by Paul Gray, Director of European research, NPD DisplaySearch
One word summed up IFA 2014: curved. We asked NPD DisplaySearch’s director of European research, Paul Gray, what his take was on this trend…
Samsung provided massive promotion of its curved TV range, as it sought to defend and even extend its lead in the European TV market. Its booth provided demonstrations to prove that curved TVs were brighter, offered better viewing angles and richer colours. Scientific claims were made that 4300mm was the optimum curvature and a massive 105-inch 5K 21:9 wowed visitors. All other brands had curved sets on display and generally offered them as premium models, extending the trend seen at CES where curved product concepts were displayed by all the big Chinese brands. We suspect that these are largely defensive products as little effort was being made to build a value proposition around the curvature. Retailers appear to be very split on curved sets; some love them, others do not. However, tactically most retailers will be looking to develop alternative sources to Samsung simply to apply pressure.