Shipments of small and medium-sized LCD panels coming from Taiwan will grow 8.6% quarter-on-quarter in the second quarter of 2018, Digitimes Research has predicted. Increased demand from Chinese entry-level and mid-range smartphone manufacturers and Indian feature phone makers has been attributed as the reason for the growth.
The market saw a sequential decline of 5% during the first quarter of the year, totalling 297 million units, which was apparently better than expected, in part due to increased shipments of 18:9 all-screen smartphone displays. In fact, only smartphone applications saw any growth in the first quarter, while mainstream sizes, along with tablet and digital camera displays suffered “serious setbacks”. Panels for automotive use reportedly overtook those for digital cameras during the first quarter to become the second-largest application segment.
In terms of individual suppliers, Chunghwa Picture Tubes reported quarter-on-quarter growth and beat Innolux out of second place, while HannStar Display saw the highest level of decline.
In the second quarter, Digitimes Research predicts that automotive and portable navigation devices will see the largest growth of small and medium-sized LCD panel shipments, while tablet and digital camera applications will continue to decline.
