Tuesday, May 18th 2021

Fancy Your Hardware? TV Pricing Sees 30% Increase, Could Escalate Further

We've all been beating dead consumer horses for a while now in most product areas that require semiconductors to operate - and that applies to almost anything, really. Whether CPU shortages from the AMD camp, GPU shortages from both AMD and NVIDIA, increasing prices of storage due to a new cryptocurrency boom, scalpers left and right on the most recent PC and console hardware, shortages on semiconductors for car manufacturers and technological companies like Bosch... It's a wild ride in the semiconductor world right now. And if you were looking at upgrading your media-consumption living room with a fancy new TV, you will also have to cope with increased pricing now, and perhaps further price climbs and shortages in the future.


Market research company NPD has said as much in its most recent market analysis; they've concluded that Smart TV prices have already increased 30% comparatively to the first months of 2020. The price increases are expected to hit anything with a screen - whether smartphones, TVs, laptops, or any other product that has to take up a portion of the world's panel output. This is the market correcting itself when it comes to the supply/demand equation - increased demand post-COVID-19 and global supply chain issues have set up a series of network effects that have led manufacturers to increase product pricing according to demand, passing on additional supply costs on to the customer, and simultaneously attaching the highest possible profits on the existing (and insufficient) supply. It's highly unlikely that this semiconductor supply shortage will see a turnaround throughout 2021.
Source: CNBC
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53 Comments on Fancy Your Hardware? TV Pricing Sees 30% Increase, Could Escalate Further

#1
Verpal
Smart TV is competing for chipset with everyone else, hardly surprising, considering the persistent demand.

I wonder whether more smartTV will try to migrate toward lower end chipset with legacy process node?
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#2
las
I would like to know how many companies are straight up lying about this, just to increase price.
No one questions price increases right now apparently. Glad I don't need anything for the next few years.

Just got a new LG G1 77 inch for MSRP, won't be getting a new TV before 2025+
Hopefully MicroLED is ready by then.
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#3
Hemmingstamp
55" LG 4K TV for £460 suggets the 30% increase hasn't happened.....Yet.
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#4
las
VerpalSmart TV is competing for chipset with everyone else, hardly surprising, considering the persistent demand.

I wonder whether more smartTV will try to migrate toward lower end chipset with legacy process node?
Almost all low to mid-end TVs are already using SoC's on made on dated nodes
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#5
rutra80
Yeah my TV mines like crazy, I already ordered 10 more.
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#6
DeathtoGnomes
rutra80Yeah my TV mines like crazy, I already ordered 10 more.
you stole my line!
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#7
Philaphlous
Blamed on a chip shortage but actually is inflation...
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#8
Prime2515102
Here's an idea: Everybody stop over-paying for everything and not buy anything for one month. The prices will instantly plummet.
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#9
BSim500
I'd love to see more "dumb" TV's. Why? Streaming "dongles" like the Amazon Fire stick tend to be supported (on the software side) for longer, whereas some TV brands I've owned in the past have had barely a couple of years of software upgrades and then quietly abandoned to 'encourage' you to buy a new set, when literally nothing about the display technology has improved much between them and it's just a glorified "app update" that's what's "new" for this year...
Posted on Reply
#10
Tardian
Current LG OLEDs are worth every penny. There is a really noticable difference between a 2019 and a 2021 LG OLED.

However, Panasonic make much better remote controls ... so if you can get one, get a Panasonic OLED.
Posted on Reply
#11
las
Prime2515102Here's an idea: Everybody stop over-paying for everything and not buy anything for one month. The prices will instantly plummet.
People are willing to pay more so they are doing it. Thats supply vs demand. Can't be stopped. Will normalize over time.
TardianCurrent LG OLEDs are worth every penny. There is a really noticable difference between a 2019 and a 2021 LG OLED.

However, Panasonic make much better remote controls ... so if you can get one, get a Panasonic OLED.
I own C9 and G1 and there is not much difference, mostly in HDR (peakbrigthness is higher on G1). I went 12" up and got OLED Evo panel. Wallmounting looks insane on G series, zero gap. Which is mostly why I went with G series this time. Huge gap on C series when wallmounted. Slightly better motion on G1 too, but Sony is the king of motion (interpolation in 24-30 fps content, not gaming - LG wins hands down on gaming; lower latency, more features).

C9 vs CX vs C1, barely any difference here. Only G series got the new OLED Evo panel.

C9 had everything you wanted back in 2019; HDMI 2.1, 120 Hz, VRR 40-120, Gsync, ALLM etc. LG was 1-2 years ahead of everyone else this year.

C series is now considered mid-end, like B series. A is entry level. G and up (OLED Evo panel, with +20% peak brightness) = high end. C series are still great and pretty much destroys all other LCD TVs, but it's not part of LGs high-end line anymore.

You are paying a huge premium for Panasonic and design is pretty bad overall and they are much worse for gaming etc (input lag, features and issues here). Their RMA sucks badly in europe (probably worse in US, a market they vanished from) and software issues are sometimes never fixed. They outsourced their LCD line and will probably soon outsource their OLED line as well. It's not a huge market for them, hence the price. They can't compete, so they price their TV very high. Very few buy them as a result. Good TVs for movies and series, bad overall for gaming especially. You buy a TV based on how the remote is? It's not like Panasonics remote is better than Sony.

