LCD shipments slowing

October 31, 2008 by Dave Haynes

You can get a pretty good sense of where the LCD market is at and what sizes buyers are settling on by looking at DisplaySearch’s quarterly reports on shipments.
 
The latest round suggests, surprise, demand has slowed and year to year growth was upo only seven per cent, compared to 40 per cent this time last year.
 
The report also suggests panel malers are hurting from a lack of orders and don’t expect Q1 to be very good.
 
In terms of what gets made and who does it:
  • Shipments of LCD monitor panels were 45.9 million in Q3’08, down 13% Q/Q and 8% Y/Y. This figure includes LCD monitor panels used in pure LCD TVs. With this trend in mind, 19”W and 17”SXGA remain the two largest segments for actual LCD monitor panel production with 28.8% and 15.4% shares, respectively. However, new 16:9 panels—15.0”W, 15.6”W, 17.0”W, 18.5”W, 20”W, 21.5”W, 23”W and 24.0”W—doubled their share to 13.4% in Q3’08, up from just 7% in Q2’08. It is expected that 16:9 share will grow to 18.5% in Q4’08.
  • TV panels reached a historical high of 28.4 million units in Q3’08, up 14% Q/Q and 19% Y/Y. Full HD continues its strong market penetration and reached 34% of all LCD TV panel shipments in Q3’08, up from 29% in Q2’08. For 40” and above, FHD share was 79%, up from 73% in Q2’08. Meanwhile, 32”FHD grew rapidly, reaching shipments of 1.1 million units, compared to 580K in Q2’08.
  • 40” and above panels accounted for 32% of TV panels in Q3’08, nearly unchanged from the 31% in Q2’08. The 40” and above TV panel demand is influenced by the weak economy in North America and Europe; TV panel demand is focused on 32” and below, as the unclear economic outlook leads consumers to choose smaller and less expensive LCD TVs.
  • On a unit basis, Samsung remained the shipment leader in large-area TFT LCD with 21.6% market share, almost unchanged from 21.5% market share in Q2’08. Just behind Samsung for the quarter were LG Display with 21.4% and AUO with 17.9%. AUO’s share of unit shipments fell below 20% for the second time in seven quarters. CMO ranked #4 with 15.1% in Q3’08, followed by CPT with 5.6%.
Part of what that all means, and I deal with this quite a bit, is that in the small LCD panel stuff for the shelf edge, you want to be thinking in terms of conforming your plans to the sizes that are getting cranked out overseas. Clients ask about putting 8 inch or 12 inch screens in, instead of larger ones, thinking smaller is cheaper. But it doesn’t really work that way (except 7 inchers, which are made  in the gazillions for the consumer market. ie picture frames and DVD players). A 12 inch screen is a niche product, and will typically cost a LOT more than a 17 inch screen. Problem is, the 17 also takes up more shelf (meaning product) space.
 
Full report here 
  1. we both have those traditional picture frames and digital picture frames at home. both are great for displaying family pictures ~**

Leave a Reply to Air Purifiers Cancel reply