Are 4K UHD TVs becoming mainstream?

When 4K UDTVs were introduced a couple of years ago, many speculated that it will take a very long time for the market to shift to the new technology because of so many reasons.

Among them is the scarcity of 4K content that can be shown and enjoyed on the high-res TVs. Second, only large-sized TVs will have greater benefit from a higher resolution, somewhere in the range of 55 inches and larger. The third and perhaps the biggest reason is the price tag. Most of the first and second-generation UHDTVs are very expensive, almost more than twice the retail price of their equivalent full HD models.

It took the market about 3 to 5 years to transition from HD (720p) to full HD (1080p) and, as such, it made a bit of sense that the shift from full HD to 4K (quad-1080p) will take much longer than that.

Nevertheless, TV manufacturers continue to produce different variants and sizes starting from 32-inch right up to 105 inches.

Recently though, we’ve seen some aggressive pricing adjustments for 4K TVs.

The bigger and more expensive ones, with price tags between Php500,000USD 8,520INR 722,300EUR 8,115CNY 62,050 to Php1.5USD 0.03INR 2EUR 0.02CNY 0.19 million, are still beyond the reach of the mid-tier market and the movement in that segment is quite slow but noticeable.

However, the entry-level models have seen pretty sweet deals lately. These are the 42-inch to 55-inch models that are priced below Php100,000USD 1,704INR 144,460EUR 1,623CNY 12,410.

In our recent visits to several appliance stores within Metro Manila in the last two months, we’ve personally observed the drastic adjustments in this price category.

Perhaps the most attractive offer we’ve seen is a 42-inch LG 4K UHDTV being sold for just Php32,990USD 562INR 47,657EUR 535CNY 4,094 from the previous price of Php49,990USD 852INR 72,216EUR 811CNY 6,204 (the discounted price is based on cash or straight credit card purchase).

With a similar promo, the store was also offering the same 42-inch UHDTV along with a 32-inch full HD 3D TV for a bundled price of Php43,000USD 733INR 62,118EUR 698CNY 5,336. That puts the price of the additional 32-inch HDTV at just Php10,000USD 170INR 14,446EUR 162CNY 1,241. That’s already a good deal right there.

Scouting around for other promos, the one above is perhaps the best bang for the buck. It was such a good deal we immediately took the second offer and bought the two TV sets on my second visit to the appliance store.

The sales rep who assisted us with the purchase commented that it was their more popular TV bundle for some time and have sold quite a number of units that month.

As a comparison, about 12 months ago, we also bought a 42-inch Sony HDTV for the almost the same price tag as the current 4K UHDTV of the same display size. In just a year, the price adjustments from 1080p to 4K TVs have somewhat evened out.

That right there is a good indication that mass adoption of 4K TVs is coming sooner than later.

For the longest time, most TV buyers are leaning towards bigger display sizes when looking to upgrade. However, the ceiling for comfortable and affordable TV sizes has already plateaued.

Perhaps the next major factor when upgrading to a new TV set is 4K resolution rather than display size. That remains to be seen but the trend is already starting.