Samsung, Sony Lead LCD-TV Price Declines

Pricing for LCD-TVs in the 40-44" size range saw a 5.8% decline in May compared to April pricing, as reported in Insight Media's HDTV Retailer subscription newsletter. The average retail price for LCD-TVs in this ranged dropped$182 from $3,142 to $2,960. PDP-TVs in this same size range dropped by a smaller 1.5% ($37) from $2,547 to $2,510. PDP-TVs thus maintain and overall pricing advantage over LCD-TVs, but this gap is shrinking.

By comparison, pricing for all MDTVs in this size range were also down $38 in May from April's data, falling 2.3% from $1,649 to $1,611. Clearly, MDTVs continue to hold a significant price advantage over LCD-TVs and PDP-TVs.

Driving the price decline in 40-44" LCD-TVs were big declines in panels with 1366x768 resolution clustered in the Brick & Mortar Channel group. Our monthly pricing data revealed a surge in captured data points, with big increases for Samsung (32 to 99) and Sony (28 to 76) as the main drivers. Looking deeper with the 1366x768 resolution subgroup, we see that Samsung has added 5 new models and reduced pricing on its previous 2 models. Sony added 2 new models and reduced prices on its other 4 models. These two brands account for 2/3rds of the 1366x768 resolution model price counts and show a price drop of $283, which is higher than the average for the group.

The conclusion: Sony and Samsung appear to be pushing new models into the market at leading price points this month, undoubtedly as a result of increased production at their joint S-LCD fab facility. Others may follow next month as they try to match this downward trend.

HDTV Retailer is a subscription-based newsletter published by Insight Media every month. It contains 20-30 pages of news, commentary and analysis on HDTV markets, HDTV products (LCD, PDP and MDTV) plus news about the retail channel. 10-15 pages are devoted to our in-store retailer survey, analysis of retailing and commentary by retailing experts. Another 40-50 pages are devoted to providing pricing data and trend analysis for HDTV products.

For a review of the Table of Contents from the May issue, go to: http://www.insightmedia.info/archive/05-06HDTVTOC.php

To order a trial subscription to HDTV Retailer, contact Dian Mecca, 203-831-8464, dian@insightmedia.info.

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Insight Media (www.insightmedia.info) provides a full array of market research, news, analysis and consulting services for the microdisplay industry, with special attention to projection and near-to-eye products. Tracking the complete supply chain from finished products and distribution to components, microdisplay-based products, technologies, trends and analysis is delivered through newsletters, technology reports, forecasts, conferences and custom consulting activities. Insight Media has developed a world-class team of industry analysts and associates to provide the most comprehensive coverage and analysis of the microdisplay industry has to offer.

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