It is a sad time to be a plasma TV fan-- LG tells Reuters it has dropped the plasma towel, and plasma display panel (PDP) production will be over by end-November 2014. Why? LCD has kicked the technology to death, of course.
"We wanted to keep it going as long as we could," the company says. "No matter how much we try to keep it going it's just not a business anymore."
LG was actually one of the pioneers in plasma TVs, as it launched the category together with Samsung back in 1999 with the Xcanvas brand. However an LG regulatory filing reveals the plasma business accounts for just 2.4% of the company's 2013 revenues, and as such the exit announcement is less of a surprise and more of a "scheduled move."
It also leaves Chinese TV maker Changhong as the only plasma TV producer in the world, as Samsung is also ending PDP production by end-November while Panasonic pulled the plug earlier this year.
The reasons for the exit cited by the TV makers are similar-- no matter how much the enthusiasts love plasma TVs, the technology remains unable to catch up with the lower power consumptions and cooler heat emissions of LCD. That, and according to DisplaySearch global 2015 plasma shipments will total just 500000, down from 5.2 million in 2014, before total extinction by 2017.