Over the past few months, we’ve covered behind-the-scenes news from the TV industry that screen prices have been consistently falling, which has the potential to mean big drops in TV prices later in the year. That’s because the TVs currently being produced from components that have dropped in price will be on shelves by the end of the year – ready for big sales events, including Black Friday. This means that discounts can be even bigger than usual.
We’ve already seen signs of this – the price war between LG and Samsung is heating up even faster than usual.
And now a trio of reports on Digitimes suggest that the events that caused the price drops have barely begun. First, there is confirmation that the price of LCD panels continued to fall this month (opens in new tab). So there is a report that Samsung is planning to reduce the number of TV screens it orders (opens in new tab)which means there may be surplus screens from manufacturers that they will want to sell cheaply.
And finally, there is a report that the LCD screen manufacturers are reducing production numbers (opens in new tab) in the face of order reductions like Samsung’s, and it still hasn’t cut them enough, which again confirms that there will likely be surplus screens.
There are other factors that affect final TV prices besides the cost of the screens – the chips needed, the shipping costs and so on – but it’s a big issue, and having these three stories so close together is a sign that there’s going to be a lot of downward pressure on prices.
Well, that’s for LCD TVs, at least. Things are different for the best OLED TVs because there is no competition over who is making panels. Basically, all OLED TV screens come from one company – LG Display – which means they have more control over production and pricing.
Analysis: Why Low Screen Demand Means Cheaper TVs
The reason we’re so sure the three news items above mean cheaper TVs is good old-fashioned supply and demand. When lots of people want something you sell, you can charge more for the limited number you have. When people aren’t buying what you sell, you need to lower the price to try to encourage people to buy.
During the pandemic, all was buying TVs. The best TVs were coming off the shelves as people suddenly needed a great home theater experience to avoid the tedium of lockdown.
But now? Well, everyone has already bought a nice new TV. They don’t need another one yet, so TV sales are a little low these days. TV companies would prefer this not to be the case, so we’ve seen big discounts on last year’s TVs that are still on shelves and we’re seeing earlier-than-usual discounts on 2022 TVs – so try to make the purchase a new TV more tempting.
If fewer people are buying TVs, that means companies don’t have to make as many, which is why Samsung has reduced its screen orders. If manufacturers made too many, then they have spare screens, with no inherent value. So, to get rid of these screens, they lower the wholesale price.
This, in turn, means that TV companies could still offer Larger discounts. The downward price pressure is coming from both sides – on the retail side to change existing TVs and on the manufacturing side because TVs are cheaper to manufacture.
With the cost-of-living crisis likely to get worse, this will at least offer some relief to people who will be in need of a new TV this year – you might be able to save some money or maybe get an even bigger TV or better model for the same money. That should make our guides to the best TVs under $1,000 and best TVs under £1,000 very interesting…
