The SyncMaster 170T (see photo) will be available in the U.S. by summer, MacCentral has learned.
Also, Samsung Japan has reduced the price of the 15-inch SyncMaster 570STFT display from $712 to $510, a 28.4 percent reduction. The U.S. version of the monitor is expected to be reduced in price soon as well. The prices are some of the lowest price range for TFT-LCDs that are available in the market.
The price of flat-screen monitors continues to fall, as prices get closer to traditional CRT monitors. Tim Cook, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Operations, told market analysts in early February that the gap will lead to “dramatic price elasticity,” and as a result, demand for flat panel displays will pick up significantly.
Samsung opened a new production line for liquid crystal, flat-panel displays at its manufacturing plant in Korea last August. Part of the production facility is that financed by Apple to the tune of $100 million. Aside from the financial reward, Apple will use the Samsung products in its own flat-panel computer displays.
The production line can produce nine 14.1-inch, six 17-inch or four 21.3-inch TFT- (thin film transistor) LCD panels from one glass substrate in a more efficient, cost-effective process.
Samsung is the world’s largest manufacturer of TFT-LCD panels, according the IDC Japan, with a 20.5 per cent share of the global market during the first half of 2000.