Samsung's revenues number one in most Middle East and African countries with a 26.9% market share in the UAE

Ashraf Sajid, General Manager, AV division, Samsung Gulf Electronics said:

"Samsung is doing well in the Middle East and Africa because we have won the trust and hearts of the high-end consumer segment through strong technology and design know-how, luxurious displays, powerful brand image, and premium marketing that appeals to local consumers. We will continue to step up our marketing campaign to further strengthen our position as the most powerful leader in the TV market in this region."

According to Asia-Pacific GfK report (LCD TV MS status in 1H 2008), Samsung topped the LCD TV market both in terms of units and revenue in most Middle East and African countries. According to the report Samsung enjoyed a market share by volume of 26.9% in the UAE and 40.8% in Saudi Arabia.

In the Middle East and African LCD TV market Samsung achieved a phenomenal 163% growth rate during 1H of 2008 to become the top seller with 23.6% market share.

"The Middle East's remarkable economic growth and booming freehold property market have generated unprecedented demand for new consumer electronics products," added Sajid. "The rapid shift toward digitisation in the audio-video segment has meant that LCD TVs are a must have for consumers."

Samsung became the first company to capture at least 20% of the market share for LCD televisions.

It has led the market for the eighth straight quarter since Q3 2006.

Sales volume during Q2 2008 marked the second biggest after 4.947m of Q4 2007.

During the first half alone, the company sold more than 9m units putting itself closer to its annual sales goal of 18M units.

Based on the sales revenue, Samsung recorded $4.6bn or 23.9% of the market surpassing 22.2% of the previous quarter.

This gives the company higher than 20% of share both in terms of volume and revenue.

The sales revenue of $4.6bn is a record amount.

Samsung ranked top in Q2 sales revenue share with 23.9% followed by Sony (17.0%), LG Electronics (9.6%), Sharp (9.2%) and Philips (8.8%).

This remarkable performance was thanks to the strong sales of the premium 'Crystal Rose' Full HD LCD TV which sold 0.5m units during 2Q alone.

Meanwhile, Samsung was the only company that increased its unit share from the previous quarter to 18.3% among the top five players in the North American market where TV competition is the fiercest.

Thanks to the strong growth in the LCD TV market, Samsung ranked top in the total TV market in Q2 with 17.4% of unit share (8th in a row) and 22.8% of revenue share (10th in a row).

Unit share in the total TV market during Q2 was led by Samsung with 17.4% followed by LG 13.3%, TCL with 7.2%, Sony with 7.0% and Panasonic with 5.9%. Revenue share was also topped by Samsung which achieved 22.8% followed by LG (11.5%), Panasonic (8.4%) and Sharp (6.8%).

Samsung maintained 20% plus share for the 2nd consecutive quarter after 20.7% in Q1.