LCD-TVs Continue Path of Innovation and Price Declines
LED backlighting, higher refresh rates, Internet connectivity and 3D emerge as highlights.
The year 2009 was a mixed-bag year for the TV market with some bad and some good news.
The bad news was how the year started, with excess retail inventories, severe price drops and a slowdown in consumer spending impacting the entire supply chain. The good news for the industry included continuing demand for television sets despite the economic crisis, ongoing innovations such as better energy consumption, higher refresh rates and Light Emitting Diode (LED) backlights and price declines that have kept consumers interested and buying.
Momentum in the television market remained on track thanks to several factors, including increased shipments of LCD-TVs, better-than-expected sales during China’s Golden Week and higher sales in North America and Western Europe. While shipments of CRT and rear-projection TVs declined, sale of flat-panel technologies increased, and aggressive prices helped ramp up adoption.
LED Technology Lights up LCD-TVs
LED-based LCD-TVs were the highlight of 2009. iSuppli expects LED-backlit LCD-TVs to gain momentum in 2010 and beyond because of increasing commitments from the various parts of the television supply chain.
Panel makers are showing their commitment to LED-backlit LCD-TVs as they invest in LED chipset makers or maintain a division within the company to focus on the same. Panel makers are focusing more on technology innovation, product differentiation and lower power consumption because these are features that could help drive the future TV market as well as boost revenue.
LED backlights allow for LCD-TVs to have a much thinner profile—as demonstrated by Samsung—and to reduce power consumption by 35 percent to 40 percent, supporting the global environmental and energy initiatives. The majority of panel makers not only have introduced prototypes of thin LCD-TVs, but have also demonstrated their capability to make either edge-lit models—which deliver a thinner profile and sleeker look—or direct-lit models—which sport a much better picture quality because of local dimming capabilities. As a result, brands are beginning to commercialize such TVs. And while the majority of panels now use white LEDs to manage costs, it is in the interest of panel makers to focus on large-sized, LED-backlit LCD-TVs.
Brands are seeking product differentiation as well as higher profitability. And as the mature markets start to saturate, it becomes more important for brands to have products that fuel yet another round of replacements. Some key television features that might drive this replacement cycle are higher refresh frequencies, lower power consumption, green features, a more attractive physical appearance and a better overall viewing experience. LED backlights definitely help in addressing most of these features.
Consumers’ increased acceptance of LED-backlit LCD-TVs can be seen in two size categories: the 40-inch and larger, and the sub-40-inch. The majority of brands with an LED lineup have such TVs in the 40-inch and larger sizes. Because prices are declining rapidly, these sets are gaining consumer attention. Key benefits for consumers— aside from the thinner form factor—include power-saving features and much better color saturation. LED-backlit sets will account for 6 percent of the LCD-TV market in 2009, and then will grow very rapidly to take an 83 percent share in 2013, amounting to more than 112 million units.
Consumers are attracted to LED-backlit LCD TVs because they see a definite form-factor advantage in the edge-lit TVs being promoted by Samsung. Consumers also see a clear benefit in the form of improved picture quality, given that the majority of LED-backlit LCD-TVs are feature rich—i.e., Full HD, 120Hz and more premium features. Furthermore, power-savings or green features make these sets more appealing, given that these televisions consume 35 percent to 40 percent less energy than traditional CCFL-based models. As prices decline and the smaller sizes become available at very competitive prices, LED-backlit LCD-TVs will gain popularity worldwide.
Higher Refresh Rates
With the increased availability and rapidly declining prices of LCD-TVs, sets with 100Hz and faster frequencies are enjoying the fastest increase in adoption. And as the price differential diminishes between 60Hz and 120Hz panels, the adoption of 120Hz will increase globally as sets with this feature carry a message consumers understand—that of improved picture quality.
Internet-Enabled TVs
Internet-Enabled TVs (IETVs) represent a product area mainly being pushed by brands, as most companies plan to add this feature to most of their product lines. The benefits include consumers’ ability to access the content available on the Internet-like movies, widgets, music and also self-developed content from home media.
3D TV Making News Once Again
Discussions and demonstrations of 3D TVs are appearing at various shows and events. Sony and Panasonic are committed to releasing 3D TVs in 2010. Where there are issues concerning standards, the market is more ready than ever before to embrace 3D at home.
Conclusion
While 2009 was a year of twists and turns for the global economy, the television market continued to grow largely on the strength of LCD-TVs. Regional markets were vigorous.
China was strong because of the government’s stimulus package. North American sales also were vigorous because of the ongoing replacement cycle. Emerging markets experienced strong growth because of the increased availability of flat-panel televisions.
For the worldwide television market, the third quarter was strong. When all the data is in, the fourth quarter is expected to see a gain in sales momentum because of factors like the continued price declines of both entry-level and feature-rich models, the introduction from Tier-2 brands of models with newer features like 120Hz and LED backlights and the increased consumer acceptance of LCD-TVs in emerging markets.