I'd get LG G1 or Sony A90J. Best in Class OLEDs overall today. C1 and A80J good too but many OLEDs are good then.
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#12
MIRTAZAPINE
DeathtoGnomesyou stole my line!
At this rate I could make this joke. :roll:

Gpu price increase? Damn Miners!
Cpu price increase? Miners again!
Hdd and ssd? You guess it! MINERS!
Tv price gone up? MINEEEERSSSS!
Anything with a microchip? *hyperventilate breathe* All Miners!!!
Posted on Reply
#13
Chomiq
TardianCurrent LG OLEDs are worth every penny. There is a really noticable difference between a 2019 and a 2021 LG OLED.

However, Panasonic make much better remote controls ... so if you can get one, get a Panasonic OLED.
Yes, remote control is the thing that should dictate your TV purchase...

Haven't seen any major increase yet locally. OLED's are priced the same as they were before and they're often on promos. Sony VA's also cost the same.
Posted on Reply
#14
Tardian
ChomiqYes, remote control is the thing that should dictate your TV purchase...

Haven't seen any major increase yet locally. OLED's are priced the same as they were before and they're often on promos. Sony VA's also cost the same.
Even TCL can make a great LCD 4K TV. What sets the great apart from the good is the ease of use. This was the cornerstone of Apple.
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#15
Icon Charlie
Prime2515102Here's an idea: Everybody stop over-paying for everything and not buy anything for one month. The prices will instantly plummet.
I agree with you 100%.
Posted on Reply
#16
neatfeatguy
BSim500I'd love to see more "dumb" TV's. Why? Streaming "dongles" like the Amazon Fire stick tend to be supported (on the software side) for longer, whereas some TV brands I've owned in the past have had barely a couple of years of software upgrades and then quietly abandoned to 'encourage' you to buy a new set, when literally nothing about the display technology has improved much between them and it's just a glorified "app update" that's what's "new" for this year...
My younger brother was up visiting last week for a while. He wanted to show me a new show on his Apple+ streaming channel or whatever it's called. My Roku TV is 5 years old now and apparently it is too old to support the Apple streaming channel. I had to borrow the Roku stick (that's just as old as my Roku TV) from a non-smart TV upstairs and plug it into my Roku TV and use the stick to download the Apple streaming channel to watch the shows.

I also noticed that the Roku stick is significantly faster than the TV itself....what a joke. What kind of crap hardware do they actually put in these TVs where a tiny Roku stick is almost twice as fast. I have a hard time believing these TV companies are having troubles getting and using any kind of decent hardware to run these "smart" TVs.
Posted on Reply
#17
AusWolf
lasPeople are willing to pay more so they are doing it. Thats supply vs demand. Can't be stopped. Will normalize over time.
By demand, you mean addiction, right? It's crazy how much above normal prices people are willing to pay for electronic devices that are only slightly better than the ones they already have.
Posted on Reply
#18
las
AusWolfBy demand, you mean addiction, right? It's crazy how much above normal prices people are willing to pay for electronic devices that are only slightly better than the ones they already have.
Maybe yeah, some people waited and waited, especially because 2000 series were not that great compared to 1000 series, after 4-5 years nothing will hold up that well unless you are willing to lower resolution or details alot, so some people panic haha
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#20
Nater
FeelinFroggyWe live in inflationary times.
This.

What the F' do you guys expect when the Fed just keeps printing money?
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#21
ZoneDymo
rutra80Yeah my TV mines like crazy, I already ordered 10 more.
fyi CRT's mine 60% faster, just need to do a bios flash to deal with the power consumption.
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#22
trparky
NaterThis.

What the F' do you guys expect when the Fed just keeps printing money?
Printer go brrrrr...
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#23
AusWolf
lasMaybe yeah, some people waited and waited, especially because 2000 series were not that great compared to 1000 series, after 4-5 years nothing will hold up that well unless you are willing to lower resolution or details alot, so some people panic haha
The funny thing is, you don't really need anything more than a 960 for 1080p gaming. It's just that people want 300,000 fps instead of 200,000, and super uber high resolutions and DLFXXXSSAA enabled, and it seems they're stupid enough willing to pay thousands to get it.
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#24
mechtech
Don't watch TV..................
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#25
randompeep
AusWolfThe funny thing is, you don't really need anything more than a 960 for 1080p gaming. It's just that people want 300,000 fps instead of 200,000, and super uber high resolutions and DLFXXXSSAA enabled, and it seems they're stupid enough willing to pay thousands to get it.
Uh, someone else is calling out the consumers...
I'm currently running on a 50$ 960 2GB too and idgaf about the newer cards unless I get at least the same performance per watt + performance per buck combo

If you buy the fastest car...or a 'supercar' in general (RTX 3080/90 + 6800XT/6900XT), the price hick-up may be justified! But throw that shit into low-end/mid-tier (best selling products), and you'll be facing backlash from the peers who used to consider brand new GPUs in that $$$ range.

Cash in, cash out...but sooner or later they'd be burned out
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