Something happened on the display market over the past couple of years, something that probably had to do with the emphasis on energy efficiency that the economic recession forced technology companies, and not just them, to take more seriously.
Specifically, the LED backlighting technology has been showing up in more and more LCD TVs and monitors, ready to grace prospective buyers with both a higher image quality and lower energy use.
Over the past six months, the prices of LED displays have gone down enough that there is just a small difference between them and CCFL.
This did make most everyone think that LED-backlit panels would start to sell massively, but it looks like oversupply still ended up happening. That, or it will happen soon enough.
As Digitimes reports (yet again), LED firms are already seeing weaker financial performances because LED TVs sales failed to pick up during the month of April.
The main reason is because the so-called “booming season” when sales would skyrocket is either delayed or won't be as extraordinary as expected.
Currently, TV brands based in Korea and Japan have begun to lower their shipment expectations, while LED firms have been seeing decreasing gross margins, by 15 to 16 percent to be exact.
Needless to say, prices are falling, or will start to soon enough. What users might not know, however, is that display makers are now trying to improve the appeal of this panels by increasing their brightness.
In other words, if the oversupply gets serious and sales levels continue to stagnate for much longer, LED TVs will really no longer be distinguishable form CCFL ones by their price, no matter the screen size.