Small/Medium FPD to Grow 10% YoY in 2010: DisplaySearch

Taipei, Aug. 9, 2010 (CENS)--Worldwide shipments of small- and medium-sized (S/M) displays continued to climb in the second quarter of 2010, with US$5.4 billion in revenue, up 31% year-on-year (YoY), according to DisplaySearch.

The global leader in display market research and consulting added that this segment is forecast to experience continued growth, reaching US$6.7 billion in the third quarter this year. Hiroshi Hayase, DisplaySearch Director of Small/Medium Display Research, forecast this segment would maintain stable growth, achieving around a 10% YoY growth in 2010.

Cellphone-panel shipments, which form the core demand of the S/M flat panel display (FPD) market, were 371 million units in the first quarter, down 10% QoQ but up 34% YoY. Digital-camera panel shipments in the first quarter were 41 million units, down 15% QoQ but up 89% YoY.

Samsung Mobile Display (SMD) maintained its lead on both a shipment and revenue basis, with 11.8% and 16.4% shares, respectively. The company had high shipments in both thin film transistor-liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) and double-emission active matrix organic light-emit diode (AMOLED) panels for mobile phones. Sharp's revenue fell sharply in the second quarter, as a result of the drop in demand for devices such as portable gaming in comparison to competition. Toshiba's revenue didn't fall as much as its competitors due to increasing demand for high-resolution cellphone and automotive monitor displays, DisplaySearch said.

The research firm also said that automobile-related flat panel display (FPD) products are on a positive track, supported by incentives in several countries along with the global recovery trend in consumption. In particular, automotive monitor panel shipments including car navigation were 6.86 million units, up 14% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ), despite the slow season. Shipments of passive matrix indicator displays also increased by 96% YoY, indicating a considerable recovery from the first half of 2009 when automobile production plunged. Shipments of panels for portable navigation devices, another automobile-related application, also increased significantly by 74% YoY.

Applications with medium-sized FPDs (7-9-inch) have been growing steadily since the second half of last year. Panels for e-books, including the Amazon Kindle, increased shipments to 1.77 million units, up 6% QoQ and 240% YoY, the research firm said, proving an extremely-rapid expansion of the market over the past year.

Digital photo frames have become a major application for medium-sized panels. In the first quarter, panel shipments grew by 10% QoQ and 311% YoY to 15.1 million units.