Market Intelligence and Consulting Institute (MIC) yesterday held the 27th MIC Forum for forecasting 2015 technology industry trends. Senior industry analyst Xie Pei-fen stated yesterday that Taiwanese and Korean panel manufacturers’ active promotion of UHD panels to mainstream size has already significantly increased UHD product sales.

Xie Pei-fen emphasized that in 2015 LCD panel companies will still mainly work to optimize specifications; however, in addition to increasing the average dimensions and resolutions, expanding the colors and technology will also become focal points of development.

As for ultrahigh definition televisions (UHD TV), in 2014 the majority (over 80%) were 48 inches or larger. It is estimated that in 2015 more budget models will go on the market (such as UHD/2D and RGBW etc.), and product shipments will reach 29.71 million units with a market penetration rate of 13.8%.

Globally in 2015 for products that utilize large LCD panels, LCD TVs are expected to experience 3.7% growth with 215 million panels being shipped out, averaging 41.4 inches in size. However, a slight decline is predicted for other IT products, such as notebook computers (NB) and LCD monitors

Xie Pen-fen also reminded Taiwanese companies that since the second quarter of 2014, Korean panel manufacturers have been producing low-priced UHD panel products and are actively courting favor with major low-priced Mainland Chinese brands. This is already a source of competitive pressure for Taiwanese panel manufacturers, such as AOU and Innolux.