LG and Samsung both cutting TV output to focus on mobile displays for tablets and smartphones

Samsung Electronics just announced plans to cut its monthly TV panels output by 80% by year-end, and transform some of the existing lines to the making of displays for tablets, notebooks and other mobile gadgets.

A similar move was made the other day by LG, which will cut its capital expenditure by 25%, citing TV set cannibalization by smartphones and tablets. LG plans spending mere $2.8 billion next year, scratching the plans for a new factory due to weakened demand. LG is rumored to be the main supplier of high-resolution displays for the iPad 3, and displays for the next iPhone, so any idle or misaligned capacity has to be put into good use.

LG's own smartphone and tablet lineup struggles to return a profit, but the 3rd largest handset maker was the first to come up with a dual-core and 3D-enabled phone this year, not to mention it bragged about its new 4.5" IPS-LCD display sporting better visuals than Samsung's Super AMOLED Plus technology, so the quarterly losing streak trend might be reversed at some point.

source: Reuters