SAMSUNG’S TV MARKET DOMINANCE TAKES AN ULTRA-HIGH-DEFINITION TURN WITH THE FIRST BEZEL-LESS CURVED 4K SET

BY CALEIGH OSTROM

Even as once-mega sales performers like Sony and Phillips now struggle for TV market share, and have seen fortunes dwindle at the hands of budget makers like Vizio and Linsar, Samsung has surfed the rapidfire changes in home entertainment with real skill. October of last year marked a record high sales month for the South Korea-based company, with $1 billion in North America receipts. Samsung now represents 35% of the entire United States market, and 38% of its Canadian counterpart. It also makes more than half of all North American 4K TVs—a still-small but rapidly growing ultra-high-definition (UHD) sector.

At this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, Samsung revealed its new KS9500 SUHD TV, the world’s first bezelless curved design, using two proprietary technologies—”quantum dots” and “nano crystals”—to deliver enhanced image range and color (the company admitted with a verbal wink, however, that the “S” doesn’t stand for anything in particular and doesn’t demarcate a unique piece of display technology, but is instead simply fun marketing nomenclature).

In fact, the set uses Samsung’s standard LED componentry, but with a unique set of features, most notably that sinuous curve. The crystals are incorporated to expand how many colors may appear in any given micro segment, and how rich they look there. (Sony has an analogous nano crystalline technology it has termed “Triluminous.”) The results represent a real improvement, and, paired with a new Tizen-based TV operating system—which integrates with Samsung smartphones, tablets, and smartwatches—you have a user-interactive and brand-centered entertainment experience that puts Apple TV to shame.