Strategy Analytics reports in a new survey that consumers are projected to spend more than $100 billion on a global basis on flat-panel plasma and LCD products from all manufacturers (nearly all of them 720p, 1080p and 1080i) in calendar year 2007, cumulating with the brisk upcoming holiday selling season.
The research analyst predicts LCD and plasma sales of 73.7 million flat-panel sets on a worldwide level—growing retail revenues to an estimated $104.9 billion, representing a jump of about 17 percent.
Strategy Analytics said that while HD is considered a major factor in the rosy projections (with HD-ready units representing nearly three-quarters of all flat-panel sales), plasma’s share continues to trend down—falling from more than 17 percent last year to under 16 percent for 2007.
Flat-panel ownership has crossed the 40-percent threshold for U.S. households (and just under 30-percent in Europe). But while the new report projects annual flat-panel sales reaching 180 million units by 2012, it also concludes that flat-panel revenue will peak sometime in 2009 at slightly more than $130 billion—and then begin to decline.
