According to TrendForce Opto-Electronics Research (WitsView) ‘s latest 2018 Large-size panel shipment survey report, only the flat panel market shrank year by year in 2018, while TV panel shipments benefited from new capacity injections and project prices to stimulate demand; Shipments of display panels were boosted by an increase in bezel-less capacity at panel makers and by the competition. For pen panel, due to the customer’s concern about the shortage of materials for components such as Driver IC, the demand for stock is responded in advance. Overall, full-year shipments were revised up to 804.06 million units, up 2.5% from a year earlier. Looking ahead to 2019, WitsView research manager Hu Jiarong pointed out that shipments of large-size panels will grow to 811.77 million units, up 1% year on year, driven by increased product specifications. Notebook panels will continue the market’s favored specifications of 2018, such as high resolution and narrow bezels, leading to shipments of 100.12 million units, an increase of 1.6 percent year on year. Sales of bezel-less products and new esports games drove demand for replacement devices, pushing up display panels by 4.4% to 158.03 million units, setting a new peak. In addition, three new production lines will be added to the market in 2019, mainly targeting large-size TV panels, which is expected to push up TV panel shipments to 285.98 million units, an annual growth of 1%, showing shipments growth for three consecutive years.
IT panels continue to move toward smaller bezel specifications, with both edge-to-edge display panels and narrow bezel laptop panels performing well in 2018. In 2018, the penetration rate of frameless panel exceeded 30% for the first time, reaching 31%, under the active expansion of the production line of frameless display panel by panel manufacturers and joint promotion with brands. It is expected that in 2019, the penetration rate is expected to challenge 45%, driven by the continuous increase of production capacity of panel manufacturers and the wide popularity of frameless products among consumers. In addition to the pursuit of high resolution and wide viewing Angle for laptop panels, inspired by the craze of high screen ratio panels for mobile phones, LAPTOP panel manufacturers also began to try to place 14-inch narrow bezel panels in 13.3-inch cases, which not only brought a new look to existing products, but also achieved the concept of thinness. This trend led to a 347% year-on-year increase in shipments of narrow bezel laptop panels in 2018, and a further 19% increase in penetration rate to 25%. As the price difference between narrow bezels and standard VESA bezels gradually Narrows, narrow bezel penetration will break 40% in 2019.