SEOUL, March 18 (Yonhap) -- Worldwide sales of 3D TVs jumped 72 percent last year despite an industry-wide slump in the global TV market, data showed Monday.
3D TV shipments totaled 41.45 million units last year, compared with 24.14 million units in 2011, according to the data by DisplaySearch. The figure marks a nearly 18-fold growth from 2.26 million units in 2010, when the market researcher began compiling the data.
On the back of sales growth, the proportion of 3D TVs in the flat-panel TV market almost doubled to 19 percent from 11 percent.
By company, Samsung Electronics Co. controlled the market with a 27 percent market share. The company's stake, however, slipped from 31 percent in 2011 and 37 percent in 2010.
LG Electronics Inc. emerged as No. 2 with an 18 percent market share, up from 14 percent in 2011 and 6 percent in 2010.
Japanese manufacturer Sony Corp. came in third with 7 percent, trailed by Chinese and Japanese manufacturers such as Panasonic Corp. and Changhong Electric Co., according to the data.
Meanwhile, the data showed that 3D TVs incorporating LG Display Co.'s film patterned retarder (FPR) panels first surpassed those using Samsung's shutter glasses in the fourth quarter.
The market shares of 3D TVs using FPR technology came to 51.6 percent in the fourth quarter, topping the 48.4 percent share of those using shutter glasses.
The figures mark a leap for FPR panels, which accounted for 22.4 percent of the market in the first quarter of 2011.
<All rights reserved by Yonhap News Agency>