TV Trouble: The Flat Panel Market Goes Soft

Well, this was inevitable.

The weakening economy has begun to take a toll in the global market for televisions, which has ominous implications for consumer electronics retailers, flat panel manufacturers and TV chip producers.

In a note this morning, Longbow Research analyst Tayyib Shah says checks with both OEMs and panel vendors “indicate weak demand patterns in the overall TV market.” He says those TV makers who will meet Q2 guidance on units are doing so only through share gains. In the U.S. market, he writes, soft demand has triggered a decline in ASPs, “as consumers shift to cheaper, smaller models.”

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