Crowd Wisdom Consulting: The global flat panel market rebounded strongly in the third quarter, with shipments increasing by 26% year-on-year.

In the last quarter of 2024, the global tablet panel market performance has gradually taken shape. Data from Sigmaintell shows that in the first three quarters of 2024, global tablet panel shipments reached 199 million units, a 6% year-on-year growth. Of particular note is the strong rebound in the global tablet panel market in the third quarter of 2024, with shipments increasing by nearly 26% year-on-year. In the first three quarters, brand demand accounted for approximately 55% of total shipments, an increase of nearly 7 percentage points compared to 2023. This significant growth was mainly driven by two factors: the global economic recovery driving an increase in end-user consumption demand, creating a more favorable market environment for brands of all kinds. Brands have continuously expanded the application boundaries of traditional tablet computers, developing more innovative usage scenarios such as light office, education, in-car entertainment, and commercial government solutions, further stimulating market demand. In addition, channel demand rebounded in the third quarter: behind this trend, on the one hand, is the continuous expansion of tablet-like application scenarios, such as learning machines, order machines, smart home controls, information displays in public places, industrial control display panels, among many other fields; on the other hand, the increase in panel production capacity and the decrease in costs have made it possible to realize more innovative application scenarios. These factors together have driven the strong growth of the global tablet panel market, laying a solid foundation for the trend of growth for the full year in 2024. Structure Section: in the third quarter of 2024, a-Si LCD demand rebounded, LTPS and Oxide LCDs saw significant growth, OLED faced challenges a-Si LCD: In the first three quarters of 2024, as panel and brand manufacturers continue to advance technological innovations, the demand for a-Si LCDs has generally decreased as a proportion of the total. However, thanks to its significant advantages in production capacity and cost, a-Si LCDs are still an indispensable foundation in the flat panel display market. In particular, in the third quarter, the demand for a-Si panels increased significantly due to the entry-level products launched by brands such as Apple, Amazon, and Xiaomi, coupled with the simultaneous increase in channel stocking demand. Despite fluctuations in demand between different quarters due to variations in customer preferences and product structures, the overall direction of technological advancement is unstoppable. In the future, the position of a-Si LCDs in the market will inevitably be affected by new technological innovations, and their application scope and development space may be limited. However, in the short term, a-Si LCDs will continue to play an important role in specific market segments due to their mature technology and affordability. LTPS LCD: In the first three quarters of 2024, approximately 13.1 million LTPS panels were shipped, a 19% year-on-year increase. The demand for LTPS LCDs mainly came from mainland Chinese tablet brands, increasing the overall competitiveness of mid- to high-end products with LTPS's advantages in high resolution, high refresh rate, and image quality. As a result, the growth of LTPS LCD panels with resolutions above 2.5K was particularly significant. To differentiate its market positioning from Oxide, LTPS can continue to increase resolutions to 3.2K, 3.4K, but as resolution increases, power consumption will also increase. Therefore, in the short to medium term, there is not a strong demand for LTPS LCDs to upgrade to higher resolutions. On the contrary, as competition in the tablet brand market intensifies, cost becomes one of the most important factors for brands to consider, and looking forward to 2025, LTPS LCDs face significant growth pressure. Oxide LCD: In the third quarter of 2024, the shipment volume of Oxide LCD panels reached 11.6 million units, a 26% year-on-year increase. The brand demand for Oxide panels shows differentiation: Apple's demand for Oxide panels decreased due to the technological transition of the iPad Pro, while other manufacturers gradually increased their purchases of Oxide panels due to considerations of low power consumption and multiple technology procurement strategies. This trend is expected to continue into 2025. In particular, considering that Oxide technology has cost advantages over LTPS in cutting efficiency and simplification of manufacturing processes, Oxide panels are more attractive in price competition. Therefore, non-Apple tablet manufacturers will continue to increase their use of Oxide panels, thereby driving growth in shipments. OLED: In the third quarter of 2024, the shipment volume of OLED flat panels was