PriceSCAN Blog

Last year, a take no prisoners contest for market share was the inevitable consequence of a plethora of set makers combined with fierce competition between online and physical retailers. The result was a dramatic price drop. Now, however, with a market perhaps constrained by supply and the fundamental costs of manufacture, some kind of equilibrium may have been reached.
Consider the Sharp LC-65D90U AQUOS Widescreen Liquid Crystal Television and the Panasonic TH-65PX600U, the most popular 65-inch LCD and plasma televisions on PriceSCAN.com, respectively. As can be seen from the charts below, each underwent a period of substantial price reduction during 2006, yet over the last few months the rate of decline has diminished significantly, with the low price actually rising at times.

Sharp LC-65D90U AQUOS Widescreen Liquid Crystal Television
Time Period: 12/5/2005 through 3/5/2007
Each tick mark represents one week
Red = High Price, Blue = Average Price, Green = Low Price

Panasonic TH-65PX600U
Time Period: 10/9/2006 through 3/5/2007
Each tick mark represents one week
Red = High Price, Blue = Average Price, Green = Low Price

It's a similar story for many of the larger flat panel televisions.
Innovation and competition being what they are, it's a good bet prices will fall further over time, but it appears that in the near term the big declines may be behind us. This is good news if you've been waiting for large flat screens to find some kind of temporary price floor. Apparently, even in the consumer electronics market, you can't beggar thy neighbor all of the time.