The Taiwanese research firm WitsView, a division of TrendForce, projects the market penetration of 4K TV sets will reach 22% in 2016 as the popularity of the UHD format continues to grow. Also, consumers’ demand for superior picture quality has again pushed the concept of HDR to the forefront of innovations. The previous promotional efforts for HDR came from the hardware side of the industry.
“Ultra-high-definition (UHD) resolution is the basis from which TV brands will make further improvements on their products,” said Boyce Fan, senior research manager for WitsView. “As the market gradually matures, TV industry hopes to rekindle consumers’ interests with features such as high dynamic range (HDR) imaging, active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) displays and ultra-thin sets.”
This year’s HDR campaign, however, is industry-wide and integrates all the critical aspects – content offerings, channel broadcasting and end devices. Moreover, the industry group UHD Alliance used the 2016 CES as an opportunity to introduce UHD Premium, the next-generation UHD standard.
LG Electronics (LGE), Panasonic and several Chinese TV brands all unveiled their AMOLED UHD products at the CES. Shipments of AMOLED TV sets worldwide may hit 1 million units this year, according to WitsView.
The smartphone panel market is also seeing an increasing AMOLED presence as Samsung Display Corp. (SDC) steps up its sales of this technology to other branded smartphone makers. Consequently, more Chinese smartphone brands have released models with AMOLED displays, and the technology’s influence in the high-end smartphone market is expected to grow.
Likewise, monitor and notebook brands have been exploring the prospect of using AMOLED displays for their high-end products as well. Fan noted that there is not much differences among panel products in the saturated thin-film transistor LCD (TFT-LCD) market.
Therefore, AMOLED becomes a major differential advantage for the South Korean panel makers as they again try to extend their competitive lead over their Taiwanese and Chinese rivals. The Korean panel suppliers’ intention to accelerate their AMOLED development is evident in their increasing investments in the technology.
Fan pointed out that advances made on infotainment systems, advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and other Internet of vehicle platforms have greatly expanded the potential consumer demand for in-vehicle information displays.
These various sources of demand in turn will spur the growth of the panel market for automotive application. Also, aesthetics plays a major role in the development of new vehicle models. The demand for specially shaped and curved panels is likely to rise rapidly in response to design requirements of future vehicles.
