Corning’s introduction at CES of its new Iris glass-based light-guide plate (LGP) for edge-lit LCD TVs could be a “game-changer” in the display business because it will allow ultra-thin LCD TVs and enable them to better compete with the form factor of OLED TVs, Tadashi Uno, DisplaySearch director-materials and components market research, said Thursday in a blog post. Historically, LGPs for LCD TV backlights have been fashioned from acrylic, but Corning said Iris glass is 36 times stronger and can enable a super-slim TV set design, Uno said. “We estimate that glass LGP thickness is around 1-2 mm,” he said. That means a glass LGP can enable TV set designs that are less than 5 mm at their thinnest point, he said. “Although not identified,” the Sony XBR-55X900C, XBR-65X900C, XBR-75X900C ultra slim “floating style” 4K sets introduced at CES (see 1501050055), Uno speculates, owe their thinness to the use of glass LGPs, though not necessarily Corning’s. Sony didn’t comment on Uno’s speculation. But at CES, the company said the sets measure 4.9 mm (about 2/10 of an inch) at their thinnest part and that their floating design is “virtually frameless,” designed to be mounted flush against a wall. “To fight against OLED TV in the high-end market, the LCD TV camp needs an ultra-thin solution, especially tier 1 TV makers who don’t have OLED TV panel sources,” Uno said. “Therefore, it is understandable that Japanese tier 1 brands are interested in glass LGPs, especially as Korean brands continue to focus on OLED and other features.”

Weeks after LG said it’s sourcing quantum-dot technology from Dow Chemical for Ultra HD TVs it’s introducing at CES (see 1412150034), Dow acknowledged the supply partnership Thursday, saying its technology “enables brilliant color in displays” and will allow LG to plan its “quantum dot requirements with the confidence of reliable, consistent supply from Dow.” That's because Dow is building what it has called the world's first, large-scale, cadmium-free quantum dot manufacturing operation at its Cheonan, South Korea, site, where mass production of quantum dots is expected to begin in 2015's first half, Dow has said. Under its license agreement with Nanoco Group, Dow has exclusive worldwide rights for the sale, marketing and manufacture of Nanoco's cadmium-free quantum dots for use in electronic displays. Dow’s manufacturing process will use Nanoco’s proprietary “molecular-seeding technology,” which enables high-volume manufacturing, Dow and Nanoco have said. Dow markets its quantum dot technology under the brand name Trevista.

The 55-inch 4K TV that TCL launched last month in China with quantum dot technology sourced from QD Vision (see 1412150034) will now debut in North America, TCL CEO Hao Yi told a CES news conference Monday. He brought QD Vision CEO Jason Carlson onstage to trumpet his company’s quantum-dot-based Color IQ technology as providing TVs everywhere with “the world’s best color.” Color IQ is the only technology that delivers 110 percent of the NTSC color gamut, Carlson said. “That’s better” than OLED’s 100 percent, “for a fraction of the price, and a fraction of the energy consumption,” he said. Statements like that in the past have landed QD Vision in hot water with OLED TV market leader LG, which has defended OLED as the best TV technology money can buy, including for its color performance (see 1403050056). LG at CES is introducing its own Ultra HD LCD TV with quantum dot technology sourced from Dow Chemical (see 1412150034), but is positioning that product on a tier below that of its top-of-the-line OLED TV offerings. “We’re actively looking to partner with other industry leaders to bring this exciting new technology to the market,” Carlson said of Color IQ. TCL didn’t release North American pricing or distribution details on the set, which bears the model designation “H9700.”

