Viewsonic International Corp said yesterday it expected the whole display market in Taiwan would remain flat this year from last year, with growth in the second half balancing out the slight slump in the first half.
“Growth in the second half will be driven by launches of in-plane-switching [IPS] LCDs and touch displays for Windows 8, which are expected to create new product replacements,” Viewsonic Asia-Pacific Region product marketing director Max Liu (劉仲宏) said.
However, much better growth can be expected next year as market momentum created by the new product launches will explode next year, especially in the first half, he said.
An IPS-LCD is a type of thin display that offers better viewing angles than TFT-LCDs. IPS-LCDs features two transistors for each pixel, where TFT-LCDs use just one. This requires a more powerful backlight, which delivers more accurate colors, and allows the screen to be viewed from a wider angle. The downside is that an IPS-LCD may consume more power than a TFT-LCD.
“IPS LCDs now account for only between 10 percent and 15 percent of total monitor shipments globally, but next year, we expect IPS monitors to grow tremendously as their price gaps with traditional displays decrease,” Liu said. “We expect the Asia-Pacific region to have 5 percent of growth in terms of display sales and Taiwan to have about 10 percent growth driven by replacements for touch and IPS displays.”
Viewsonic will have better growth than the market average as the company catches the first wave of new technologies with a wide range of new products to cater to different user groups, Liu said at a product launch yesterday. The company, which leads Taiwan’s retail display market with 25 percent to 30 percent of market share, yesterday introduced three IPS LCDs with screen sizes of 21.5-inch, 23-inch and 27-inch.
Viewsonic’s LCDs are used for computers and other -mobile devices, such as tablets and smartphones.
“Taiwan has a market for [between] 100,000 and 150,000 units of displays, and we sell an average of 30,000 units a month in retail channels,” Liu said. “But if bundled sales, which account for between 15 percent and 20 percent of the total sales, are included in the calculation, Viewsonic is No. 2 in market share.”
Liu said the company planned to launch more LCDs with IPS, ultra-high definition or touch technologies in the third and fourth quarters.
The company will launch a 21.5-inch optical touch displays and a projected capacitive touch displays for Windows 7 and Windows 8 next month and in December respectively, a 27-inch and 32-inch ultra-high definition display next month and the end of the year respectively, Viewsonic Asia-Pacific region product manager Brian Huang (黃文獻) said.
The ultra-high definition displays are designed for professional use, such as for medical procedures, military activities, graphic design and meteorological uses, Huang said.
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