Recent rumours of the demise of plasma TV production and research are greatly exaggerated, Panasonic merchandising VP Henry Hauser insists before the company shows off its 2013 Plasma HDTV range.
"While the Smart Viera ZT Series introduces a new level of plasma picture quality, we believe there is still room for further improvement and intend to continue to research ways to take our plasma technology to even higher levels where it also has the potential to be applied in our other plasma series in the future," Hauser continues.
The statement comes just 2 months after Nikkei reported on Panasonic's to stop plasma TV operations, part of a downsizing effort from the troubled CE maker. According to the newspaper Panasonic will move away from TVs over the next 3 years in order to focus on more profitable business, namely auto part and aircraft production.
In reply, Panasonic had simply said "we are considering a number of options regarding our TV business. But nothing has been decided yet."
While news should be heartening to enthusiasts insisting on the superiority of plasma over LCDs, keep in mind the latest DisplaySearch forecast of "significant" reductions in plasma demand. Not to mention plasma makes just 5.7% (with a -23% decline) of 2012 global TV shipments facing declines across all segments.
But still, the technology appears to have one champion... at least for now.
