TV Prices Rising for First Time in Flat-Panel History: DSCC

Recent history is bucking the decadeslong trend that TV prices “never go up,” blogged Display Supply Chain Consultants co-founder Bob O’Brien Monday. The TV consumer price “sub-index” from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows TV pricing hit an all-time low in October but increased in six of the seven months since, he said. The unprecedented increase in LCD TV panel prices “has now brought an unprecedented increase in U.S. TV prices,” he said. The latest report shows that TV prices increased 6% in May from the same 2020 month, he said. “For the entire history of the flat panel display industry, LCD costs have declined over time, as economies of scale, yield improvements, and shifts to lower-wage countries drove down costs in a highly competitive industry,” said O’Brien. “By 2021, we may have reached the end of that road.”