On May 6, Samsung (China) Investment Co., Ltd. announced via its official website that it will cease sales of all home appliance products, including televisions and monitors, in the mainland China market. This decision marks the most significant strategic contraction for the consumer electronics giant, which held the top spot in global television sales for twenty consecutive years. According to the announcement, the withdrawal covers the full range of home appliances, including air conditioners, refrigerators, washing machines, and audio systems. However, the mobile phone business will continue to operate normally. The company stated it will continue to deepen its presence in the mobile terminal market, focusing on promoting products equipped with artificial intelligence features to maintain competitiveness. For existing users, Samsung promises that after-sales service channels will remain unchanged, strictly abiding by relevant consumer rights laws and regulations.
The continuous decline in market share serves as a key backdrop for this strategic adjustment. Industry data reveals that in the first four months of this year, Samsung's share of offline sales in China's television market plummeted to 3.62%, while in the refrigerator and washing machine sectors, it accounted for less than 0.5%. In contrast, domestic brands such as Hisense, TCL, and Xiaomi collectively hold over 94% of the television market share, leaving foreign brands overall marginalized. Industry analysts believe the reasons behind this situation are multifaceted, including the rapid rise of local manufacturing capabilities and shifting consumer preferences, as well as issues related to overly long corporate decision-making chains within multinational enterprises and delayed responses to the Chinese market. Additionally, as involvement in the liquid crystal panel manufacturing sector wanes, the television business's reliance on the supply chain has further eroded its cost advantages.
Divergence in financial performance more intuitively reflects the shift in business focus. The latest financial report indicates that the department responsible for visual displays and home appliances generated minimal operating profits, even recording losses during the same period last year. Meanwhile, the semiconductor division benefited from an explosion in demand for high-value-added storage products, resulting in a single-quarter operating profit surge of dozens of times year-on-year, accounting for over 90% of the company's total profit. Facing the deterioration of profitability in the home appliance sector, Samsung is advancing a structural restructuring of its global production capacity. It plans to shut down some factories in Europe and Malaysia, consolidate home appliance production capacity at its Vietnam bases, and adopt an outsourcing production strategy for low-yield products to reduce non-core costs.
On the very day it announced its exit from the Chinese home appliance market, Samsung Electronics also implemented key personnel changes internally. The new head of the Visual Display Division was appointed from the former President of the Global Marketing Office. Their past experience in the content and services sector is viewed as crucial to reversing the business downturn. Market analysis suggests that this leadership change aims to strengthen the content ecosystem and marketing layout, attempting to move beyond sole reliance on hardware sales. Since entering the Chinese market in 1992, Samsung has made massive cumulative investments, with the vast majority flowing into cutting-edge industries. The divestment of the home appliance sales business means the company's resource allocation in China will focus more heavily on high-value-added sectors such as semiconductors and mobile terminals.
