Ultra-high-definition TV panels hit 1 million in shipments for first time

The market for ultra-high-definition (UHD) TV panels reached a significant new benchmark in March when global shipments exceeded 1 million units for the first time, driven by vastly increased deliveries from the industry’s three largest makers of the high-end panels, according to a new report from IHS Technology (NYSE: IHS).

UHD TV panel shipments amounted to 1.1 million units in March, nearly a threefold increase from 384,300 units a month earlier in February, as shown in the attached table. The gains are even more spectacular when measured from the same time a year ago in March 2012, when total UHD TV panels had not yet cracked the 150,000 mark.

“From the time UHD TV panels were introduced to the world for the first time in 2012, demand for these cutting-edge displays has been slow in growing, mainly because the televisions using the panels have proved prohibitively expensive,” said Linda Lin, senior analyst for large displays at IHS. “But with the technology becoming more pervasive, coupled with increasingly aggressive marketing from panel manufacturers, UHD TV panels are starting to take off.”

Contributing to the market’s exceptional showing in March were UHD pre-stocking orders for China’s Labor Day holiday at the beginning of May, and the FIFA World Cup in June. Holidays in China are often a high point of anticipation for panel makers as Chinese consumers shop more, while global sports events like the World Cup trigger higher sales than usual for large-sized or higher-technology television sets.

UHD TV panels feature four times the resolution of full high-definition 1080p panels, boasting even higher contrast ratios and extremely lifelike images. Underscoring the dramatic surge of shipments in March, four of the market’s six panel makers enjoyed shipment growth rates last month exceeding 100 percent compared to February levels.