TV manufacturers largely stopped producing curved screens because they turned out to be a short-lived marketing gimmick with more drawbacks than benefits for typical home use.
Curved TVs peaked around 2013–2016 (pushed heavily by Samsung and a few others), but by the early 2020s they had mostly disappeared from lineups. Today, they’re essentially extinct except for a handful of niche or legacy models — flat panels dominate for good reason.
Here are a few of the reasons why curved screens failed:
Bad for group viewing
The curve only creates an immersive, wrapped-around effect if you’re sitting dead-center and relatively close. From the sides of the couch or while moving around the room, you get distorted edges, warped images, uneven brightness, and off-color shifts. TVs are designed for families and friends watching together — curved screens make that worse, not better.
No meaningful picture-quality advantage
In real-world living rooms, the immersion benefit was barely noticeable unless you were in the sweet spot. Reviewers and consumers quickly realized flat screens delivered the same (or better) performance without the compromises.
Higher price for no extra value
Curved models cost significantly more to buy and manufacture. Flat panels are cheaper and easier to produce with consistent brightness, color, and pixel performance across the entire surface.
Practical headaches
TVs with curved screens were harder to wall-mount, more fragile, prone to exaggerated reflections and glare, and more expensive to repair.
Once the novelty wore off and sales dropped, brands shifted focus to real advancements like OLED, QLED, mini-LED, and better flat-panel tech. Curved screens simply didn’t deliver enough to justify staying in production.
(Note: Curved monitors still exist and make sense for desk use, where you sit close and centered—but that doesn’t translate well to living-room TVs.)
At the end of the day, manufacturers followed the market: consumers wanted practical, versatile TVs, not a trendy shape that only worked in ideal conditions. Flat screens won out because they’re simply better for how most people actually watch TV.
