LED-Backlit TVs Finally Take the Lead in the US

After years of being the underdog, LED backlights have finally taken the leading position among the lighting technologies most used on the US TV market.

LED backlighting is a technology that gets talked about very often nowadays, thanks to its low power draw and higher image quality compared to CCFL.

Nevertheless, even with all the benefits, light-emitting diodes did not start to truly steal the market share of cold cathode fluorescent lamps until late 2010.

Now that the price difference between them has shrunk enough to be nearly irrelevant, LED has finally become the leading technology on the US TV market.

“LED-backlit TV shipments are expected to see rapid double-digit growth in the coming years as brands focus on marketing this feature and making LED-based models standard in their lineup,” says Lisa Hatamiya, displays researcher for IHS.

“Aggressive prices also will help their uptake and drive consumers to purchase the sets.”

Shipments of LED-backlit LCD TVs reached 4.09 million units during the third quarter of 2011, quite a bit over the 3.85 million of CCFL models.

At least these are the figures that IHS iSuppli reached during its study of this particular market segment.

That means that, right now, LED TVs hold 44% of the market, while CCFL ones have 41%, leaving 15% to plasma TV sets.

LED has proven so successful because, while offering a higher picture quality and lower power consumption, it also allows for very thin displays to be made.

The latest advancements even make it possible to narrow down the bezels, so that frames are almost invisible from a distance, something quite useful for wall displays made of multiple screens, as well as multi-display gaming setups.

LED TV shipments are expected to continue growing, attaining a figure of 5.56 million units in the second quarter of 2012. During the same period, CCFL sets will be at around 1.84 million sets.