Samsung leads 4K TV shipments | 4K/UltraHD | News | Rapid TV News
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By mid-2015, more Samsung 4KTV sets were sold than any other brand says Parks Associates research.

The data found that the Korean CE giant accounted for 28% of 4KTV purchases made within the last 12 months to US broadband households. Of the remaining brands, 17% of consumers who purchased a 4KTV in the past 12 months bought an LG, 13% bought a Sony, and 11% purchased a Vizio.

The firm also found that Best Buy was the leading retailer, capturing more than 40% of 4KTV purchases.

"For both flat-panel purchasers and the sub-group of 4KTV purchasers, 44% made the purchase after seeing the product for a good price, so the major purchase motivator for flat-panel and 4KTVs was not substantially different," said Barbara Kraus, director of research, Parks Associates.

"However, 11% of 4KTV purchasers were motivated to buy after learning about the TV's features, compared to 3% of flat-panel TV purchasers."

Parks reported that 19% of US broadband households intend to purchase a flat-panel TV set by the end of 2015. Roughly 40% of those households are looking for a 4K TV set, which is approximately 7.5% of US broadband households, while 42% of US broadband households indicate they are not familiar with 4K technology. Parks Associates reported that low familiarity, low willingness to pay premium prices, content concerns and a cooling market for flat panels in general all present challenges to 4K.

"More consumers value other attributes, including smart TV capability, built-in Wi-Fi and high resolution audio, over 4K picture quality,” Kraus said. "Content availability remains a key inhibitor to 4K adoption. We expect to see lower cost 4K TV technologies presented at CES 2016, along with 4K Blu-ray players and media, as well as OLED and high dynamic range (HDR), to drive new growth in this market."

Parks also discovered that a full 56% of US broadband households planning to buy a flat panel in the next 12 months consider smart capabilities to be important, versus 39% who value 4K picture quality.