South Korea's top tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. maintained its lead in the global Ultra HD TV market for the fourth consecutive quarter in the January-March period, but its presence weakened in the face of rising Chinese rivals, data showed Wednesday
  

Samsung Electronics took up 24.3 percent of the UHD TV market in the first quarter by shipment, down 2.6 percentage points from a quarter earlier, according to the data compiled by industry tracker DisplaySearch.
  

Its local rival LG Electronics Inc. ranked second with a share of 14.8 percent in the first quarter, down 0.4 percentage point over the cited period.
  

Chinese players, including HiSense Electric Co. and Skyworth Group Co., expanded their ground in the UHD TV segment. HiSense and SKyworth took up 10.9 percent and 8.2 percent, up 3.2 percentage points and 0.8 percentage points, respectively, from a quarter earlier.
  

Other brands, including TCL Corp., Konka Electric Co. and Changhong Electric Co., also posted improved market shares of 8.7 percent, 6.6 percent and 5.5 percent, respectively, in the first quarter, according to the data.
  

Japan-based Sony Corp. saw its share fall 2.5 percentage points on-quarter to reach 3.9 percent, although Sharp Corp. managed to expand its presence by 0.3 percentage point to 3.2 percent.
  

Global shipments of UHD TVs reached 4.66 million units in the first quarter, soaring from 941,000 units posted last year. This compares to the entire shipments of TVs, which fell 1.06 million units to 49.9 million units. (Yonhap)