approximately 27.7 million units, a 21% decrease from the previous quarter. The main reason for this decline is the reduction in demand from Apple, as the replacement demand for the new iPad Pro gradually subsided, and subsequent consumption demand weakened due to its higher price. Therefore, Apple correspondingly reduced its panel demand, leading to an overall decline in OLED flat panel shipments. In addition to Apple, the procurement demand for OLED panels from other manufacturers remained stable or increased significantly. Looking at the sub-segment of OLED technology, Apple's adoption of Hybrid OLED has led Hybrid OLED to be the largest share of OLED panel shipments. Secondly, Rigid panel technology, due to price advantages, remains the primary choice for manufacturers outside of Apple. Flexible panels, under Huawei's diverse technology layout, are also gradually becoming an important part of OLED shipments. In addition, the adoption rate of Tandem technology on high-end tablets is gradually increasing due to its advantages in brightness, power consumption, and lifespan. Competitive Landscape: Top 5 manufacturers maintain stable market share, mainland panel manufacturers gradually increase market share BOE: In the third quarter of 2024, BOE's flat panel shipments reached approximately 41 million units, a 39% year-on-year increase. In terms of market share, BOE's market share in the third quarter exceeded 50%, reaching 58%. Brand shipments showed a significant increase, with a year-on-year growth of 33%; channel demand also performed strongly, with a year-on-year increase of 43%. From a technological perspective, BOE has not only focused on a-Si technology, but also...Achieved a year-on-year growth of 35%, with the shipment volumes of LTPS LCD, Oxide LCD, and OLED technologies also showing varying degrees of growth. In particular, LTPS LCD and Oxide LCD, as the cornerstone of BOE's technology layout, achieved year-on-year growth of 114% and 129% respectively.LG Display (LGD) In the third quarter of 2024, LGD's global flat panel shipment reached approximately 70.1 million units, an increase of about 9% compared to the same period last year. This growth was mainly driven by the strong performance of a-Si LCD panels, especially during the promotional season where demand for iPads and Air series significantly increased, leading to an increase in a-Si panel shipments. However, the performance of Oxide LCD panels saw a significant decline due to the technological switch in iPad Pro. Additionally, the sales of the new OLED iPad Pro did not meet expectations, resulting in a slight decrease in OLED panel shipments. Innolux In the third quarter of 2024, Innolux's flat panel shipment was approximately 59.3 million units, a decrease of about 26% compared to the same period last year. The decrease in shipment was mainly attributed to the decline in demand from brand customers. With the continuous expansion of 8.6 generation a-Si production capacity of mainland Chinese manufacturers, flat panel displays have become an important application of capacity consumption, leading to intensified market competition for Innolux. Particularly, some brand projects focused more on cost control, resulting in parts of Innolux's market share being eroded by other panel manufacturers. CSOT In the third quarter of 2024, CSOT's flat panel shipment reached 46.6 million units, achieving a year-on-year growth of 156%. This significant growth was mainly attributed to the commissioning of the T9 new production line, which brought a large number of a-Si panel shipments, as well as CSOT's active expansion of brand customers. Currently, CSOT has established a solid cooperation with top manufacturers such as Xiaomi, Samsung, Lenovo, and Huawei, providing strong support for CSOT's rapid growth in the flat panel market. In addition, in the LTPS LCD field, shipments increased by 9% year-on-year, and cooperation with brand customers continues to deepen. Outlook: With the global economy recovering, it is expected that the panel market will continue to grow in 2025; competition among panel manufacturers and technologies will intensify In the third quarter of 2024, the global flat panel market showed a steady upward development trend. According to Sigmaintell data, in the first three quarters of 2024, global flat panel shipments reached 199 million units, a 6% year-on-year increase. This growth was mainly due to the global economic recovery and brand innovation in application scenarios such as remote office, education, in-vehicle entertainment, and commercial enterprise solutions. Looking ahead to the fourth quarter of 2024 and 2025, the flat panel market will continue to grow driven by the recovery of the global economy. Competition between technologies and panel manufacturers will intensify, and balancing shipment volume and panel prices to achieve a simultaneous increase in quantity and price remains an important issue for major panel manufacturers.