DisplaySearch upgraded its 2014 estimate and 2015 forecast on global LCD TV unit shipment increases by about two percentage points for each year, the research firm said in a Wednesday announcement. “After a year of weak growth for the LCD TV industry in 2013, worldwide shipment growth has accelerated every quarter in 2014,” with total units rising more than 10 percent in Q3, DisplaySearch said. DisplaySearch now estimates the industry shipped 223 million LCD TV sets in 2014, a 7 percent gain from the roughly 208 million shipped in 2013, it said. It also raised its 2015 forecast to a 7 percent rise in unit shipments to 239 million. In a forecast released earlier in 2014, DisplaySearch projected a 5 percent gain in 2014 unit shipments to about 219 million and another 5 percent gain in 2015 shipments to about 230 million. Factory shipments of LCD TVs in Q3 “were stronger than expected in several regions, but especially in North America and Asia-Pacific,” said Paul Gagnon, DisplaySearch director-TV research, in a statement. “Growth in these regions is driven by a new wave of replacement activity, with North American consumers replacing older flat-panel TVs and consumers in India and other Asia-Pacific countries replacing CRT TVs.” In 2014, consumers continued to trade up to larger screen sizes, increasing the average size of LCD TV shipments 5 percent to 39 inches, which is more than 1.5 inches larger than the 2013, DisplaySearch said. “This increase in average size, combined with stronger unit growth, is fueling renewed investment in LCD panel production capacity. Larger sizes have also contributed to revenue growth and have helped to stabilize overall industry prices, on a volume-weighted basis. The shift to larger sizes has also resulted in strong demand for 4K LCD TVs, which are expected to grow more than 50 percent, reaching more than 32 million units in 2015.” Year-over-year LCD TV shipments to retailers in North America increased nearly 24 percent in Q3, the company said. “Very strong growth in North America in recent quarters warrants careful observation, to ensure an inventory glut doesn’t materialize, due to overzealous buying and selling at the manufacturer to retailer level,” Gagnon said. “A strong holiday season is needed to avoid an inventory hangover in early 2015.”

Samsung is throwing a curve to its computer segment, bringing its curved screen technology to the desktop PC line. The ATIV One 7 all-in-one PC, with a 27-inch curved monitor, will debut next week at CES with 10-watt stereo speakers, Dolby Surround, Bluetooth aptX, an Intel Core i5 processor and 8 GB RAM, Samsung said. The ATIV One will be available for pre-orders in Q1 at $1,299, Samsung said.

As production of smartphones and smart watches that use flexible displays ramps up, the market for flexible displays is forecast to increase almost ninefold next year over 2014, said Charles Annis, DisplaySearch vice president-manufacturing research, Monday in a blog post. "This nearly exponential advance is being enabled by rapid flexible manufacturing capacity growth as both LG Display and Samsung increase capacity on current lines and Samsung begins production at its new flexible-dedicated A3 line." Since late 2013, "a variety of displays fabricated on plastic substrates have come to market" that are "very thin, light, and rugged," and also "enable device design freedom with curved features," he said. "Regardless of the remaining challenges and unknowns about how fast and how far the market will grow in the long run, our outlook remains optimistic." From a "simple applications perspective," any current rigid flat-panel display "could be replaced by thin, light, unbreakable, and even low-cost flexible alternatives," he said. "Also, flexibility may create new applications, some of which we may not have even imagined yet."

Global Q3 TV shipments improved 4 percent, compared with Q3 a year earlier, and LCD TV shipments alone rose nearly 9 percent, DisplaySearch said in a report Tuesday. Annual TV shipment growth averaged less than 1 percent on a unit and revenue basis in the first half of 2014, with LCD TV growth barely compensating for declining shipments of plasma and CRT TVs, it said. Although 4K TVs have been available for several years now, shipments in 2014 have significantly accelerated, "due to broader competition and more accessible price points activating new consumer groups," it said. Year-over-year 4K TV shipments jumped more than 500 percent in Q3 to top 3 million units, bringing total shipments to 6.4 million units in 2014, it said. China is the leading 4K TV consumer market, and local Chinese brands "are now fiercely competing with Samsung, which is aggressively pushing for growth in China and leads all 4K brands in the nation, after debuting a greatly expanded lineup in Q2," it said. In fact, with 36 percent share of the 4K TV shipments, Samsung led the market on a revenue basis globally in Q3, it said: "The company significantly outpaces all other brands. Chinese brands have a stronger share, thanks to greater unit volume within China, and a low average price compared to global brands competing in markets outside of China. However, with the arrival of greater competition in North America and other markets, as well as rising 4K TV exports from Chinese brands, competitive price compression will be difficult to avoid for most brands." Samsung owned the world’s top 4K TV revenue share in Q3 with 36 percent, followed by LG (15 percent), Hisense (10 percent) and Sony (9 percent), DisplaySearch said.

