A Samsung television set on display at a Costco warehouse in Sacramento, California. (Photo by Matthew Keys for The Desk)
Global television shipments increased 3.6 percent year over year in the second quarter of 2026, reaching 48.8 million units, according to new research from Omdia.
Television unit demands was influenced by the FIFA World Cup tournament over the smmer and the timing of Amazon Prime Day, both of which helped offset difficult market conditions tied to consumer inflation and tightening memory supply, Omdia noted.
China remained the largest drag on the global market: TV shipments in the country fell 15.1 percent year over year after local stimulus programs ended. Developed markets were stronger during the quarter, with Western Europe up 9.5 percent and North America, home to two of the three World Cup host countries, up 4.7 percent.
Emerging markets also posted stronger growth — shipments increased 14.5 percent in Eastern Europe and 12.8 percent in Latin America and the Caribbean, spurred largely by Chinese brands flooding those markets with cheaper TV sets.
Memory supply constraints had only a limited effect on Q2 shipment volume, partly because brands continued promoting older product lines and using existing inventories of lower-cost memory. But Omdia said constrained supply and rising memory prices are likely to put upward pressure on TV prices this year. The firm also expects brands to move further away from lower-resolution sets and toward 4K models, as lower-capacity memory products face tighter supply.
Mini LED adoption accelerated during the quarter, accounting for 13 percent of global TV shipments. Samsung and LG Electronics expanded their Mini LED lineups and lowered entry price points, increasing competition with Chinese brands like TCL and Hisense.
The LG booth at StreamTV Show in Denver. (Photo by Matthew Keys for The Desk)
TCL led global Mini LED TV shipments in the first quarter with a 30.2 percent share. By the second quarter, Samsung had moved from third place to the top position, reaching a 28.2 percent share.
Competition also intensified in RGB LED TVs, where shipments reached 295,000 units in Q2. Hisense dominated the category at the start of the year with a 77.2 percent shipment share, while China represented 88.8 percent of the market. By Q2, Hisense’s share had fallen to 42.9 percent as Samsung and Sony gained ground.
“Prominent promotion of RGB LED TVs during the World Cup has undoubtedly helped increase consumer awareness of the technology,” Matthew Rubin, the Research Manager of TV Set Research at Omdia, said in a statement. “As adoption grows, RGB LED will increasingly compete with OLED in the premium segment.”