About 50% of the consumers prefer a curved TV over a flat model, according to consumer research from Sony. Despite the numbers, the company has only a few curved TVs in their product lineup and mainly showcased flat TVs during CES in Las Vegas. During the technology exhibition competitors LG and Samsung announced they will mainly release curved TVs.
"We want consumers to have something to choose", Motoi Kawamura, Head of Sony's TV Marketing and Product Planning explains the addition of curved TVs to Sony's product lineup. Sony announced its first curved TV relative late, in 2014.
From consumer research the company has learned about 50% of the consumers prefer a curved TV over a TV with a flat panel. According to Sony curved TVs are more popular in Europe than in the United States but the company didn't close any exact numbers.
Samsung will fully wager on curved TVs in its more expensive lineup but also wants to give consumers something to choose. Lysa Clavenna, Head of Innovations of Samsung Europe expects the market share of curved TVs will slowly increase. "I'm not expecting a tsunami of curved TVs."
According to Clavenna flat TVs have important advantages and it's obvious consumers don't want a curved TV in their kitchen or bedroom, for example because the rooms are smaller. In the end Samsung listens to consumers, "if the market decides it wants curved TVs, then that's great for us."
TP Vision, the company that develops and manufacturers Philips branded TVs is sceptical about curved TVs and claims flat TVs have better image quality. According to the company curved TVs can cause image distortion on the edges of the screen and additionally reduce good viewing angles. Nevertheless, also Philips announced curved TVs for the same reason as Sony, because there's demand.
