Amid weak seasonal conditions for LCD-TV sales in the first quarter, Philips Electronics posted the worst performance among the world's Top-5 brands, with a 26 percent slide in sales, causing it to fall to third place in the market, down from second in the fourth quarter of 2006.

Global LCD-TV shipments declined to 13.99 million units in the first quarter, down 8 percent from 15.2 million in the fourth quarter. Such a first-quarter decline is typical following the peak holiday selling season in the fourth quarter.

All the Top-5 LCD-TV brands suffered sequential declines in shipments during the first three months of the year. However, Philips of the Netherlands fared the worst among these companies, with its shipments dropping to 1.7 million units, down from 2.3 million in the fourth quarter. Philips' global LCD-TV market share dropped to 12.2 percent in the first quarter, down from 15.1 percent in the fourth quarter.

Although Sony also underperformed the market in the first quarter, with a 13.7 percent decline in shipments, it did much better than Philips, allowing the Japanese company to claim the No. 2 position from its European rival.

Philips continues to pay the price for its lack of direct control over the supply of its LCD panels.The company clearly has a close relationship with panel supplier LG.Philips LCD Co. Ltd.-but it doesn't have total control, making it hard to get the favorable delivery and pricing terms enjoyed by some of its competitors.

At the opposite end of the spectrum was Samsung, which outperformed the market with a 7 percent sequential decline in shipments. Samsung's LCD-TV shipments declined to 2.4 million, down 7.3 percent from 2.5 million in the fourth quarter. Company market share rose to 16.8 percent, up from 16.7 percent in the fourth quarter.

Samsung continues to outperform for it has better control over its production costs and is very aggressive in its marketing campaigns.