Sales of flat screen televisions have for the first time exceeded demanded for conventional TVs, according to retail chain Argos.
Argos said plummeting prices have driven the shift to the new slim line plasma and LCD screens which now account for 63 per cent of all its unit sales.
The firm said a 15-inch LCD screen costing £379.99 in 2003 now costs £169.99 while a 42-inch plasma screen sells for £999.999, down from £1799.99 last year.
It also said the increasing popularity of the new technology has changed the way people lay out their living rooms.
Conventional televisions have often been put in the corner of rooms to accommodate their protruding picture tube and furniture arranged around it.
But the new screens have changed all that, according to Argos television buyer Jonathon Kemp.
He said: "For decades, every item of furniture has been chosen to enable people to stare into the corner of the room where the TV used to be.
"But flat screen TVs have shifted the focal point to the middle of the room.
"As well as creating a revolution in the way we watch television, there's no doubt flat screen TVs are changing the orientation of the nation's living rooms."
A spokesman for Dixons said plasma and LCD screens now accounted for 70% of all its television sales by value.
