Samsung kept its position as the world's leading maker of televisions in the second quarter thanks to its strength in LCD TVs, research firm iSuppli said on Tuesday.

Samsung had 12.4 percent of the global TV market in the April-June quarter, according to iSuppli, followed by fellow Korean manufacturer LG Electronics with 11.4 percent and Dutch group Philips with 7.1 percent.

Japan's Sanyo Electric took fourth place with 6.3 percent, and China's TCL , once the world's biggest manufacturer of TVs, fell to fifth from third with 5.6 percent as the New Year shopping season in China ended.

ISuppli forecast that traditional curved-screen, cathode-ray-tube televisions would account for only 38 percent of unit shipments in 2009, down from 56 percent this year, as flat-screen LCD and plasma TVs gain in popularity.