TrendForce：4K2K products had 6% penetration rate in April above 50” TV panel market

According to the survey by WitsView, the display research division of the global intelligence provider TrendForce, the global large-sized panel shipment in April 2013 was 65.2 million units, dropping 5% MoM.

Dragged down by China’s weakening procurement for the May 1st holidays, the demands in April for the 26” and under, the 32”, and the 46”trimmed from the previous month, and the April LCD TV panel shipment declined 5.4% to 19.41 million units. The monitor panel shipment dropped 3% MoM in April to a total amount of 13.88 million units due to the adjustment. The above 10.1”NB panel saw a shipment of 14.08 million units, declining 11% MoM, on certain brands’ quarter-end financial settlement concern and softening procurement momentum. 

As for the tablet shipment, despite Apple started to adjust panel inventory and led to a significant drop in panel shipment (the 7.9” and the 9.7”) of the iPad series compared to the previous month, Samsung contrarily actively boosted the 8” WXGA tablet products along with white-box’s strong demand for the 7” WXGA and the 8” XGA products. Hence, the April tablet shipment decline was not as clear as expected, and the total shipment attained 17.85 million units, trimming 1%.  
   
WitsView’s research manager Jeffy Chen says along with Taiwanese makers’ mass production on new sizes, the 39” and the 50”, in Q4 2011 and the success in diversification strategy, AUO has announced the profits to its panel business from Q1 this year, besides, Innolux has ended its 10 quarters of losses and turned from loss to profit. 

As the new sizes continue to influence the monitor market, the 19.5” monitor panel, on which Innolux leads the development, gains traction among brand clients. Korean makers LG Display has also joined the mass-production of it and boosted the shipments on monthly basis. The 19.5” panel accounted for 5.2% of the total April shipment and is expected to see a 2H13 market share exceeding 8.5% for the 20”(16:9) and 7% for the 19”(16:10) with AUO expectedly participating in the mass-production in Q2.

Besides, benefiting from the aggressive promotion for 4K2K super high resolution TV products by Japanese brands SONY, Toshiba, and China top 6 brands, panel makers’ 4K2K TV panel business was constantly supported in April. The 4K2K product shipment, including Innolux’s 39”, 50”, 58”, and 65”, AUO’s 55” and 65”, CSOT’s 55”, LGD’s 84”, and Samsung Display’s 85”, surged 5% from the previous month. On the whole, the penetration rate for the 4K2K super high resolution TV panel shipment in April is 0.8%, but the 4K2K marketing campaign focuses on the 50”-and-above large-sized TVs, the 4K2K penetration rate reaches 6% among the 50” TVs and above, Chen adds.

Chart 1: TFT-LCD Panel Shipment in Apr-13 (K units)