What They Say
I reported on the Hisense developments in Laser TV recently (Hisense is Bullish as Laser TV Moves to RGB) and noted claims by Hisense about market development and so I followed up with PMA Research, who are established friends of ours in projector market research (and whose research I have been writing about since April 1995!). Analyst Rosemary Abowd replied.
The questions were:
- Is Laser TV a significant segment in China?
Our figures would be comparing the ultra short-throw projector volume to overall projector volumes. For 2020, the LaserTV volume was 26% of the total home theater projector business in China. That’s about the same percentage as 2019, but the Chinese market grew by a third in 2020, so a much higher volume. Note that we’re only talking about the mainstream projector business. Pico and personal projectors are very popular in China, 10 times more volume but much less revenue. - Is Hisense a significant player there?
Yes, Hisense is a significant player, particularly in China. - Hisense say that sales outside China have grown a lot in the past year – is that true and is it global or mainly in one region?
This year, LaserTV sales outside China grew significantly just like many of the other home entertainment categories. The volumes have more than tripled from extremely low sales levels in 2018 and 2019. Most of the growth is in N. America, W. Europe and, Japan/Korea/Taiwan.
What We Think
Clearly, what Hisense said about the market was true. As I have previously reported, plenty of people are saving significant amounts of money by not going out and are happy to spend that money on better home entertainment. LaserTV could be a good opportunity, although the challenge in Europe and North America may be finding channels to market in these difficult times.
Hisense has said that it would get back to me to arrange a deeper dive into the technology, but I’m not getting much joy on this at the moment. I’m particularly interested in the green laser technology, so if any readers know more on this topic, please get in touch. (BR)
