Demand for LCD and plasma TV sets is increasing despite the current economic crisis. This year the number of flat screen TVs sold is estimated to reach 7.1 million units which would be an increase by 7.4% as compared to last year. CRT-TVs have almost completely lost their importance. Sales of CRT-TVs halved to 300,000 units. These are findings presented by the EITO market research institute. Turnover generated by TV-sets, however, is going to fall given that the average price of a flat screen TV is probably going to fall from 820 to 747 Euros this year which would be a drop by 9 %. Prices for plasma screens are predicted to fall from on average 975 to 934 Euros and those for LCD-TVs from 800 to 725 Euros.
Current trends in the TV market lead to ever bigger screen diagonals, HDTV as well as integration of TV into a home computer network. According to the German Association for Information Management, Telecommunications and New Media (BITKOM), about 95 % of purchasers will buy a high-resolution flat screen TV this year. This, in turn, will increase sales of Blu-ray-players as well as Set-top-boxes and hard drive recorders, according to BITKOM.
An internet connection for TV sets will also be in high demand in future. Already today, micro processors for media players, settop-boxes and TVs are developed in order to improve the internet features of the afore-mentioned devices.
TV sets will remain the most important segment in the CE market. They account for about 40 % of total turnover in consumer electronics. However, the increase in the number of units sold is not going to compensate for a drop in prices of TVs. Therefore, turnover generated through flat screen TVs will slightly fall by 2% to 5.3 billion Euros this year and presumably remain unchanged next year. 