Sony to launch world's thinnest LCD TVs
TOKYO (Reuters) - Sony Corp said on Thursday it would launch the world's thinnest liquid crystal display (LCD) TVs this year, broadening its product line-up ahead of the critical year-end shopping season.
The new 40-inch model, which is 9.9 mm thick, is estimated to sell for 490,000 yen ($4,478) in Japan, Sony said.
The Japanese electronics and entertainment conglomerate will also offer the world's first LCD TVs that display 240 frames per second, compared with 120 frames for Sony's existing models.
More frames in a given time make fast-moving images in sports programs and action movies look seamless.
Sony, the world's second-largest LCD TV maker behind Samsung Electronics Co Ltd expects a 46-inch model with the 240 frame function to sell for around 400,000 yen.
Both models will go on sale in Japan on November 10, closely followed by overseas launches.
Sony said a slowing economy has had little effect on its LCD TV sales, and that the maker of Bravia brand flat TVs is on track to hit its target to sell 17 million LCD TVs in the year to March 2009.
Sony shares were down 0.7 percent at 4,140 yen, outperforming the Tokyo stock market's electrical machinery index IELEC. which fell 1.1 percent.
(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka)
