TrendForce: iPad Air/iPad mini2 Panel Yield Lifting, October Tablet Panel Shipment Peaked

According to WitsView, the display research division of the global intelligence provider TrendForce, the large-sized panel shipment for October 2013 reached 70.61 million units, rising 2.1% MoM.

With the year-end shopping season coming in the U.S. and Europe, on top of international brands’ restocking demand and Chinese brands’ inventory replenishment for some sizes, panel makers cut price to boost sales to clients and agents as the utilization remains high and the end market demand is limited, resulting in a small decline in the October LCD TV panel shipment, which is 19.56 million units, declining 0.1% MoM.

As the IT panel demand was as weak as expected and main brands’ held financial settlement and inventory adjustments, the monitor panel shipment trimmed 4% MoM to 12.98 million units. The 10”-and-above NB panel shipment attained 13.69 million units, declining 9.2% MoM.

As for tablet panel shipment, thanks to the rising production yield of LGD, the main panel suppliers of the iPad series, the short supply of iPad Air and iPad mini 2 panels eased slightly, besides, Lenovo and Samsung actively prepared shipments to gain the Q4 tablet market shares, lifting the tablet panel demand. The tablet panel shipment for October reached 24.38 million units, rising 16% MoM.

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

Source: WitsView

The tablet panels demand in Q4’13 remains high, and main brands actively promote new models to share the year-end holiday period sales. Apple reveals new iPad Air and iPad mini 2 to fight against other brands. According to WitsView research manager Jeffy Chen, the panels of the 9.7” iPad Air are mainly supplied by LG Display(LGD) and Samsung Display, and those of the 7.9” iPad mini 2 are offered by LGD and Sharp. As LGD is the leading producer of the two new models, it stays ahead of the other two makers in terms of R&D and MP and controls keys to production process that affect yield, such as the narrow bezel and the high resolution, while Samsung and Sharp run into different technology bottlenecks that hamper the yield.

The smooth panel shipment of new models is direct related to Apple’s sales in Q4, with LGD’s breakthrough on production yield, WitsView expects the panel supply for the two models to reach 20 million units, and the ratio between iPad Air and iPad mini 2 is 75% : 35%. The main supplier LGD with rising production yield would help gain a market share over 65%.

According to WitsView, the overall large-sized panel shipment growth in November is likely to reach 4-5%. Supported by Chinese brands’ restocking for Chinese New Year, the shipment volume would be similar as that in October. After an adjustment in October, the IT market sees warming up shipment momentum, and the monitor panel and the NB panel will respectively show 6% and 8% growth, with much lower shipment volumes than the same period last year. The tablet panel shipment will continue to surge 3-4%.