The world’s top LCD TV panel makers will produce 257 million panels in 2015, a 3 percent increase from the 249 million they produce this year, DisplaySearch analyst David Hsieh said in a blog post Monday. Panels 50 inches or larger will be 21 percent of the total mix, up from 18 percent this year and 12 percent in 2013, he said. Panel makers such as AU Optronics and Sharp are limited by capacity, and so are not able to increase unit shipments, but are focusing on larger sized panels, he said.

LCD TV sales volume during China’s National Day holidays earlier this month were below expectations, at 2.5 million, a 5 percent drop year over year, said an NPD DisplaySearch blog post Monday (http://bit.ly/ZCSkY4). The decline follows weakness in other recent high-volume selling periods including the Spring Festival of 2014 and the May Day holiday in 2014, said analyst Bing Zhang. He said TV sales during the traditional holiday periods are becoming less important due to growing competition from online channels that run frequent promotions. Market share of e-commerce was projected at 15 percent mid-year, growing to 30 percent by the end of 2015, due to “aggressive price promotions,” Zhang said. Weakness in TV sales was also due to a firming of panel prices, which limited price erosion for low-end and mainstream models, he said. The price of a 32-inch open cell LCD TV panel rose from $80 in June to $90 in September, due to strong panel demand, which meant fewer “fighter” models during the national holiday, he said. Major TV brands pushed larger size LCD and 4K TVs, and 4K TV sales penetration reached 27 percent during the holiday period despite price tags that were 15-25 percent higher than HDTVs, he said. DisplaySearch research found major Chinese brands have been increasing TV panel purchases as well as TV set production during the past several months for both export and domestic markets. Local brands are carrying five to six weeks of inventory, which Zhang called “normal," even though the sales results were lower than expected. DisplaySearch expects Chinese brands to keep restocking panels to meet demand during upcoming promotional periods and to try to meet 2014 business plan targets in Q4.

Demand from the growing entry- and mid-range smartphone segments drove global shipments of on-cell TFT LCD touch panels to more than 20 million in the first half of 2014, compared with shipments of 4.7 million in all of 2013, said DisplaySearch. By 2018, shipments of on-cell TFT LCD panels are expected to reach 129 million, it said. Embedded touch panels of all types -- including in-cell and on-cell TFT LCD, as well as on-cell AMOLED (active-matrix organic light-emitting diode) -- accounted for 20 percent of all mobile phone displays in 2012, 29 percent in 2013 and an expected 32 percent in 2014, DisplaySearch said. Apple and Samsung are the largest customers for in-cell TFT LCD and on-cell AMOLED, said Calvin Hsieh, research director, while on-cell TFT LCD tends to be adopted by other brands. As the smartphone market matures, consumers have grown to expect more features and functions at lower prices, pushing Huawei, Motorola and other brands to adjust product strategies, Hsieh said. “These brands are now cultivating the supply chain for additional touch-embedded panel sources as they adopt on-cell TFT LCD solutions to focus on entry-level and mid-range smartphone segments.” On-cell TFT LCD with single-layer patterning is being used to increase share in the entry-level and mid-range smartphone segments, he said. CPT Technology, HannStar, Innolux and Tianma are among the panel makers that shipped on-cell TFT LCD panels in first half 2014, adopting single-layer patterning “to save photomask fees and to raise yield rates,” Hsieh said. “The initial success of on-cell TFT LCD brings great hope to panel makers that are looking to compete with touch module makers.”