Austin, Tex. — Mobile phone display shipments in the fourth quarter of 2009 reached 409 million units, up 32 percent Y/Y, helping to end the year with 1.46 billion unit shipments, up nearly 5 percent from the previous year, reports DisplaySearch. However, 2009 revenues fell 4.7 percent Y/Y to $11.6 billion due to falling prices.
“The year 2009 saw some important transitions for the mobile phone display market,” said Calvin Hsieh, research director at DisplaySearch, in a statement. “Not only did TFT LCD exceed 50 percent of the market, but Taiwanese and Chinese suppliers shipped the majority of the displays.”
The report, “Quarterly Mobile Phone Shipment and Forecast Report,” also reveals that shipments of a-Si TFT LCDs (including cell shipments) for mobile phones accounted for 52.3 percent of mobile phone shipments in 2009, up from 44.6 percent in 2008, as suppliers shifted their business from CSTN and MSTN. In 2009, a-Si TFT LCD (including cell shipments) achieved a growth rate of 22.3 percent Y/Y.
Although AMOLED displays in mobile phones have been well received, it only garnered a 1.5 percent share in the fourth quarter of 2009, with difficulties reaching higher resolution for future smart phone specifications, said DisplaySearch. A small number of suppliers will limit AMOLED shipment shares in 2010.
A key finding indicates that shipments from Taiwanese and Chinese panel suppliers rose from 47.0 percent in 2008 to 55.7 percent in 2009. Panel suppliers who experienced strong Y/Y shipment growth include AUO (21 percent), BYD (83 percent), Giant Plus (20 percent), InnoLux (140 percent), RiTdisplay (82 percent), Shenzhen Tianma (98 percent) and Truly (44 percent).
However, DisplaySearch says the lower prices for MSTN and CSTN displays, still a large part of shipments from China, skewed revenue shares. As a result, Taiwan and China’s revenue share in 2009 was 37.6 percent, compared to 35.6 percent for Japan and 26.4 percent for Korea.
Samsung ranked first in mobile phone display shipments with a 19.2 percent market share, followed by Wintek (10.5 percent), Sharp (9.0 percent), Truly (8.0 percent) and AUO (7.9 percent).