According to company vice president Lee Gyu-hong, LG may be the next manufacturer to leave the plasma TV market, citing the global recession as the main reason.
Gyu-hong added that a prolonged recession would make plasma manufacturing unprofitable for the company, and that he expects LG’s official decision to exit the market to come before the end of the year.
Just two weeks ago, both Pioneer and Vizio announced that they would be leaving the plasma business, with Pioneer completely leaving the TV business.
With Vizio, Pioneer, and now LG bowing out, only two major manufacturers remain in the plasma business: Panasonic, and Samsung.
Result for: vizio
Vizio has announced that they have surpassed Sony as the second-biggest seller of HDTVs in the United States, as of the 4Q 2008.
According to figures from iSuppli, Vizio accounted for over 14 percent of LCD and Plasma shipments, up 3.11 percent from the Q3. Sony fell 0.42 percent to 13.5 and Samsung remained the leader at 20.2 percent despite a small drop of 0.62 percent from the Q3.
Panasonic rose 3.12 percent for the quarter to settle in fourth place.
“Vizio’s success in the fourth quarter was partly due to increasing brand recognition, courtesy of the company’s strong marketing efforts and retail strategy,” iSuppli analyst Riddhi Patel added.
“This is an indication that in the present tough economic climate, consumers are becoming less brand conscious and prefer televisions that they perceive to have good picture quality and that are less expensive compared to the competition, rather than seeking models with a lot of extra features,” Patel concluded.
Result for: vizio
In March, Pioneer announced it was halting Plasma display production and today Vizio has made a similar announcement, putting another nail in the technology’s coffin.
The inexpensive HDTV maker has decided to move its focus to LCD sets, and will completely halt its plasma production by the end of the year.
With Vizio and Pioneer bowing out, three major manufacturers remain in the plasma business: LG, Panasonic, and Samsung.
Plasma TV shipments rose 28 percent for the Q4 2008 and were up over 10 percent for the entire year. Despite those statistics, LCD TVs control the market, selling about seven times the amount of plasma sets over a full year.
