TV shipments are making a healthy recovery in 2010 posting a 15 per cent increase from 2009 levels, according to DisplaySearch.
According to the research body’s
Quarterly Advanced Global TV Shipment and Forecast Report, total TV shipments in 2010 will pass 242 million units, a 15 per cent increase from the 2 per cent level of growth in 2009.
Demand for LCD TVs has risen a massive 29 per cent to 188 million units while plasma and CRT TV technologies have a better outlook in 2010 than previously expected. Within LCD TV, the trend towards increased LED backlight usage is impeded by an acute supply chain shortage. This has kept the LED market segment from growing more quickly in 2010, although CCFL models seem well supplied.
LCD continues to be the dominant TV technology worldwide, achieving more than 50 per cent shipment share in nearly all regions, with Asia Pacific crossing 50 per cent at the end of 2010.
Plasma TV shipments did quite well in the first quarter, rising 24 per cent year on year as demand for high value-per-inch large TVs seems to have rebounded along with the improving economic conditions. DisplaySearch has increased its 2010 unit forecast for plasma TVs to 16 million units.
2010 LED backlit LCD TV shipments to reach 37 million unitsThe LCD TV shipment outlook has been increased to 188 million units in 2010, driven in part by the rapid expansion of LED-backlit models. DisplaySearch estimates that 3.6 million LED-backlit LCD TVs were shipped worldwide in 2009, with more than half of that coming in the last quarter of 2009. The research body says that In 2010, companies throughout the supply chain are gearing up for a more aggressive rollout of LED models, but are constrained by component supply.
“Most of the top LCD TV brands are strongly emphasising LED technology in an attempt to offset declining profits and prices for CCFL-backlit models,” observed Hisakazu Torii, VP of TV Market Research for DisplaySearch. “This has led to a shortage of critical LED backlight components, and the lofty goals for LED penetration in 2010 have been tempered somewhat by the reality of supply constraints.”
DisplaySearch expects LED-backlit LCDs to account for about 20 per cent of all LCD TVs shipped in 2010. About nine in ten LED-backlit LCD TV models shipped this year will use an edge-type backlight, with the remainder using some form of full array. It continues to suggest that the LED share of LCD TV shipments will rise rapidly in 2011 as the supply chain catches up and LED component prices fall, and will become the majority LCD TV backlight technology by 2012. The research body also suggests that the transition from CCFL to LED backlights for LCD TVs will happen very quickly, aided by the push to thinner and lighter designs, along with increasing awareness and regulation of energy consumption.