The Global Average Retail Price for LED Lamps Has Steadily Decreased

The global average retail price for LED lamps has steadily decreased on a monthly basis from US$30 in September to US$28 in Novembe, according to IMS Research The biggest decline in LED lamp prices was seen in the Chinese market, where the average price fell 62% from US$30 to US$11. The price of 60W replacement A19 lamps fell 38%, while the price of 20W MR 16 replacement lamps fell 52%. It appears that China-based manufacturers have also been pushing to increase the efficiency of their lamps, with lumens/watt increasing 24% from September to November. As for the US market, November is the first month that Samsung lamps has been sold in Lowe's home improvement stores. The company has seven new PAR (parabolic aluminized reflector) and MR (multifaceted reflector) replacement lamps available and one 50W incandescent replacement. It appears that Samsung is delaying the introduction of its other incandescent replacement lamps available in other countries. In the Japan market, November is the first month that a 40W incandescent replacement lamp has been priced under JPY1,000 (US$13). The average price of 40W replacement lamps in Japan is still over US$30. According to IMS Research, of the 31 incandescent replacement lamps tracked in South Korea, 26 were mislabeled with regards to their wattage replacement. The average luminous output of LED lamps labeled as 60W replacements was 505 lumens, almost 200 lumens below the threshold used by IMS Research for a 60W replacement. As for the rest of the world, over 480 LED lamps tracked by IMS Research in 12 countries, only 32 (7%) were for 60 and 75W replacements, with no 100W replacement lamps (using IMS Research metrics) on the market. Achieving omnidirectional light distribution while keeping costs low, generating enough lumens and dealing with heat dissipation are the biggest constraints for lamp manufacturers to penetrate mainstream applications. Source: www.digitimes.com