DisplaySearch Reports Samsung #1 in 2006 TV Revenues, Sony #1 in LCD TV Revenues, LCDs Overtake Plasma at 40"-44" in Q4'06

AUSTIN, TEXAS, February 13, 2007-DisplaySearch, the worldwide leader in display market research and consulting, released Q4'06 TV shipments and revenues by technology, brand, region, size and resolution for 53 different TV brands as part of its Quarterly Global TV Shipment and Forecast Report.

Global TV unit shipments grew 26% Q/Q in seasonally strong Q4 while declining 1% Y/Y to 57.6M. Due to a strong shift towards flat panel TVs, average TV prices fell just 1% Q/Q but increased 16% Y/Y to $534. LCD and PDP TV prices fell 21% and 29% Y/Y, respectively, which increased flat panel TV demand boosting the flat panel unit share from 19% in Q4'05 to 38% in Q4'06 and the flat panel revenue share from 57% in Q4'05 to 73% in Q4'06. As a result, TV revenues reached a new record high of $30.8B, up 24% Q/Q and 15% Y/Y.

By region, Europe enjoyed the fastest sequential growth, up 67% in shipments and 57% in revenues, after channel inventories were depleted in Q3'06. North America earned the highest Y/Y unit growth triggered by excessive Q3'06 sell-in leading to rapid price declines in large-sized flat panel TVs. China earned the highest Y/Y revenue growth.

LCD TVs were the only technology to enjoy Y/Y revenue growth in Q4'06, up 72% as 117% unit growth more than offset the 21% ASP declines. LCD TV shipments reached a record high 18.6M units and a 32% share of the Q4'06 TV market. For the year, LCD TVs rose 119% to 46.4M units and a 24% share, up from 11% in 2005. On a revenue basis, LCD TVs led with a 49% share, up from 32% in 2005. LCD TVs gained significant share in every region vs. Q3'06, earned more than a 50% share for the first time in Europe, and overtook CRT TVs in North America. Europe was the top region for LCD TVs, holding a 39% share. By size category, LCD TVs overtook PDP TVs at 40-44" for the first time in Q4'06, holding a 52% to 45% advantage and leading in China, Europe Japan and North America. Larger sizes continued to gain share with 30" and larger LCD TVs accounting for 61% of Q4'06 LCD TV volumes, up from 43% in Q4'05. The 40"+ share reached 17%, up dramatically from just 6% in Q4'05. 1080p LCD TVs rose from a 4% unit share in Q3'06 to a 7% unit share in Q4'06, earning a 9% share in North America and a 15% share in Japan as it resonated with consumers in those regions. 1080p LCD TVs overtook 720p LCD TVs on a unit basis at 46-47" in Q4'06 and reached a 30% revenue share at 40-44". By brand as shown in Table 1, Sony reclaimed the top position on a revenue basis in Q4'06, holding a 17.4% to 15.0% advantage over Samsung on the strength of its large-size and 1080p position. Sony widened its revenue share advantage over Samsung at 40-44" by accounting for more than a 50% share at 40-42" 1080p. While Samsung fell to #2 in LCD TV revenues, Sharp, Philips and LGE remained #3 - #5 with only Philips gaining share. For the year, Sony led in LCD TV revenues for the first time with a 16% share followed by Samsung at 15% and Sharp at 11.5%. 2006 was the first year Sharp had not been #1 in LCD TV revenues. On a unit basis in Q4'06, Samsung remained #1 with a 14% share followed by Philips at 13%, Sony at 12%, Sharp at 10% and LGE at 7%. For the year, Samsung led with a 13.4% share followed by Philips at 13.0%, Sony at 11.6%, Sharp at 11.3% and LGE at 7%.

Table 1: LCD TV Brand Revenue Share and Growth

Plasma TV revenues were up 7% Q/Q, but fell 4% Y/Y to $5.0B, the first quarter plasma TV revenues have declined Y/Y due to loss of share to LCDs at 40-44" and rapid price erosion. Plasma TV ASPs fell 20% Q/Q and 29% Y/Y to $1643. Plasma TVs overtook microdisplay RPTVs for the first time at 50"+ in Q4'06 with a narrow 42.5% to 42.3% advantage, led the 50-54" TV market with a 55% share, grew 34% Q/Q and 35% Y/Y to a record 3.1M TVs, and grew the 50"+ share of total plasma TV shipments from 13% in Q4'05 to 23% in Q4'06. However, this growth was insufficient to offset the aggressive price declines. For the year, plasma TV shipments rose 57% to 9.2M units, while plasma TV revenues grew 22% to $18.5B on a 22% decline in ASPs. In Q4'06, 37" plasma TVs had the fastest Q/Q growth on strong demand in Japan and Europe, while 60"+ plasma TVs had the highest Y/Y growth on strong North American demand. While only North America experienced plasma TV unit growth in Q3'06, all regions experienced Q/Q growth in Q4'06; however, China was down Y/Y due to lack of emphasis by the domestic Chinese brands and China's emphasis on smaller sizes. North America remained the top region for plasma with a 38% share and accounted for 63% of all plasma TV shipments at 50"+. Panasonic remained the dominant brand in Q4'06 with a 32% unit and 33% revenue share. On both unit and revenue shares, LGE remained #2 followed by Samsung, Philips, Hitachi and Pioneer. For the year, Panasonic led with a 29% revenue share followed by LGE at 16%, Samsung at 14%, Philips at 10%, Hitachi at 8% and Pioneer at 7%.

