TV Screens Are Getting Bigger and Bigger

Over the past decade and a half, television sets have undergone a radical transformation. The unbelievably heavy, bulky tube TV sets that used to be at the center of most living rooms until the early 2000s are (thankfully) a thing of the past, replaced by flat-panel TVs that are lighter, more energy efficient and allow for larger screen sizes.

While CRT televisions are technically limited to screen diagonals of no more than 40 inches, LCD, plasma and OLED TVs allow for much larger screen sizes without adding too much bulk. Thankfully for TV manufacturers around the world, consumers have an appetite for larger TV screens. While the average screen size for tube TVs used to be around 28 inch, flat-panel TVs started off with an average size of 32 inches and became bigger and bigger over the years.

In 2014, 63 percent of TV sets sold around the world had a 40+ inch screen, up from just 32 percent in 2009. And that’s not the end of it: according to estimates by IHS Technology, 40+ inch TVs will account for more than 80 percent of global TV sales by 2019.