LyrArc Article Gist
The unexpected and rapid price drop in 2014 for ultra high definition UHDTV televisions. The price declines are driven by Chinese manufacturers who are using the large Chinese market and Chinese buyers eager to try out the latest technology to lower prices. NPD DisplaySearch estimates 2013 shipments of UHDTV's at 1.9 million units globally, of this 1.7 million were sold in China. Estimates for UHDTV for 2014 are 12.7 million units globally and China will be 78% of this. Sales in North America are estimated for 2014 at 800,000 units. The sales are surprising because there is hardly any UHDTV content available. Japanese makers use special chips that enable HDTV content to show improvement on UHDTV sets to justify higher prices. The price drops are steep- from $4503 to $973 to about one fourth in the Chinese market and from $18,667 to $1986 or about one ninth in the U.S. market for 2014. The price competition from Chinese manufacturers is likely to affect the profitability of Samsung, Sony and Panasonic in televisions.