In the short time that the QD TV panel category has existed, it's been dominated by Samsung. The QLED TV panel technology, which rolled out from Samsung in 2017 as an alternative to OLED, uses "quantum dots" for display. "QLED" is a brand name for the version of the technology used by Samsung, which has said that it “offers the widest gamut possible with tunable primary colors and increased system efficiency.”

Vizio, in 2018, announced that it was making QD TVs of their own, under the "Quantum" brand name, and has rolled out new series of Quantum TVs in 2018, 2019 and 2020. Vizio's entry into the market was positioned at the time as a lower-cost alternative to Samsung's offerings.

According to new numbers released this week, Samsung remains the leader in QD panel shipments by a significant margin. But Vizio has emerged as a solid number two in a category that is seen growing quickly in the coming years.

Statistics from Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC), as cited by Display Daily, show that Samsung maintained 85 percent of the worldwide market for QD panels in the first quarter, with just over 1.4 million units shipments. Vizio was second, with just under 105,000, which was more than double that of third-place Huawei. Hisense and TCL took the fourth and fifth spots, following by "others." 

DSCC, in its  Annual Quantum Dot Display Technology and Market Outlook Report, also projected huge growth for the category in the next five years. The group sees the market for technology growing from 3 million shipments in 2018 to 31 million in 2025.

"Samsung Electronics has been the pioneer in QDEF TVs (sold as Samsung QLEDs) and the company has positioned “QLED” at price parity with OLED, limiting volume until 2018," the summary of the DSCC report says. "In 2019, Samsung started pushing QDEF down in product line to the 6 series (was 8 & 9) as Vizio, TCL and Hisense launched their QDEF TVs (QLED) and QDEF is continuing to march toward becoming a mid-tier product."

The current rankings on RTINGS.com of 4K TVs list Samsung's Q90/Q90R QLED line from 2019 as the fifth-rated TV overall, with the Samsung Q80/Q80R QLED model, also from 2019, ranked 11th. Other Samsung QLED models take the 14th-17th places, while Vizio's P Series Quantum models from 2018 and 2019, respectively, rank 18th and 20th.

Stephen Silver, a technology writer for The National Interest, is a journalist, essayist, and film critic, who is also a contributor to Philly Voice, Philadelphia Weekly, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Living Life Fearless, Backstage magazine, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons.