the TV market.

The research firm says both Samsung and LG have benefited from strong price competitiveness and the weaker won. Apparently, the Korean companies were also more successful in selling LED-backlit TVs last year, an area in which the big Japanese makers (namely Sony, Panasonic and Sharp) are lagging.

Via The Nikkei [registration required, paid subscription]