Forecast: Flat panel market 11% down in 2020
April 16, 2020
Global unit shipments of flat-panel displays (FPD) are expected to plunge by 11.1 per cent in 2020 as the coronavirus crisis cripples demand for televisions and smartphones, according to Omdia.
FPD shipments are set to total 3.2 billion units in 2020, down from 3.6 billion in 2019. The market has been undergoing low-single-digit increases and decreases since the financial crisis in the second half of 2008 caused shipments to drop by 8.8 per cent in 2009. However, the double-digit drop this year represents an unprecedented rate of decline.
“The coronavirus is spreading throughout the world at a faster pace than expected,” said Ricky Park, director of display research at Omdia. “The pandemic is starting to directly impact application market demand as stores close and lockdowns become widespread, weakening consumer accessibility. In particular, TVs and smartphones—products that rely heavily on retail consumer demand—will find it difficult to avoid the direct impact of coronavirus and will be hit more severely than other areas by the contagion. This will result in a sharp decline global flat-panel display demand in 2020.”
Omdia predicts the market will recover in 2021 as the impact of the coronavirus recedes, with shipments rising by 9.1 per cent during the year.