by Jason Snell
Samsung dims the lights on LEDs
According to this Reuters report, Samsung is getting out of the LED light bulb business outside of South Korea. This follows Philips announcing in July that it’s spinning off its LED business.
These companies are abandoning LED light bulbs because the market is apparently transforming into a low-price, low-margin business. In other words, LED bulbs are getting dramatically cheaper, and they both last longer and use less energy than traditional bulbs. I’ve got a few LED bulbs in my home, and they’re a much better replacement for traditional incandescent bulbs than compact fluorescents ever were.
So, bad news for Samsung and other businesses betting on big margins for bulbs, but good news for everyone else.