Global TV shipments fell by eight percent in the first quarter of 2012 and, compounding the bad news, total LCD shipments fell for the first time, by 2.53 percent. This time last year, total TV shipments had grown by one percent and LCD by eight percent. The data comes from DisplaySearch, and shows that while marketshare for LCDs increased in comparison to Plasma, CRT, and others, over the entire year LCD shipments dropped from 4.42 million to 4.31 million.

Samsung increased its year-over-year share of revenue from the worldwide sale of flat-panel TVs and, with over a quarter of the total revenue from such TVs, remains the largest shipper by far. A separate report from analysts at IHS iSuppli focuses on the US market and the total TV shipments by manufacturer. It forecasts Vizio as the leader in shipments with 1.21 million, ahead of Samsung with 1.16 million. In contrast, the pair's nearest competitor, LG, is predicted to ship just 657,000 sets over the same period.