WitsView, a division of TrendForce, reports that the global shipments of branded TV sets for the third quarter of 2017 totaled 54.99 million units, showing an increase of 16% from the second quarter and a year-on-year decline of 4.0%. The third quarter is traditionally a busy period for TV shipments. Furthermore, the recent drop in panel prices is gradually taking away the cost pressure on TV brands, bolstering their confidence in expanding their shipments. WitsView expects the TV market to remain positive through the fourth quarter. Nevertheless, the strong results in the second half of this year are unlikely going to offset three consecutive quarters of year-on-year declines. WitsView therefore has lowered its estimate of this year’s annual global shipments to 210 million units, down 4.2% from the previous year.
Themed as “development trends and opportunities of components industry” and “outlook on industrial innovation and application trends,” the IT Industry Forecast for 2018 was held by TrendForce, a global provider of market intelligence on technology industries, at the Jumeirah Himalayas Hotel Shanghai on October 26, 2017. The event was attended by 500 professionals ranging from talents of such high-tech industries as semiconductor, artificial intelligence (AI) and network communications to representatives of financial institutions and mainstream media. The symposium was kicked off by an opening speech delivered by Dr. C. L. Liu, president of TrendForce. Also, Dr. Yan Xiaolang, vice chairman of China Semiconductor Industry Association (CSIA) and head of professionals group on the construction of demonstration microelectronics college in China, participated in the conference and shared his insights on the global technology industries.
The latest research on the LCD monitor market by WitsView, a division of TrendForce, finds that product shipments were fairly subdued in the first half of 2017. In the beginning of the year, prices were high for small-size TN panels that are generally used in products suited for driving shipments. Brand vendors working mainly on the consumer segment of the monitor market thus opted to focus on selling high-margin products rather than growing their overall shipments. Their product mixes during the first half of the year favored large-size segments and niche applications.
WitsView, a division of TrendForce, reports that global LCD TV panel shipments for August totaled 23.02 million units, showing an increase of 8.2% from July and a year-on-year drop of 2.5%. WitsView also says that the August shipments represent the highest monthly volume in the TV panel market for this year so far. This turnaround from the weak shipment result in July was attributed to two consecutive months of declining panel prices and increasing stock-up activities ahead of holiday events in the major markets including the U.S., Europe and China.
Trends in the display industry are heavily influenced by the developments in the consumer electronics markets, and this is seen in the rapid growth of the OLED panel market due to the rising demand from smartphone and TV brands. In its recent analyses of the panel market by technology, WitsView, a division of TrendForce, finds that the market share of OLED in the small size bracket continues to grow at the expense of LCD’s market share. Furthermore, WitsView anticipates OLED’s representation in the smartphone market will increase substantially following the release of iPhone X. With Apple expected to support this display technology in the future, the percentage of OLED models in the total annual smartphone shipments worldwide is projected to climb from 28% this year to 33% in 2018.