The last two major holdouts for including 3D support in TVs have succumbed to the inevitable. Both Sony and LG have announced that they will stop supporting 3D by the end of 2017.
This follows Samsung and Philips's announcements last year, when both companies revealed their (then) latest TVs will no longer feature support for 3D playback.
All of this follows a CES in Las Vegas that features almost no mention of 3D supporting TVs, from smaller companies such as TCL and Sharp.
Speaking to CNET, LG's Tim Alessi explained that lack of consumer enthusiasm for the technology was the main reason the company decided to cut 3D support and focus on technologies that users actually want.
"3D capability was never really universally embraced in the industry for home use, and it's just not a key buying factor when selecting a new TV," says Alessi. "Purchase process research showed it's not a top buying consideration, and anecdotal information indicated that actual usage was not high. We decided to drop 3D support for 2017 in order to focus our efforts on new capabilities such as HDR, which has much more universal appeal."
Market analysis firm NPD notes that sales of 3D capable TVs have been dropping steadily since 2012. The "purchase motivators" for consumers buying TVs has changed, says the NPD.
"Things like 4K/UHD, HDR and even smart have become the key features along with screen size that consumers are buying on," explains Ben Arnold, executive director at NPD.
Despite these latest setbacks, 3D still appears to have a place within the wider cinematic industry, with 3D movies still popular at cinemas. Some users are still firmly attached to the home version of the technology, with a Change.org petition calling on LG to bring back 3D support receiving more than 6,300 signatures already at the time of publishing.
Home
