Q4 is traditionally a strong period for notebook sales, and shipments of notebook touch panels in Q4’14 rose 9.4% YoY, to 5.6 million units. In area terms, shipments rose 7% QoQ and 15.6% YoY. However, value was a different story, with shipments down 3.7% QoQ, to $171.7 million. This was the third consecutive quarter of value declines. IHS blames this on the ‘sluggish’ notebook PC market and lower-than-expected touch penetration in the form factor.
Shipments of clamshell notebook PCs with touch fell slightly in Q4 and share was also down to 46.9% (from 50.8% in Q3). However, detachable notebooks with touch rose, from 32.3% to 35.9%, over the same period. These models have diversified into new sizes past the original 10.1″, which have been well-received by the market.