Microdisplay(MD) RPTV unit shipments rose 17% Q/Q while falling 9% Y/Y to 862K units. MD RPTVs grew their share of the 55"+ TV market from 70% in Q3'06 to 77% in Q4'06. For the year, MD RPTVs were up 13% Y/Y to 2.8M. While unit growth was healthy in 2006, revenues declined. In Q4'06, MD RPTV revenues were flat Q/Q at $1.5B and were down 34% Y/Y while ASPs were down 15% Q/Q and 28% Y/Y to $1757 despite a shift in size and resolution mix towards larger sizes and 1080p. For the year, MD RPTV revenues were down 7% on an 18% decline in ASP. In Q4'06, 59% of MD RPTV revenues were at 1080p vs. just 25% in Q4'05 and 58% of MD RPTV revenues were at 55"+ vs. 41% a year earlier. By MD RPTV technology, DLP continued to lead in both units and revenues and held a 43% share for the year. LCOS matched the 3LCD revenue share in Q4'06 as 3LCD unit shipments were down 34% Y/Y. North America continued to dominate the MD RPTV market earning an 89% revenue share, down from 93% in Q3'06 as Europe and ROW gained share. By brand, Sony widened its revenue share advantage, earning a 42% share in Q4'06 followed by Samsung at 25% and Mitsubishi at 11%. For the year, Sony led with a 40% share followed by Samsung at 22% and Mitsubishi at 12%.

CRT TV shipments rose 11% Q/Q while declining 24% Y/Y to 34.9M. CRT revenues were up 6% Q/Q while declining 23% Y/Y on a 4% Q/Q ASP decrease and 1% Y/Y ASP increase. For the year, CRTs were down 16% to 130M with revenues down 15% to $26.5B. The CRT unit share fell from 83% to 69% while revenues fell from 39% to 26%. The digital share of the CRT TV market rose from 12% in Q3'06 to 13% in Q4'06 while the HD share remained flat at 2%. TTE maintained the top position on a unit basis with a 12% share followed by LGE and Samsung at 10% and also maintained the top position on a revenue basis with a 12% share followed by Samsung at 11%. TTE also held the top unit and revenue positions for all of 2006.

The HDTV share of all TVs sold in Q4'06 reached 35% in Q4'06, up from 27% in Q3'06. On a revenue basis, the HDTV share rose from 70% in Q3'06 to 75% in Q4'06. Samsung remained the top HD brand, although it lost share to Sony, which narrowed the gap from over 4 share points to under 2.

The 1080p share rose from 1.6% in Q3'06 to 2.9% in Q4'06 on a unit basis and from 8% to 13% on a revenue basis. Sony led in 1080p revenues with a 34.5% share, more than twice that of its closest competitor.

The digital share rose from 40% in Q3'06 to 48% in Q4'06 led by Japan at 87% and North America at 73%. The average TV size reached 26.5", up from 24.8" in Q4'05 led by LCD TVs which have grown from 26" to 30" over that period. By region, North America had the largest average size of 29.7", which was 1-7" larger than other regions. North America accounted for 75% of the 50"+ market and 45% of the 40"+ market.

In terms of total TV brand share worldwide, Samsung led the global TV market in Q4'06 on a unit basis for the second consecutive quarter and on a revenue basis for the fourth consecutive quarter. As shown in Table 2, Samsung enjoyed 31% Q/Q growth to lead the Q4'06 market with an 11.6% share. It was also #1 for all of 2006, the only supplier to earn more than a 10% share at 10.6%. LGE and TTE remained #2 and #3 while losing share; Philips and Sony remained #4 and #5 while gaining share. On a revenue basis, as shown in Table 3, Samsung remained #1 but lost share after six consecutive quarters of share growth. Samsung remained #1 in Europe and #2 in ROW and lost the top position in North America to Sony, which enjoyed the fastest revenue growth due to share gains in 1080p TVs. Panasonic fell from #3 to #5, so LGE and Philips each moved up a position.

Table 2: TV Unit Share by Brand

Table 3: TV Revenue Share by Brand

For more information on the dynamic TV market and TV supply chain, attend DisplaySearch's 9th Annual US FPD Conference from March 6-8 in San Diego which will feature speakers from leading TV brands, TV retailers, TV panel suppliers, TV market and financial analysts and TV electronics manufacturers. More information can be found at http://www.displaysearch.com/usfpd2007.

DisplaySearch's TV market intelligence including panel and TV shipments, TV shipments by region by brand by size, rolling 16-quarter forecasts, TV cost/price forecasts and design wins can be found in its Quarterly Global TV Shipment and Forecast Report. For more information on this report, please contact Carolyn Lowe at (512) 459-3126, x104 or [email protected].

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