consumer electronics

Last VCR Manufacturer to Stop Production

The company cited a lack of demand and difficulty acquiring parts

The once-revolutionary videocassette recorder is headed for the technological cemetery, 40 years after it first hit markets.

Funai Electric, a Japanese consumer electronics company, released a statement Thursday that it will stop making VHS recorders at the end of the month, the Japanese Newspaper Nikkei reported.

The company, the only VCR manufacturer in the world, cited a lack of demand and difficulty acquiring parts.

While the company said it sold 15 million VCR units a year at its peak, only 750,000 were sold worldwide in 2015, the New York Times reported.

The VCR first awed the country in the 1950s, then costing around $50,000 each.

The recording device became increasingly popular in the 1980s, with VCRs in around 15 million homes by the end of 1984 and prices dropping to between $600 and $1,200.

However, the DVD quickly began to surpass videocassette sales after its introduction in 1995. Both hardware devices have increasingly declined since video streaming has taken hold.

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