Shipments of 3D TVs will pick up in 2011 after slow growth in 2010, according to research body IHS iSuppli.
The company says marketing and promotion strategies, price declines and increasing availability of content are expected to combine to push 3D TV shipments up 463% to 23.4 units worldwide.
Isuppli also predicts another year of triple-digit growth in 2012, when shipments will rise by 132 percent to 54.2 million units. The research body says global shipments will surpass the 100-million-unit mark by 2014 and then hit 159.2 million in 2015.
“In a major recalibration effort, television brands are changing strategies this year following lukewarm response to 3D in 2010 when consumers balked at the high price of sets and the lack of 3-D content,” said Riddhi Patel, director for television systems and retail services at IHS. “In 2011, however, brands are marketing 3D not as a must-have technology but as a desirable feature, similar to the approach they have taken with Internet connectivity.”
Furthermore, prices for 3D TVs fell 9% during March 2011 compared to February, according to the US TV Price and Specifications Tracker, a monthly IHS iSuppli service.
IHS also expects passive 3D shipments to surpass active 3D by 2015.
Further predictions suggest liquid crystal display (LCD) will remain the dominant technology for the 3D TV market, accounting for 83 percent of 3D TVs sold in 2011. However, 3D penetration in plasma is higher, as plasma manufacturers hope 3D will help slow the decline of the plasma market.