‘Deliveries for UHDTVs almost tripled in a month’

In March, more than a million panels for UHDTVs were delivered worldwide for the first time, DisplaySearch has calculated. That is almost a threefold increase compared to February, when 384,300 uhd panels left the factories.

In total, it would be a delivery in March of 1.1 million TV panels with the UHD resolution of 3840×2160 pixels. A year ago, this was a monthly delivery of only 150,000 panels. The figures come from the Lcd Shipment Database of research agency IHS DisplaySearch. The 4k panels are gaining ground as more manufacturers are announcing UHDTVs and are putting the models more emphatically on the market, said Linda Lin, an analyst at IHS, in a press release that includes Advanced-Television.

Manufacturers increased production of UHDTVs in March in the run-up to a Chinese holiday in May, which traditionally causes a peak in sales. The Chinese market is said to be responsible for the largest growth in the UHDTV market. In addition, the World Cup in June will increase production. For every World Cup, the demand for TVs worldwide rises sharply, which manufacturers respond to by pushing high-end models forward.

The top three manufacturers are successively InnoLux, Samsung and LG. The latter two rolled off the assembly line for the first time in March with 40″ and 42″ panels with UHD resolution. They also produce cheaper panels, cutting costs by using less electronics and using an alternative pixel pattern. This ensures that the actual resolution is a quarter lower compared to the UHD resolution of 3840×2160 pixels.

While IHS forecasts 350 percent growth this year for the UHD panel market, compared to 12 percent for the total TV panel market, the high purchase cost and lack of 4k content could stand in the way of success.