TVs Are Going to Rise in Price This Month

They may not be going through the same type of supply strain as hard disk drives did early in the year, but large-size TVs aren't exactly in abundance right now.

That isn't to say that there aren't enough of them to sell, because the world isn't in that kind of bind just yet, and hopefully never will be.

The so-called shortage is at the point where there are still enough of them to go around, but not enough that companies are willing to give them up that easily.

In other words, LCD TVs are getting more expensive, DisplaySearch reportedly says so anyway.

By large-size TV panels we mean television sets that have diagonal lengths of 32 to 46 inches.

On average, their prices will increase by $1 / 0.76 Euro during the first half of May. Not that great an amount, but still somewhat worrisome for a time of just two weeks.

Fortunately, large-size TVs are a bit expensive by default, so people won't feel the difference much.

The report had some info on the rest of the display market too, saying that IT panels, in general, haven't seen much of a shift in pricing. That means monitors and notebook screens.

Suppliers have, of course, been trying to push quotes higher, but the mild shortage wasn't enough to make their dream come true.

Alas, when Microsoft finally launches Windows 8 later this year, we are sure that there will be enough of a rise in demand that manufacturers will get away with an upward price adjustment. After all, notebooks, ultrabooks included, will go through one of those episodes of strong sales that new hardware and software have a habit of causing.

In related news, handset screens (1.8-. 2-, 2.2-, 2.8- and 3.5-inch) saw their prices go down by 1-2%. A hike in 5G and 6G production lines led to extra LTPS panels.