HD and Full HD Smartphone Display Market to Grow on Strength of iPhone 6, Analyst Says

Shares of smartphones with screen resolutions of HD and full HD will reach 33 percent and 34 percent, respectively, of sales next year largely on “robust demand” for the iPhone 6, according to DisplaySearch. Wide quad high definition (WQHD) displays (1400 x 2560) will account for 9 percent of the smartphone market in the coming year, DisplaySearch said. “Brands are finding it hard to differentiate their smartphone product lineup solely by increasing display resolution; however, that does not mean the trend toward higher resolutions is going to end,” said Tina Teng, smartphones senior analyst for DisplaySearch. WVGA (480 x 800) and FWVGA (480 x 854) growth, meanwhile, is slowing but they still represent a significant share of the smartphone market, Teng said. The mix of displays with less than 540 x 960 resolution is expected to shrink from 47 percent in 2014 to 34 percent next year, she said. In the past, when Apple launched new iPhone models, other brands would “launch high-end products with the highest display specification available,” Teng said, but due to market growth of mid- and low-end devices, only a handful of competitive models using WQHD were introduced in the second half of the year, including Samsung’s Note 4, the Note Edge, Motorola’s Nexus 6 and LG’s G3-LTE Dual, she said. Next year, she said, 4G smartphones priced between $100 and $150 are "highly likely" to adopt HD resolution.