Business | Technology
LCD makers discover small is beautiful
Predicting what fickle consumers will buy has never been an exact science.
- Reuters
- Published: 00:19 May 23, 2008
Tokyo: Predicting what fickle consumers will buy has never been an exact science.
Liquid crystal display (LCD) makers had predicted shoppers would snap up the biggest flat TVs as prices came down, but are finding that it's the smaller models that are moving faster off the shelves.
TV screens sized 32 inches or smaller and TV-viewing PC monitors are a cheaper way to replace bulky cathode-ray sets for many consumers in emerging markets, such as China, India and Russia, in time for the Beijing Olympics.
A US economic slowdown has curbed demand for larger, more expensive sets.
Makers had previously forecast premium 40-inch sets would be the main money-spinners and spent heavily in a race to build larger factories suited for bigger panels.
Now, makers with strength in small screens, such as Taiwan's AU Optronics, and those with a focus in the Chinese market such as LG Display are in favour.
"As of now, 32-inch is almost one-third of the market," Champ Shin, vice-president in charge of TV screen sales at LG Display, told the Reuters Global Technology, Media and Telecoms Summit.
"Up to now most LCD makers had focused on large screens only. But the growth rate of larger screens seems to be a bit slow. And there's big demand for... TVs using monitor panels or smaller TV panels."
LG Display is switching some of its TV panel capacity to computer screen production, building a new line for smaller panels and strengthening ties with Chinese TV makers.
The lead by small-size TVs will likely continue for a few quarters as the US economy stutters and the Chinese TV market takes off ahead of the Olympics.
Popular
32-inch TVs are the most popular model for those replacing conventional cathode-ray tubes, whose market size was around 100 million units in 2007, according to Lehman Brothers.
High-definition monitors adopting the wider TV screen format are increasingly sold for TV viewing, as new technology such as broadband TV has blurred the line between monitors and TVs.
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