Wang Jing-yi, Research Manager at WitsView, said that the cost of panel is around 40 to 60 percent of its retail price, the price of end product is hard to go up with the panel.

Take the 19.5-inch screen into account, lately its price has gone up much. From January to July the panel price has gone up 7 percent, but the average retail price has decreased 1 percent comparing that of in January, which proves the profit of all the LCD brand companies is limited.

Wang Jing-yi stated that the shortage of LCD panel started from June, especially for 19.5-inch, 21.5-inch, and 23.6-inch wide screen that have bad shipment performance. Those OEM/ODM firms have orders but no shipment that leads to the price of related size of LCD panel to go up.

In conclusion, WitsView considered that the limited shipment of LCD panel is inevitable in the quarter three.

On the other hand, for those brand companies to maintain their profit, developing Niche products are nothing but necessary. For instance, the

curved panels are going to hit the store in the fourth quarter.