According to the latest “Quarterly Mobile Phone Shipment and Forecast Report” from DisplaySearch, revenue for mobile displays is forecast to grow 47% in 2011 and 19% in 2012—reaching $22.4 billion. In 2010 mobile phone display shipments reached 1.6 billion units, up 10.8%. Revenues reached $12.8 billion in 2010, up 10.4%.

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Additionally, the 2010 mobile phone display average selling price (ASP) remained at $7.9—the same as in 2009—resulting in remarkable revenue growth. This is due to continuously growing emerging markets and to the smart phone trend, which is pushing demand for higher specifications including display size, resolution, and technology.

The fastest-growing display technology is active matrix organic LED (AMOLED), which is forecast to reach 128 million in 2011 and 212 million in 2012. AMOLED revenues for mobile phone displays will reach $4.0 billion in 2011 and $6.4 billion in 2012.

Low temperature polycrystalline silicon (LTPS) thin film transistor (TFT) LCDs are shifting to bigger sizes for smart phones. Leading with 61.5% of mobile phone displays in 2010 was amorphous silicon (a-Si) TFT LCD. However, LTPS TFT LCD is very competitive in smart phones, which requires higher resolution and pixels per inch LTPS TFT LCD shipments for mobile phones reached 316 million in 2010, accounting for 19.5% of display shipments.

Despite this, compared to shipment results for 2008 (320 million) and 2009 (298 million), LTPS TFT LCD has not grown as fast as a-Si TFT LCD because of limited available capacity. However, LTPS TFT LCD is shifting to bigger sizes for smart phones. To meet the growing demand for LTPS, capacity expansions are expected.

WVGA and hVGA resolutions are showing the strongest growth. To compete with the Apple iPhone 4, mobile phone manufacturers also upgraded resolutions of high-end models. Previously, the most popular resolution for LTPS TFT LCD was qVGA (240 by 320) at 42.5% share, but it quickly dropped to 17.5% at the end of 2010. WVGA has been the most important resolution for mainstream smart phones since the second quarter of 2010. For WVGA formats, (including LCD and AMOLED), 480 by 800 shipments reached 29 million in the fourth quarter of 2010, and 480 by 864 reached 11.8 million.

Leading resolutions for LTPS TFT LCD in 2010 included WVGA (480 by 800 at 8.6% share and 480 by 864 at 12%), nHD (640 by 360, 15.5%), used by Nokia’s touch-based smart phones, and DVGA (640 by 960, 11.6%), the iPhone’s format. As a result of the iPhone’s popularity, DVGA shipments accounted for an 18.5% share of LTPS LCD shipments in the fourth quarter of 2010, up from 1.2% in the first quarter, and was the top smart phone resolution with 15.1 million shipments. hVGA (320 x 480) shipments fell 36% in the third quarter of 2010, but surged in the fourth quarter up to 11 million, up 105.7%.

These trends signal a transition for smart phone displays, as WVGA took over the mainstream high-end lines and hVGA fell back to cost-effective models in order to maintain shipments in 2010.

Display Search
http://www.displaysearch.com/

NPD Group
http://www.npd.com/

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