TCL’s LCD TV Shipments Lagging Outside China, April Report Shows

TCL shipped 1.37 million LCD TVs globally in April, a 12.6 percent decline from the 1.58 million it shipped in April 2014, the company said in a Friday announcement. TCL shipped 5.55 million LCD TVs in the first four months of 2015, a 2.6 percent increase from the 5.4 million it shipped in January-April last year, it said. Of the LCD TVs that TCL shipped in April, nearly 500,000 were smart TVs, a 50.6 percent increase from the 328,000 smart TVs it shipped in April last year, it said. Its global smart TV shipments jumped 59.1 percent to 1.67 million in January-April, vs. 1 million a year earlier, it said. TCL shipped 754,000 LCD TVs in China in April, a 10.2 percent decline from the 840,000 sets it shipped there in April 2014, it said. For the year through April, its LCD TV shipments in China climbed 10.7 percent to 2.92 million from 2.64 million in the same 2014 period, it said. But TCL LCD TV shipments outside China are lagging, the company said. For April, they declined 15.3 percent to nearly 620,000, from 732,000, and for 2015's first four months, they were down 5.2 percent to 2.61 million, from 2.76 million, it said. Cumulatively, TCL built a base of 8.19 million “activated smart TV users” globally through the end of April, the company said. Its April roster of activated users jumped 136.4 percent to 421,000, from 178,000, it said. For the year through April, activated users jumped 64.7 percent to 1.44 million, from nearly 877,000, it said.