The year 2009 was a mixed-bag year for the TV market with some bad and some good news.
The bad news was how the year started, with excess retail inventories, severe price drops and a slowdown in consumer spending impacting the entire supply chain. The good news for the industry included continuing demand for television sets despite the economic crisis, ongoing innovations such as better energy consumption, higher refresh rates and Light Emitting Diode (LED) backlights and price declines that have kept consumers interested and buying.
Momentum in the television market remained on track thanks to several factors, including increased shipments of LCD-TVs, better-than-expected sales during China’s Golden Week and higher sales in North America and Western Europe. While shipments of CRT and rear-projection TVs declined, sale of flat-panel technologies increased, and aggressive prices helped ramp up adoption.
LED Technology Lights up LCD-TVs
LED-based LCD-TVs were the highlight of 2009. iSuppli expects LED-backlit LCD-TVs to gain momentum in 2010 and beyond because of increasing commitments from the various parts of the television supply chain.
Panel makers are showing their commitment to LED-backlit LCD-TVs as they invest in LED chipset makers or maintain a division within the company to focus on the same. Panel makers are focusing more on technology innovation, product differentiation and lower power consumption because these are features that could help drive the future TV market as well as boost revenue.
LED backlights allow for LCD-TVs to have a much thinner profile—as demonstrated by Samsung—and to reduce power consumption by 35 percent to 40 percent, supporting the global environmental and energy initiatives. The majority of panel makers not only have introduced prototypes of thin LCD-TVs, but have also demonstrated their capability to make either edge-lit models—which deliver a thinner profile and sleeker look—or direct-lit models—which sport a much better picture quality because of local dimming capabilities. As a result, brands are beginning to commercialize such TVs. And while the majority of panels now use white LEDs to manage costs, it is in the interest of panel makers to focus on large-sized, LED-backlit LCD-TVs.
Brands are seeking product differentiation as well as higher profitability. And as the mature markets start to saturate, it becomes more important for brands to have products that fuel yet another round of replacements. Some key television features that might drive this replacement cycle are higher refresh frequencies, lower power consumption, green features, a more attractive physical appearance and a better overall viewing experience. LED backlights definitely help in addressing most of these features.
Consumers’ increased acceptance of LED-backlit LCD-TVs can be seen in two size categories: the 40-inch and larger, and the sub-40-inch. The majority of brands with an LED lineup have such TVs in the 40-inch and larger sizes. Because prices are declining rapidly, these sets are gaining consumer attention. Key benefits for consumers— aside from the thinner form factor—include power-saving features and much better color saturation. LED-backlit sets will account for 6 percent of the LCD-TV market in 2009, and then will grow very rapidly to take an 83 percent share in 2013, amounting to more than 112 million units.
Consumers are attracted to LED-backlit LCD TVs because they see a definite form-factor advantage in the edge-lit TVs being promoted by Samsung. Consumers also see a clear benefit in the form of improved picture quality, given that the majority of LED-backlit LCD-TVs are feature rich—i.e., Full HD, 120Hz and more premium features. Furthermore, power-savings or green features make these sets more appealing, given that these televisions consume 35 percent to 40 percent less energy than traditional CCFL-based models. As prices decline and the smaller sizes become available at very competitive prices, LED-backlit LCD-TVs will gain popularity worldwide.
Higher Refresh Rates
With the increased availability and rapidly declining prices of LCD-TVs, sets with 100Hz and faster frequencies are enjoying the fastest increase in adoption. And as the price differential diminishes between 60Hz and 120Hz panels, the adoption of 120Hz will increase globally as sets with this feature carry a message consumers understand—that of improved picture quality.
Internet-Enabled TVs
Internet-Enabled TVs (IETVs) represent a product area mainly being pushed by brands, as most companies plan to add this feature to most of their product lines. The benefits include consumers’ ability to access the content available on the Internet-like movies, widgets, music and also self-developed content from home media.
3D TV Making News Once Again
Discussions and demonstrations of 3D TVs are appearing at various shows and events. Sony and Panasonic are committed to releasing 3D TVs in 2010. Where there are issues concerning standards, the market is more ready than ever before to embrace 3D at home.
Conclusion
While 2009 was a year of twists and turns for the global economy, the television market continued to grow largely on the strength of LCD-TVs. Regional markets were vigorous.
China was strong because of the government’s stimulus package. North American sales also were vigorous because of the ongoing replacement cycle. Emerging markets experienced strong growth because of the increased availability of flat-panel televisions.
For the worldwide television market, the third quarter was strong. When all the data is in, the fourth quarter is expected to see a gain in sales momentum because of factors like the continued price declines of both entry-level and feature-rich models, the introduction from Tier-2 brands of models with newer features like 120Hz and LED backlights and the increased consumer acceptance of LCD-TVs in emerging markets.
Posts
No comments: