Daniel Lee is the Director of Market Intelligence for LG Display (LGD). He started by looking at market trends. “You Dream, We Display” and Lee said that in Back to the Future there were a range of display ideas that have now become real.
Improvements in production technology have helped to drive TV – first LC Injection (ODF) in 2004/5 speeded up the process and reduced cost and then the arrival of G8/G10 really helped push down prices of larger sizes. In the last ten years, the resolution has gone up 8x, but cost per diagonal inch has gone down. Looking at factors that could influence market growth, there is only limited population growth rate going forward, so the likely growth in units is very small. Household room sizes globally can go up to around 4 metres square – and that’s all around the world. Lee believes that this means that TVs up to 84″ may be acceptable in those homes. 50-90ppi is fine for TV viewing and so even 84″ may be OK with UltraHD resolution (it’s just over 50ppi – Man. Ed). In a couple of years, prices for even 75″ will get down to the key price level for volume of $1,000. So LGD expects CAGR of around 7% in area terms.
Lee said that consumers will pay for “physical” picture quality, but not “emotional PQ”. After CES, Lee said that he looked at features that are physical and the main new ones are 4K and 8K. Others are emotional, he said.
LG Display is focusing on RGBW using its M+ technology. It will save power and allow higher peak brightness.
Lee then turned to OLED which Lee said has “perfect” picture quality and he went through the established benefits of OLED.
Analyst Comment
I raised the point with Lee that his focus on ‘physical’ and ’emotional’ points really didn’t consider content, which is a critical factor. The TV experience depends on content, delivery and display. Consumers buy into the story when these align. That has been one of the factors for Apple – it aligned music content, iTunes and its iPod to have great success. It did the same with the iPhone and apps. Looking at the display only, you will never get a good understanding of the TV market, in my opinion. Great content in UltraHD HDR and with WCG (probably and sound) should extend the market for TVs. (BR)
