LG has confirmed to Pocket-lint that it will be shutting down its plasma television production line before the end of 2014, possibly even next month. However, it still believes that there is a market for the technology, even though it will no longer be making panels itself.

The company had previously hinted at a suspension of its plasma production, in favour of ramping up manufacture of OLED television panels, but LG Electronics president Ha Hyun-hwoi didn't elaborate.

Pocket-lint has since learnt though that the company would have liked to continue building and selling plasma TVs because the market is still there for cheap large screen sets, especially in South America, but component manufacturers will no longer supply the necessary parts to make them.

LG's Hugo Shin, in charge of communication for TV, told us that while the company has not decided on the actual timeline for the cessation of PDP production it is definitely the end. "We feel that this year is the end for PDP," he said.

Mr K I Kwon, president of LG Electronics UK and Ireland elaborated: "It is very difficult to procure the components for plasma."

LG will instead be pooling its manufacturing efforts into LED and OLED, with the latter TV technology being focused primarily towards the premium end of the TV market. And while the company will consider flat OLED TVs in future, most of its panels featuring the tech will be curved because it believes that is what the market wants most.

However, because production is increasing rapidly, it also thinks that prices will come down over the next year or so, especially at around the 55-inch screen size.