Sharp brings largest LED TV to Europe

Sharp has released what it says is the biggest LED TV ever to go on sale in Europe.

The Aquos LC-90LE757 features a 90in (229cm) screen, trumping an 84in display from LG.

Sharp has offered the size in the US since June 2012 - the world's biggest market for jumbo-TVs - but said it now believed there was demand in the UK and rest of Europe for such a set.

One analyst said the local market was indeed growing, but remained "niche".

Fifty inch-and-larger TVs represent 6% of units currently sold in the UK, according to research firm GfK. However, it adds that the sector accounts for 16% of the sector's value due to the premium prices they command.

The trend is even more advanced in the US. According to the Consumer Electronics Association, 8% of all TVs sold in the country feature screens 60in or larger.

"In the States people have bigger houses and bigger rooms, so large TVs represent a larger proportion of the marketplace," GfK's Nigel Catlow told the BBC.

"But as the TVs get thinner, more rooms are able to take a big TV set, and screen size is the biggest driver for making people want to buy a new product."

Sharp posted a 545bn yen ($5.7bn; £3.7bn) net loss in its last financial year. It has since said that it is pursuing high shares of relatively small markets as part of its turnaround strategy.


/BBC/