Korea's two big TV-making companies, LG and Samsung, aren't just stealing up on the established Japanese names – the Korean duo has just overtaken them!
And while Japan was still just ahead on total sales for 2011, with a 35% share of the global flatscreen market, Korea was hot on its heels with a 33% market-share, and is expected to overhaul its Japanese rivals this year.
Chinese TV companies also showed how fast they're advancing, taking 20% of the market in Q4 2011.
In sales (the amount of revenue, rather than the numbers of sets sold), the Korean manufacturers are even further ahead of the Japanese, with a 40% share of the global market in the last quarter of 2011 against 30% for Panasonic, Sharp, Sony and co.
For the full year, the scores were Korea 30%, Japan 34%, while the Korean duo accounted for 45% of the global 3D TV market last year, with Japan and China each managing 25%.
Part of the problem for the big Japanese names is the slump in sales on their domestic market: Japanese consumer electronics sales as a whole were down almost 34% year-on-year in January, marking the sixth month in a row when sales have been below 2010 levels.
And TVs were hit hard: sales of TVs and other visual were down 52% year on year, while shipments of flatscreen TVs to Japanese retailers fell 62.5% to their lowest level since the same month in 2008.
Japan's Olympic hopes
No wonder, then, that Japanese consumer electronics companies are looking to one significant event to give their sales a kick up the backside: the 2012 Olympics.
An economic research institute in Japan has calculated that the London Olympics should deliver about Y460bn (£3.bn) in extra spending, which is some way short of the Y610bn (£4.84bn) delivered on average by the past three Summer Olympics.
The expected spend this year is about on a level with that experienced during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, with the average for the last three games being skewed by the boom-time of the 2004 Athens games, when Japanese athletes won 37 medals and the economy experienced an Y800bn (£6.35bn) boost.
However, analysts suggest TV sales will still struggle in Japan unless the country's team hits a similar winning streak in London, and that most of the extra spending is more likely to be on electricity, food and drinks for late-night viewing sessions due to the time difference between London and Tokyo.
It's likely some Japanese TV manufacturers and retailers are viewing Team Japan's Olympic preparations with more than a passing interest…
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