SANTA CLARA, CA – Better technologies are shrinking the global TV replacement cycle, which in the past year has fallen to 6.9 years from 8.4, says NPD DisplaySearch. The research group attributes the trend to declining prices, a wider variety of sizes, and desire for the latest technologies.
In the next year, 31% of households are planning to replace an existing TV, while 22% are planning to add a new TV, based on a study of consumers across 14 different markets.
“The rate of TV replacement varies, but on a global basis, the majority of households are still replacing CRT TVs with flat panel TVs. We are also observing mature markets, such as the US, the UK, and others, replacing their first-generation flat panel TVs,” said Riddhi Patel, NPD DisplaySearch research director, consumer insights. “Overall, LCD TVs in the range of 32" to 44" are the most popular for planned purchases.”
The most critical driver of TV replacement in nearly all countries is a desire to trade up in size, followed by wanting to own a flat panel TV with improved picture quality, says NPD. Although price is not among the top three reasons for recent replacements, it does have an impact on the purchasing decision. Thus, pricing can be a key driver in increasing flat panel TV penetration (by replacing CRTs) and shortening the replacement cycle (by replacing older flat panel sets).
As TV prices fall and profit margins are compressed across the supply chain, the push to introduce new premium features has taken on increased importance, says the research firm. The hope is that these new features, such as 3D and Internet connectivity, will drive consumers to replace TVs faster. However, results suggest otherwise, as these new features were reported to be only somewhat important in selecting a new TV, and not a strong motivator to upgrade.
“The good news is that a large number of markets still have a long way to go toward replacing all CRTs with flat panel TVs, which should continue to sustain growth, but mostly in emerging markets,” Patel said.
Other findings include:
Moving one’s household to a new location was found to be a very weak driver in all markets surveyed.
Nine markets in the study have more than 50% penetration of flat panel TVs. There are still five markets with 40% of households having only CRT sets.
The average age of the primary TV in households ranges between 4 and 7 years, with India the highest at 6.7 years and China-Urban the lowest at 3.5 years.
Households in emerging markets, such as Russia, Brazil, Mexico, and China, are much more likely to be planning to either replace or add TVs than in the US and European countries.
Over 40% of households in China are planning to replace their first-generation flat panel TVs, similar to the rates found in mature markets.
32" remains the most desired size in the majority of emerging markets, whereas 40" to 44" sizes dominate planned purchases in mature markets.
NEVADA CITY, CA – IC packaging revenue is expected to grow 9.8% compounded annually, versus a CAGR of 7.3% for unit shipments through 2016, says New Venture Research.
Handheld electronic gadgets such as smartphones and tablets are driving the demand for ICs in the consumer electronics industry, as is the return in demand for automobiles, the firm says.
Increased demand for product functionality is driving up the IC packaging revenue faster than IC unit growth. The growth in handheld gadgets, which are increasingly digital in design, will boost the growth of special purpose logic communications chips by a 16.7% CAGR for device revenue through 2016, versus a 13.5% CAGR in units. FBGA and QFN package solutions are the most in demand, which pull at either end of the pricing structure. QFPs are ranked third as a package solution, but are decreasing in demand over time. These devices are expected to have a 14.8% CAGR in revenue through 2016.
Wireless infrastructure products are also in high demand, which is helping boost consumption for standard cell and PLD chips, says NVR. These devices will grow at a CAGR of 16.1% in terms of revenue through 2016, while the device units are projected at 15%. High I/O BGAs are the package solution of choice over the forecast period, the firm notes, so the package revenue growth is projected to be slightly higher, at a CAGR of 16.3% through 2016.
Logic chips are in demand for a host of products; therefore, 32-bit MCUs are expected to have an 11.1% CAGR unit demand, although only a device revenue CAGR of 4.7% through 2016. QFPs and BGAs have the highest demand of the package solutions, although the QFP is waning in favor of the BGA. Thus, the package revenue is growing at a CAGR of 12.8% through 2016 for 32-bit MCUs, according to NVR.
SAN JOSE, CA — North America-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers reported bookings rose 10.7% sequentially in April, suggesting a near-term rebound is on the way.
EGHAM, UK – Worldwide sales of mobile phones to end users reached 419.1 million units in the first quarter of 2012, a 2% decline year-over-year, says Gartner. This is the first time since the second quarter of 2009 that the market exhibited a decline, the firm notes.
“Global sales of mobile devices declined more than expected due to a slowdown in demand from the Asia/Pacific region,” said Anshul Gupta, principal research analyst at Gartner. “The first quarter, traditionally the strongest quarter for Asia – which is driven by Chinese New Year, saw a lack of new product launches from leading manufacturers, and users delayed upgrades in the hope of better smartphone deals arriving later in the year.”
All vendors were impacted at different levels; however, white-box vendors seem to have suffered the most, the firm says. While tier one players such as Nokia were negatively impacted on sell-in numbers (sold into retail), white-box vendors were unable to adjust production and were left with a buildup in inventory by the end of the quarter. Gartner expects some of this volume to be sold during the next couple of quarters because the channel is likely to lower the prices to dispose of the stock.
“The lower results in the first quarter of 2012 have led us to be cautious about sales for the remainder of the year,” said Annette Zimmermann, principal research analyst at Gartner. “The continued roll-out of third generation-based smartphones by local and regional manufacturers such as Huawei, ZTE, Lenovo, Yulong and TCL Communication should help spur demand in China. In addition, the arrival of new products in mature markets based on new versions of the Android and Windows Phone operating systems, and the launch of the Apple iPhone 5, will help drive a stronger second half in Western Europe and North America. However, as we are starting to update our market forecast, we feel a downward adjustment to our 2012 figures, in the range of 20 million units, is unavoidable.”
Samsung became the world’s top mobile handset vendor during the quarter, displacing Nokia, which had held the No. 1 spot since 1998. Samsung’s mobile phone sales reached 86.6 million units, up 25.9% from last year. Samsung took back the world’s No. 1 smartphone position from Apple, selling 38 million smartphones worldwide. In addition, Samsung’s Android-based smartphone sales in the first quarter of 2012 represented more than 40% of Android-based smartphone sales worldwide; no other vendors achieved more than a 10% share of the market, says Gartner.
Sales of smartphones continued to drive mobile device market growth, reaching 144.4 million units in the first quarter of 2012, up 44.7% year-over-year. This quarter also saw the top two smartphone vendors, Apple and Samsung, raising their combined share to 49.3%, up from 29.3% in the first quarter of 2011, and widening their lead over Nokia, which saw its smartphone market share drop to 9.2%.
Nokia's mobile handset sales reached 83.2 million units, down 22.7% year-over-year. “Smartphone sales are becoming of paramount importance at a worldwide level. For example, smartphone volumes contributed to approximately 43.9% of overall sales for Samsung, as opposed to 16% for Nokia,” Gupta said.
Driven by the continued success of the iPhone 4S, Apple’s sales grew 96.2% in the first quarter. Sales in China were particularly strong. With more than 5 million units, China became the second-largest market for Apple after the US, according to Gartner. On top of the sales through official carriers’ channels, there was an increase in transshipments from Hong Kong, where volume has been growing over the past few quarters to reach a sell-in of more than 3 million units.
RIM sold 9.9 million mobile handsets in the first quarter of 2012, with its global share declining to 2.4% as competition increased in its international market strongholds.
In the smartphone OS market, Android accounted for more than half of all smartphone sales (56.1%) in the first quarter of 2012.
