What to watch in 2015...
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For the most part we expect the TV world to be considerably calmer next year than it was in 2014, at least in technology terms.
In other words, we expect to see brands consolidating this year's key innovations – curved TVs, 4K TVs and, in LG's case, OLED – rather than coming up with radical new designs and technologies.
This could be great news for the consumer. For 'consolidation' of new technology almost always means plummeting prices. So we expect 4K prices to almost halve again for 2015 having halved already for 2014. OLED prices, too, may halve, though LG may not feel too pressurised unless other brands re-enter the OLED market (which doesn't seem likely).
4K will get cheaper...
"In 2015, 4K will become a standard feature in many more TVs at more agreeable prices"
A couple of other key points about 4K are that it will start appearing on more and more screens next year (in fact, it could well be almost de facto on TVs with 50-inch screens or bigger); and that we'll really start to see content providers trying to catch up with the 4K hardware revolution.
It will be interesting to see if current 'curve sceptic' Panasonic joins Sony, Philips, LG and, of course, Samsung in offering curved screens in its range; our suspicion is that it will.
Bendable TVs are coming...
On the subject of curves, we suspect the main hardware innovation for 2015 will be 'bendable' TVs. LG and Samsung have already confirmed that they will be launching TVs where you can select whether you want your TV to work in flat or curved form, depending, say, on how many people are watching it.
Things might be more interesting on the software side, as other brands may scrabble to try and 'catch up' with LG's webOS smart TV system. Certainly we expect to see more attempts to turn every source, even each input, into its own app, to support better multi-tasking.
Home automation
"One other area where we might just see some gentle first moves is home automation"
One other area where we might just see some gentle first moves is home automation.
We've seen previous clumsy attempts to sell the concept of the TV as a central hub for a wider home monitoring and control system, but these rather vague efforts have suddenly been given a whole new focus since Apple started to get 'serious' in this area with the launch of its HomeKit app for its phones, tablets and Apple TV device.
Who knows – we might even finally get word of the long-mythologised Apple television. Though as we argued recently, this may be one dream you're best not holding your breath for…
