Panel surface demand is set to be boosted in 2015 by a 22 per cent year-on-year growth in global smartphone shipments to over 1.487 billion units, according to a Digitimes report.The trend is firmly towards larger display sizes, with average screen sizes increasingly significantly in recent years and expected to continue to do so.
Digitimes has reported market estimations from China-based consulting company ?intell state the average screen size of smartphones available for sale in the China market has increased from 3.24″ in 2011 to 3.74″ in 2012 and 4.22″ in 2013, increasing to 4.6″ in 2014 and over 5″ in 2015.
The firm additionally told Digitimes global production capacity for smartphone panels in 2015 is estimated at 25.733 million square metres, growing year-on-year by 27.3 per cent.
In addition to China, other emerging markets in the region are also expected to drive demand.
Panel technology such as HD, WVGA and QHD will be a focus for makers in emerging markets throughout Southeast Asia as well as India, Digitimes reported.
Of the three largest China-based small-to-medium-size TFT-LCD panel makers, BOE Technology will ship 50 per cent of its smartphone panels to Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, which are expected to further tackle emerging markets; additionally, 14.8 per cent of the makers’ supply will go to China-based Lenovo and 11.9 per cent to China-based white-box vendors in 2015, according to Digitimes Research estimates.
