It is true that the Korean manufacturer had never formalized its near-abandonment of the [abc]4K[/abc] [abc]Ultra HD Blu-Ray[/abc] turntable market. However, except for Japan, which welcomed the LG UBK80 model in early 2024, nothing has changed for this product category at the Korean brand since 2018, the date of the introduction of the UBK80/UBK90 players.
LG abandons while 4K Ultra HD sales are increasing££££
In LG's defense, this is also more or less the case for other major audio-video brands, led by Panasonic and Sony: the references that appeared at the end of the 2010s are not renewed. However, their production is still ensured by their creator and Panasonic even mentions satisfactory and regular sales for its range of 4K Ultra HD Blu-Ray players. The news on 4K Ultra HD Blu-Ray discs has never been so rich, to the great delight of lovers of beautiful images and very good sound. Sales figures are also looking good in France, unlike all other segments of the physical video market (see our news Physical video market France 2024, the figures). And the trend observed in France in 2024 is the same almost everywhere in the world, the 4K Ultra HD format is growing significantly.
LG joins Samsung, 5 years later££££
With this announcement, LG is joining Samsung, which was the first to withdraw from the 4K Blu-Ray player market at the beginning of 2019 (see our news Samsung stops Blu-Ray and 4K Ultra HD Blu-Ray players). LG specifies that its decision is not completely final and is leaving itself the possibility of restarting production if the market starts to rise again. Hum… In the end, we must admit that LG's announcement will go completely unnoticed because the UBK80/UBK90 turntables have been unobtainable for several years in most countries. Where they are still available, they will disappear with the end of LG stocks.
Clarification, we are deliberately omitting game consoles with built-in 4K Ultra HD Blu-Ray players (PS5 and Xbox Series X) from this news. If they manage 4K Ultra HD discs, their image and sound performance are at best mediocre compared to that of a dedicated turntable. It is therefore, at most, a last resort.
