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Funai VCR

Lasted

about 31 years

1985  →  July 2016

Cause of death
Killed by cost
Made by
Funai Electric

Funai halted VCR production because its key component suppliers had left a market too small to serve.

Funai started building videotape players in 1983 and recorders in 1985, and at the peak the industry was shipping 15 million machines a year. In 2015 Funai made 750,000, and the component suppliers it depended on walked away from a market that had shrunk that far. A company spokesman said Funai would like to keep going to meet customer requests but could no longer get the parts, which made it the last company on earth to build a VCR.

Standing in the archive

Rank 47 of 127 by lifespan. Funai VCR outlasted 63% of everything else on file.

Cite this entry

"Funai VCR." How Long It Lasted, https://www.howlongitlasted.com/thing/funai-vcr.

Died nearby

Sources

Last checked by a human on 24 July 2026