Leading lighting companies like Philips Lighting and Cree predict that LED bulbs are soon to overtake the mass-market with their new highly competitive price of $10 a piece.
The incredible drop in the cost of the most popular 60-watt bulbs was announced by Ed Crawford, CEO of Philips earlier this week. Just yesterday, Mike Watson, the CEO of Cree- one of the biggest competitors on the market, announced their new price list, indicating that company’s 40-watt LED bulb will be cheaper than $10 while the 60-watt will be in the range between $12.97 and $13.97.
Cree’s strategy is to have a product under the $10 threshold just so consumers are more willing to try it out. The company cannot promise such price for their 60-watt products by the end of the year, but if the competitors do, then Cree might have to do the same.
The two categories- 40-watt and 60-watt are the most popular amongst consumers and therefore the most important to lighting companies. It is hard to believe that only a few years ago, the cost of such LED bulb was around $40. Thanks to the increasing production volume and various technological innovations. Philips now sells the items for $15.
The price drop of Philips products will be possible thanks to a combination of design changes and improvements, including efficient way of binning products used for testing. In addition, the company cuts down the expenses for materials and cooling. At the same time, the makers are focusing on improving the efficiency of LED semiconductors, which ultimately means that the payback will be apparent.
According to Crawford, these innovations might bring the price down to $5 a bulb in the next few years. This is still more expensive than conventional halogen or compact florescent lights, but the company is already thinking of introducing wireless chips in LEDs allowing control that has never been possible before.
