Reports: Sharp is no longer the world’s leading maker of the flat-panel TVs

Two market research companies have separately claimed that Japanese consumer electronics maker Sharp has lost its lead in the flat-panel TVs market.

iSuppli Corp. and NPD Group’s DisplaySearch have claimed in their reports that rival companies have now surpassed the Japanese company in unit shipments last year for the first time.

iSuppli analyst Riddhi Patel added: “This is a significant blow to Sharp. While its market share had been declining, Sharp had managed to maintain a considerable distance from its competitors. However, this is no longer the case.”

These two research groups have said that Samsung is now the leader in this segment of the market. ISuppli claims in its report that Samsung’s worldwide market share was 14.6 percent in the market. DisplaySearch placed the Samsung’s market share at 13.4 percent.

DisplaySearch further said that on a revenue basis, Sony now dominates Sharp. Edward Taylor, a vice president of TV market research at DisplaySearch however admitted: “I don’t think the game is over for Sharp. Technologically speaking, they’re out in front, but Samsung and Sony are right there, and those two offer a broader product range.”

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