Brits rush to buy giant 85-inch televisions as major retailor sees spike in sales

Giant TV screens are hugely popular, with one major retailer reporting a spike in sales of 85in screens and larger sets.

The rush could be due to people not wanting to miss any of the action involving captain Harry Kane’s England at Euro 24 in Germany. Currys’ cheapest 85in model is £999 and its most expensive is a 98in Samsung costing £9,449. Chief executive Alex Baldock said: “Large-screen TVs, over 85in, are the fastest-growing segment for us at the moment.”

Televisions were an uncommon sight before the Second World War, with only around 20,000 sets in Britain. The Marconiphone model 709, with a 9-in screen, was released in 1938. When war was declared, broadcasts were discontinued and sets could only be used for their radios.

TVs

Original TV sets back in the 1950s were typically 9-12in. By the 1960s, 75% of homes had one, with an average screen size of 17in.

From 1998 to 2018, sizes in the US doubled from 23in to 47in. In 2013 the average in the UK was 33in .By 2019, 95 percent of UK households had at least one television set. Almost 1m had five or more sets by 2020.

Currys also said sales of air fryers rose by 49% last year, as people embraced energy efficiency and healthy eating. Mr Baldock added: “ Gaming is on fire, and AI-enabled gaming PCs are going really well. We expect AI-powered products to be the single most exciting innovation since the tablet in 2010.

“Lots of people thought the camera was in decline. Well, action cameras and drones have contradicted that.”

Currys reported a pre-tax profit of £28million last year, a big improvement on the £462million loss the year before. The company, which has 719 stores around the world, has saved hundreds of millions of pounds by making cuts across its UK and Ireland operations.