Japanese hardware manufacturer Panasonic will cease production on its line of plasma television sets, according to a Nikkei report that cites unnamed sources familiar with the company's plans.
The move away from plasma screen TVs is hardly a surprise for a number of reasons. Plasma TVs are more power hungry and bulkier than the much more common line of LCD/LED televisions. And when it comes to picture quality, consumers are now turning their attention to 4K TV sets, which is slowly growing as more ultra-HD content becomes available. Panasonic also hasn't seen much financial success with its plasma TVs, either, with the company seeing $7.7 billion loss from the line of plasma TVs last year.
Nikkei's report indicates that Panasonic has already ended development on future plasma TVs and plans to end production of its line of plasmas by March 2014. However, you're likely to continue seeing Panasonic plasma TVs in retail for at least another year -- as that's how long it could take for the company to sell through its stock of TV sets.
Overall, people are buying fewer TVs, too. Research firm IHS iSuppli reported that there's a 6.3 percent drop in global TV shipments over the last year. That means people are holding on to their old sets and don't really feel the need to upgrade to newer models.