The Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) technology seems to be living its last days. Samsung Electronics just released some statistics confirming the healthy growth on the sales of Liquid Crystal Display television sets and, to a lesser extent, of plasma screens.

The estimated sales of LCD televisions for 2006 is 42 million units, but in 2007 this number will jump to 66 million units, an year over year increase of more than 55%. Plasma screens will also grow annually almost 35%, passing from 10 million units in 2006 to 13 million units in 2007.

It appears that LCD televisions were outselling the old CRT televisions for a long time already, but the surpass materialized only in the third quarter of 2006. All the statistics are coming from the research firm DisplaySearch, and if we analyze the numbers quarter by quarter the growth rates are even greater. The third quarter of 2006 presented an increase of 99% compared to the same quarter of 2005, and the second quarter of 2006 registered an outstanding 135% growth compared to the second quarter of 2005.

Contrary to what we have seen sometime ago here, this research is saying that LCD televisions are also invading the market for large screens that was traditionally dominated by the plasma technology. Well, I guess it depends on the companies that are sponsoring the research…

Breaking down the competition Samsung appears as the worldwide leader for flat screen televisions (LCD + Plasma) with a market share of 11,2%. Samsung is not only the leader but it is gaining market share, during the third quarter of 2006 in fact it increased its market share by 0,6%. The second place goes for LG Electronics with 9,9% (down from 11,4% on the second quarter of 2006).

Via: Il Sole 24 Ore (Italian)