TrendForce Finds Panel Makers Turn to Developing High-Value Products as Notebook Panel Shipments Fall Short of Expectations

The August shipments of notebook display panels grew 21% over the prior month to 14.43 million units, according to the latest large-size panel shipment report from WitsView, a division of TrendForce. Though the August result was impressive, inventory pressure continues to build and demand has been weak compared with the prior year. Based on WitsView’s estimation, just 41.74 million units of notebook panels will be shipped this third quarter, a 4% quarterly drop compared with 43.43 million units shipped this second quarter (which also had a shorter base period). Facing lackluster shipments, panel makers are shifting their focus from volumes to high-value products.

Wide-view angle, for instance, has become one of the value-added features to be widely incorporated in display panel products. South Korean panel makers are the most active developers of wide-view angle products since they are pioneers in this field and have a technological edge. The leading South Korean panel makers, LG Display and Samsung Display Corporation, are expected to have wide-view angle products representing 25~30% of their respective notebook panel shipments for this year. Though China-based BOE Technology Group is a latecomer to the notebook market, it has emerged as one of the major players and its share of wide-view angle products in its notebook panel shipments for this year is projected to reach 10%. Taiwanese panel makers in contrast are concentrating on developing products based on TN (Twisted Nematic) technology, so the share of wide-view angle products in their combined shipments for this year is estimated just around 5%. On the whole, wide-view angle products are projected to account for 17% of the worldwide notebook panel shipments in 2015. Besides the marketing activities of panel makers, the merging of the notebook and tablet application will blur the distinctions among products. Strong demand from wide-view angle displays will come from 2-in-1 devices sized 13.3 inches and under. The penetration rate of this technology is therefore anticipated to rise further to 26% in 2016.

Another feature change in display panels involves the resolution spec, which is moving towards Full HD and above. Strategically speaking, the current HD products have razor-thin margins as competing panel makers continues to undercut each other. Products with higher resolutions by contrast will offer more room for price negotiation. Furthermore, major panel makers are on the same page and have become more aggressive in upgrading their products. Therefore, the share of panels with Full HD or above resolution specs in the annual panel shipments is forecast to grow significantly from 13% in 2014 to 20% this year. With mainstream TVs and mobile phones migrating to higher resolutions, notebooks will soon follow this development path. Niche markets such as gaming notebooks and notebooks with the narrow bezel feature are also emerging, thereby increasing the application demand for advanced display resolutions. WitsView thus expects the share of products with advanced resolution specs within the annual notebook panel shipments to grow up to 30% in 2016.