Large-sized Panel Shipment Reached 69.41M units, rising 6.3% MoM, says TrendForce

According to the latest survey by WitsView, the display research division of the global intelligence provider TrendForce, the large-sized panel shipment in May came to 69.41 M units, rising 6.3% MoM.

The LCD TV panel shipment came to 20.81 M units in May, rising 1.5% MoM and growing 2.3% from the same period last year. It showed the demand for panels didn’t cool down because of the weakening Labor Days sales and has been staying above 20 M units since March. The monitor panel shipment attained 13.67 M units, growing 2.9% MoM. The NB panel shipment reached 16.8 M units, growing 9.3% MoM. The tablet panel shipment shows clearly rebounding momentum, and the overall shipment totaled 18.11 M units in May, rising 12.4% MoM.

WitsView projects that the large-sized panel shipment in June would stay on par with that of May. However, the TV panel shipment would decline 5%, the monitor panel drops 2-3%, the NB panel shipment trims 5% as the capacity is squeezed by the mid-and small-sized panels, and the tablet panel shipment would grow 10% MoM.

“The TV sales during China’s Labor Day holiday period dropped 10% YoY, but the UHD TV models showed relatively excellent sales result with a penetration rate as high as 11.3%. In addition, with the FIFA World Cup Games starting in Brazil in June and the trend for high-definition transmission of games, the demand for UHD(4K2K) TV panels continues to rise,” says Witsview Senior Research Manager Jeffy Chen. Based on WitsView’s survey, the UHD TV panel shipment in May reached 1.46 M units, growing 2% MoM.

“TV brands think out of the box of the conventional design to promote the UHD TVs,” adds Chen. “On top of the UHD panels using conventional RGB pixel arrangement, the RGBW products are also applied.” As the 3D TVs are less accepted than previously projected, certain brands’ UHD TVs of 50”and under use only 2D displays, while others launch large UHD TVs, such as the 65”, with frame rate of only 60hz. The debuts of these products indicate brands are making trade-off of different degrees between production costs and functions to satisfy the demands in all segments to propel the UHD TV sales and stable profits.

WitsView believes that as product spec starts to see more flexible designs, it would narrow the gap between the end selling prices of UHD and FHD TVs and lift the demand for UHD TVs. The UHD TV panel shipment would reach 4.4 M units in Q2’14 and the penetration rate of UHD TV panels in the quarter would attain 7%.