LCD TV and handset shipments expected to grow

Taiwanese TV and phone makers are expected to usher in a traditionally busy fourth quarter thanks to year-end holiday spending, with quarterly shipments of handsets and liquid-crystal-display (LCD) TVs to post growth from the third quarter, a report from Digitimes said.

Total shipments of handsets made by Taiwanese firms are expected to grow 12 percent from the third quarter to 18 million units, said the report released this month.

In the contract phone business market, US giant Motorola is still playing a main role as it releases major orders to local contract makers, with its shipments expected to account for about 20 percent of total Taiwanese volume in the current quarter, it said.

Meanwhile, sales of HTC Corp’s (宏達電) Android phones in the US market would be the key indicator of Taiwanese own brand shipment volume, it said.

“The launch of Microsoft Corp’s Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system last month didn’t really excite the market in terms of functionality and user interface,” the report said.

Therefore, HTC is expected to take advantage of the growing ­Android platform from Google Inc to make up for sagging sales of Windows Mobile smartphones.

HTC, the leading maker of smartphones running on both Android and Windows Mobile platforms, forecast a strong fourth quarter on Monday.

Revenues this quarter are expected to range between NT$40 billion (US$1.2 billion) to NT$42 billion, the highest of the year, with major US carriers promoting HTC phones for the Christmas season, HTC spokesman Cheng Hui-min (鄭慧明) said.

Meanwhile, Digitimes said fourth-quarter shipments of LCD TVs are expected to grow 5.1 percent from the third quarter to 6.11 million.

Brand vendors are widely ­expected to slash prices to promote TVs for the holiday season, thanks to an oversupply of panels, causing prices to drop.

TVs with 32-inch screens or larger would see a “significant price decrease,” with sales of such models to account for 57 percent of all shipments, the report said.

The top five contract makers, including Amtran Technology Co Ltd (瑞軒科技), TPV Technology Ltd (冠捷) and Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶電腦), are expected to command more than 90 percent of Taiwan’s total LCD TV production this quarter, it said.