Samsung's LCD TV shipments in the U.S., in the fourth quarter of 2011, have touched a record high and it has beaten Vizio in the process.

Samsung sold 2.4 million LCD TVs in the fourth quarter, accounting for 23.6 percent of the market share in North America, according to IHS iSuppli. Irvine-based Vizio, on the other hand, shipped 1.6 million LCD TVs, garnering a market share of 15.4 percent.

"During the final three months of 2011, Samsung accounted for nearly one-quarter of US LCD TV shipments, at 23.6 percent," the IHS said.

The closing quarter of 2011 was the third consecutive quarter where Samsung led market share ahead of Vizio, originally taking over Vizio in Q2 2011.

Samsung's market share extended to 8.3 percent, over Vizio, in Q4.

"Samsung triumphed in the price war that raged in the US LCD market in the fourth quarter of 2011," said Tom Morrod, a senior analyst and head of technology for IHS.

"Flat TVs, made up mostly of LCDs, in the U.S., are expected to decline 5 percent to 37.1 million units in 2012. That would mark the first drop since flat TVs debuted more than a decade ago," Orange County Business Journal report.

US LCD TV shipments experienced strong growth in the fourth quarter, rising by 30.7 percent from Q3.

"The strong fourth-quarter increase helped the US LCD-TV market to show a small increase in 2011, with shipments rising to 33.4 million units for the year, up 0.4 percent from 33.2 million in 2010," Electronics Weekly said.

Vizio saw LCD TV sales fall by 44 percent in North America during 2011, while Samsung sales grew by 17.2 percent during the same period.

"The recent Free Trade agreement between the US and South Korea will remove tariffs imposed on Korean firms selling TVs in America ... Samsung and fellow South Korean brand LG Electronics are poised to increase their shipments in the United States this year," Morrod added.

IHS also suggested a factor that contributed to Samsung's increase in market share.

"In an example of how Samsung was able to capitalize on its broad range of products, the company in the fourth quarter sold two LCD TVs that were identical in every way, except that one had integrated the older cold-cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL) backlighting - with the other employed the newer and more expensive light-emitting diode (LED) technology. This gave consumers a clear choice of features and price points," it said.

(reported by Jonathan Charles, edited by Surojit Chatterjee)