Samsung Electronics just reshuffled leadership at its struggling TV division, signaling the company's push for a major turnaround in its Visual Display Business. The Korean tech giant announced that President Won-Jin Lee, a marketing and services veteran, will take the reins from President Seok Woo Yong, who's moving into an advisory role focused on AI and robotics strategy. The move comes as Samsung faces mounting pressure in the premium TV market from rivals like LG and Chinese manufacturers.
Samsung Electronics is betting on a marketing expert to revive its TV business. The company announced today that President Won-Jin Lee will take over as Head of the Visual Display Business, marking a strategic shift as Samsung looks to reverse course in an increasingly competitive display market.
The appointment represents a notable pivot for Samsung's TV division. Lee comes from the Global Marketing Office, where he spent years building out Samsung's content and service ecosystems for both TV and mobile products. That's a different pedigree than his predecessor, President Seok Woo Yong, who led the Visual Display Business with a stronger R&D background.
According to Samsung's announcement, the company expects Lee to "spearhead business turnarounds and identify new growth areas" while strengthening the division's competitiveness. The language is telling - Samsung isn't just talking about incremental improvements. The word "turnaround" suggests the Visual Display Business needs more than just optimization.
The TV market has been brutal lately. While Samsung still holds the top spot globally in premium TVs, the company faces pressure from multiple fronts. LG continues to dominate the OLED segment, Chinese manufacturers like TCL and Hisense are undercutting on price, and the overall TV market has been shrinking as consumers hold onto their sets longer.
Lee's background in services and content could prove crucial here. The TV business isn't just about hardware anymore - it's about creating sticky ecosystems that keep users engaged. Samsung has been pushing its Tizen operating system and Samsung TV Plus free streaming service, but hasn't quite cracked the code on services revenue the way Roku or even LG with webOS have managed.
Yong isn't leaving Samsung entirely. He's transitioning to an advisory role under the Device eXperience Division head, where he'll focus on "core future technologies" including AI and robotics. That's actually a smart move by Samsung - keeping his technical expertise in-house while bringing in fresh strategic thinking for the TV business.
The timing of this leadership change is worth noting. Samsung has been talking a lot about AI lately, from its Galaxy AI features in smartphones to AI-powered image processing in TVs. Lee will need to figure out how to translate those AI capabilities into actual consumer value that people will pay for, not just marketing buzzwords.
What's interesting is Samsung's emphasis on Lee's "market insight" in the announcement. That suggests the company believes its TV division's challenges are as much about understanding consumer behavior and competitive positioning as they are about technology. You can have the best display panel in the world, but if you're not delivering what consumers actually want at the right price point, it doesn't matter.
The Visual Display Business restructuring also comes as Samsung's broader Device eXperience Division faces headwinds. Smartphone sales have been flat, and the premium segment where Samsung competes with Apple has become increasingly crowded. Any successful turnaround in TVs could provide a playbook for other consumer electronics divisions.
Lee faces some clear challenges right out of the gate. The premium TV market is saturated in developed countries, and emerging markets are price-sensitive. Samsung needs to either find new product categories within displays - think gaming monitors, commercial displays, or micro-LED walls for consumers - or figure out how to extract more revenue from each TV sold through services and subscriptions.
The company's recent push into gaming-focused displays and collaborations with cloud gaming services hint at where Lee might take things. There's also the wild card of AI-generated content and how that might change what people expect from their displays.
Samsung didn't provide specific timelines or targets for the turnaround Lee is expected to lead. That's typical for Korean corporate announcements, which tend to be more reserved than their Western counterparts. But the fact that Samsung made this leadership change public - and used the word "turnaround" explicitly - shows the company acknowledges it needs to shake things up.
Samsung's leadership shuffle in its TV division isn't just musical chairs - it's a recognition that the Visual Display Business needs a different approach to stay competitive. By bringing in Won-Jin Lee with his marketing and services background, Samsung is betting that the future of TVs is less about spec sheets and more about ecosystems and user experience. Whether that strategy can reverse the division's fortunes remains to be seen, but it's clear Samsung knows it can't just keep doing what it's been doing. For the TV industry, this signals that even the dominant player recognizes the old playbook isn't working anymore.
