Global market research firm TrendForce held its IT Industry Forecast for 2017 on November 10 in Room 101 of National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH) International Convention Center. Below is a summary of presentations made by our analysts at the event’s morning session:
The latest report from WitsView, a division of TrendForce, finds that the supply of low-end panels for notebooks and tablets has declined as South Korean panel makers scale back production at some of their fabs and focus mainly on products for high-end applications. Global shipments of large-size LCD panels (7 inches and greater) will continue to contract in 2017, registering an annual decline of 2.4% to around 725 million units. On the other hand, the supply area of large-size panels will expand next year on account of strong demand for large monitors and TV sets. WitsView forecasts that global supply area of large-size panels will post an annual increase of 3.8% in 2017.
WitsView, a division of TrendForce, reports global shipments of LCD TV sets in the third quarter of 2016 totaled around 57.15 million units, representing a sequential quarterly increase of 14.4% and a year-on-year increase of 5.8%. TV set shipments benefitted from peak season demand in the U.S. and Europe as well as festivities in China (i.e. the Mid-Autumn Festival and the National Day holidays). China’s vigorous housing market also has a positive effect on the domestic TV sales in the recent period.
Prices of LCD panels for smartphone displays will remain high to the end of 2016 as there is no letup in demand, according to the latest analysis by WitsView, a division of TrendForce. Prices of mid-range and low-end smartphone panels have risen for three consecutive quarters this year. Moreover, strong short-term demand for mid-range and high-end smartphones with FHD resolution screens are also pushing up prices of FHD Cell panels.
Global market research firm TrendForce reports the production volume of smartphones worldwide totaled around 350 million units in the third quarter of 2016. This figure represents a sequential quarterly increase of 10.4%, which is a new high for the year.
