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The global market for organic light-emitting diode (OLED) TVs grew nearly sevenfold in 2015, topping the $1 billion mark for the first time, according to a report from Korea’s Yonhap News Agency.

From the report:

According to IHS Inc., global sales of OLED TVs came to slightly over US$1 billion last year, up 6.9 times from $145 million the previous year, exceeding the $1 billion mark for the first time since their debut in 2013.

IHS forecast the global OLED TV market to expand more than three times this year from 2015, with worldwide shipments rising to 1 million units from 340,000.

Analysts said the high-end OLED TV market has big growth potential as more industry giants are poised to tap deeper into the premium segment.

"LG Electronics is the dominant player in the OLED TV market with a share of about 90 percent. But competitors such as Samsung Electronics Co., Phillips and Panasonic are expected to enter the market or increase their output of OLED TVs this year," Shin Hyun-jun, an analyst at LIG Investment & Securities Co., said by phone.

Samsung Electronics currently focuses on providing liquid crystal display-based, super-ultra high-definition (SUHD) TVs in overseas markets. It produced a test OLED TV in 2013 but stopped production due to a lack of demand and high costs at the time.

"But Samsung Display Co. is widely expected to start producing a limited number of OLED TVs in late 2017 to not lose its market lead in the premium TV market," Shin said.

Samsung, however, said it didn't have any specific plans to produce OLED TVs.

Global sales of LCD TVs are currently estimated at 200 million units a year.

Read our review of LG’s new 65EF9500 4K OLED TV here.