Recently, industry channels and supply chain sources have reported that Samsung Electronics plans a strategic contraction in the Chinese market, primarily affecting its display business.

RUNTO Technology has compiled the following information: ① Some of Samsung's core distributors have received notices to "suspend restocking," and inventory clearance is proceeding simultaneously; offline 3C and home appliance stores are gradually withdrawing their displays. ② Samsung's component procurement orders for the Chinese market have declined significantly, and some partner factories have adjusted their production plans. ③ Displays belong to the consumer electronics (black goods) division. RUNTO Technology data shows that the annual shipment volume of televisions, the core business of black goods, in the Chinese market is only a few hundred thousand units, and it is fading out of the market.

Considering Samsung's recent actions in the Chinese market—closing its Huizhou mobile phone factory in 2019, shutting down its Tianjin TV and Suzhou computer factories in 2020, transferring its Suzhou 8.5-generation LCD panel factory to CSOT in 2020, and its absence from the China Appliance & Consumer Electronics Expo in 2026—this latest rumor seems more like a continuation of a long-term strategic adjustment. In fact, it likely represents a phase where headquarters has approved the plan, channels are implementing it, but it hasn't been officially announced yet.

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Market Performance: Less than 3% market share, reliant on high-end structure

According to data from RUNTO, the overall shipment volume of the Chinese monitor market in 2025 will be 25.6 million units. Samsung's share will be less than 3%, placing it in the lower tier of mainstream brands.

However, Samsung monitors maintain significant competitiveness in the high-end segment. According to RUNTO's online monitoring data, in 2025, half of Samsung monitor sales revenue came from products priced above 3,000 yuan; Samsung's sales revenue share in this price range reached 11.4%, making it a core player in the high-end market.

In 2025, Samsung Display was profitable in the Chinese market, with profit margins higher than those of TVs and home appliances. Its core profits came from high-end, high-margin products such as OLED, gaming, and commercial displays.

In the Chinese online OLED monitor market, data from RUNTO shows that Samsung accounted for 13% of sales volume and nearly 15% of sales revenue. Although slightly declining, it still maintained its position among the top three in this high-end segment.

In terms of product structure, in addition to its core QD-OLED gaming monitors, Samsung also offers high-end Mini LED models, forming a product matrix of "high margin + high premium," essentially exiting the low-end market and effectively offsetting price competition pressure in the mass market.

In summary, RUNTO believes that Samsung Display's business situation in the Chinese market can be summarized as: overall profitability, declining market share, strong performance in the high-end market, and strategic abandonment.

Strategic Contraction: Increased Competition in the Chinese Market, Focusing on High-Margin Core Products

If Samsung Display contracts its presence in the Chinese market, it is essentially a "trade-off" under its global strategy, with the core logic revolving around resource focus and cost reduction/efficiency improvement. From a global strategic rebalancing perspective, Samsung is concentrating its resources on core businesses with high technological barriers and leading gross margins, such as memory chips and high-end OLED displays, to optimize its global profit structure.

However, the Chinese monitor market is highly competitive, with high channel costs and Samsung's own low shipment share. Exiting this market would reduce resource consumption in R&D, marketing, and distribution, lowering global operating costs.

From the perspective of the Chinese market reality, Samsung's monitor shipment share is less than 3%, resulting in a low return on investment. Meanwhile, domestic brands have established an overwhelming advantage in mainstream sizes such as 27-inch and 24.5-inch, as well as in segments like 180Hz and 240Hz high refresh rate gaming displays and high-performance Mini LED displays, making it extremely difficult for Samsung to break through in the market.

According to online monitoring data from RUNTO, in 2025, Samsung's market share in the Chinese Mini LED segment was only 2.7%, a significant drop of 11 percentage points from 2024.

Market Impact: Accelerated Domestic Substitution in China

For the Chinese monitor market, both domestic brands and the supply chain will benefit.

At the brand level, Samsung's withdrawal will release a market space worth billions of yuan. Leading domestic brands will gain more room for growth in technology research and development and brand building, and can accelerate market penetration by filling the gap in high-end models and offering more differentiated products, leveraging their cost-effectiveness advantage. Specifically, TCL and Hisense, which have increased their investment in the monitor market in recent years, may benefit. Both have huge TV production scales supporting their supply chains and sponsor the League of Legends and Honor of Kings e-sports events, respectively. In fact, in the Chinese monitor market, many of the active and high-performing brands in recent years are those with supply chain affiliations, such as HKC and KTC. Domestic high-end brands in mainland China are scarce. Brands that take over from Samsung will not only gain market share but also increased profits.

Of course, established monitor brands such as AOC, ASUS, and Xiaomi also have a competitive opportunity.

At the supply chain level, component procurement and OEM cooperation have the potential to concentrate in local enterprises, promoting the improvement of the industrial chain and accelerating the process of domestic substitution of core components.

Industry Trends: Korean Brand Retreat and Domestic Dominance Become a Foregone Conclusion

From an industry development perspective, this shift is not an isolated case, but an inevitable result of global competition in the consumer electronics market. In recent years, international brands such as LG have been shrinking non-core markets, and "focusing on core markets and shrinking peripheral markets" has become a mainstream strategy for multinational corporations.

For the domestic display industry, Samsung's withdrawal from the Chinese market will further drive the shift of domestic substitution from policy-driven to market-driven. With the continuous improvement of the technological strength and product competitiveness of domestic brands, coupled with the gradual contraction of Korean brands, market share will accelerate its concentration towards domestic companies.

RUNTO will continue to track the progress of Samsung's strategic adjustments in the Chinese market, the dynamics of domestic brands' high-end positioning, and changes in supply chain cooperation, providing accurate market data and trend analysis.