Mobile Phone Displays Benefit from Emerging Markets

(Top News, 26 Nov 2009)

After hitting bottom in Q1’09, mobile display shipments for Q2’09 reached 360 million, up 30% Q/Q and 3% Y/Y. Revenues were up 29% Q/Q to $2.93 billion, but down 5% Y/Y. According to the DisplaySearch, the saturated Western European and North American markets are expected to see subscriber growth of less than 10% Y/Y in 2009, while emerging markets like India and China are driving growth. These booming regions had a higher global system for mobile communication (GSM) penetration ratio.

“The global economy is slowly recovering, fueling growth in mobile phone shipments in Q2’09,” noted Calvin Hsieh, DisplaySearch Research Director. “Despite this, total 2009 mobile phone demand in North America and Western Europe is still less than 2008, an impact of the recession. Looking ahead, we expect it will be a better year in 2010, with worldwide mobile phone growth of 15% and emerging markets playing an increasingly vital role in shipments.”

Unable to penetrate emerging markets, Nokia’s market share continues to decline, falling from 31.7% in Q1’09 to 25.5% in Q2’09. Nokia was unsuccessful in catching up with GSM growth rates in emerging markets. White-box handsets mainly produced in China also captured nearly 20% market share from brand names.

With touch functionality, higher resolution and larger displays (3.5”+) for smart phones, active matrix displays are growing as a share of the mobile phone market. Taking advantage of its cost-effectiveness, a-Si TFT LCD reached 46.6% share of the market. LTPS TFT LCDs grew 25.3% Q/Q, maintaining a 21.6% share. AMOLED displays capitalized on high-end devices such as Samsung Anycall, growing 54.5% Q/Q with a 1.3% share.

China remains a critical region for both handset manufacturing and demand. Local panel manufacturers have successfully maintained market share, accounting for 20% of the overall demand in 2009. The country also produced 50.4% CSTN panels, especially BYD, for the handsets which were mainly made for emerging markets.