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Notebooks will make up 25% of PC market in 2005
XGA displays dominate, 15-inch sector grows
Notebooks will account for 25 per cent of all PCs sold by 2005, due to falling prices and the slowdown of the desktop PC market.
In 2001, notebooks will account for 19.9 per cent of 2001 PC shipments, up from 18.3 per cent of the market in 2000 according to research firm DisplaySearch.
The analysts expect shipments of TFT LCD notebook modules to rise by 25 per cent in 2001, with old-skool STN LCD sales falling by 83 per cent. DisplaySearch expects STN LCD technology to disappear from the notebook market this year. Only 240,000 STN LCDs shipped in Q1 2001.
The number of notebooks shipping with TFT LCDs is predicted to rise from 91 per cent in 2000 to 99 per cent in 2001.
The average sales price (ASP) for notebook panels fell by $71 in Q1 2001, down to levels last seen in Q1 1999 when panel sizes were smaller and STN LCDs were a much larger percentage of the total sales. The Q1 2001 ASP dropped to $277 after peaking in Q1 2000 at $463, a swing of $186/panel in a single year. DisplaySearch says ASPs are expected to drop below $200 in Q3 2001 before starting to increase as TFT LCD demand begins to catch up with supply.
Size matters
DisplaySearch reports that only shipments of 15-inch and larger panels grew sequentially from Q4 2000 to Q1 2001. On an annualised basis, 14.1-inch and 15-inch TFT LCD shipment volumes grew by 47 per cent and 63 per cent respectively, while all other panel sizes lost ground. The trend to larger panel sizes in notebooks is put down to a move to replace desktop systems with notebooks - especially as a 15-inch TFT LCD gives you as much viewable screen as a 17-inch CRT display.
Children of the resolution
By resolution, shipments of XGA (1024×768) notebook modules rose from 76.7 per cent to 79.3 per cent of the market - up to more than 4.4 million units. But SVGA (800×600) shipments fell from 33.9 per cent in Q1 2000 to 14.7 per cent in Q1 2001.
SXGA+ (1400×1050) represented 4.6 per cent of all panel shipments in Q1 2001; and UXGA (1600×1200) shipments grew to 15 per cent of the 15-inch notebook PC market.
Big brand boogie
Samsung had 24.1 per cent of the market for branded notebook panels in Q1 2001, down slightly from 24.8 per cent in Q4 2000, but still the leader. LG.Philips is number two, increasing its share from 12.5 per cent to 14.7 per cent. Hitachi, IBM, and Toshiba bring up positions three, four and five respectively.
In Q1 2001 Sony led the marked for notebooks with displays less than 12.1-inches, Compaq held the 12.1-inch and 13.3-inch sectors, and Dell triumphed at the big display, 14.1-inch and 15-inch, end. ®