AfterDawn: News

Panasonic Corp. has revealed plans to introduce new slimmer and more energy-efficient Plasma televisions to the Japanese market in a few months time. The company has slashed the thickness of its Plasma televisions by about three quarters. Additionally, the new Plasma sets will only consume about half the electricity of models currently available on the market.

While more expensive and power hungry than LCD, Plasma is a newer display technology that is believed to have plenty of room for improvement. Panasonic is the largest producer of Plasma TVs in the world, ahead of South Korea's Samsung Electronics. The improvements to its product line-up are part of an ambitious Panasonic goal to double its combined sales of LCD and Plasma TVs to 15.5 million units in the year beginning April.



At around 1-inch in depth, a new 50-inch model will be offered from Panasonic in Japan starting in April, with a price tag around 600,000 yen ($6,685). A 54-inch model will be priced higher at 700,000 yen. The new models will make it to the North American market in Summer. The 50-inch model consumes an estimated 260 kilowatt hours of electricity a year.

Written by: James Delahunty @ 4 Feb 2009 20:22