system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: How is it that large LCD flat panel displays have gotten so cheap?. I remember hearing 20 years ago that the LCD displays were created from a single crystal, but this can't be possible for the 100" panels now available. What advancement in manufacturing made this possible?
gpt
In a lot of cases it's not a major breakthrough, just progressive improvements in the process and tools. If you start out with 1 panel in 10 being defective, you're wasting a lot of time and materials and have to price the other 9 to compensate. Think about how common "dead pixels" were 10 years ago. Defect rates were so high that consumers were even willing to accept minor ones. Then as you continue to refine your process that number becomes 1 in 30, then 1 in 500, and as the amount of panels wasted to defects drops so does what you need to charge just to recoup costs. Couple that with economics of scale (sell more -> charge less) and you see substantial price drops.