China touch panel makers' shipments to the handset, tablet and notebook segments dropped 19.9%, 13.5% and 44.7% respectively in the first quarter of 2014, according to Digitimes Research's latest quarterly data report.
The drop was mainly due to shipment slowdowns that generally take place in the first quarter of each year coupled with holiday seasons and worker shortage.
Thin-film type touch panels are expected to make up 77.5% of the makers' shipments as of second-quarter 2014 as China handset vendors put in increased orders for the technology to meet entry-level and mid-range smartphone demand in China during 2014, Digitimes Research estimates in its latest quarterly data report on China's touch panel industry.
The demand will push China-based O-Film's handset touch panel shipments to around 35 million units in the second quarter as a result, added Digitimes Research.
Digitimes Research also expects the makers' shipments of 11-inch and below size touch panels for use in tablet products to increase 7.9% in the second quarter due to increased demand from Samsung Electronics, Lenovo and various white-box vendors.
This article is an excerpt from a Digitimes Research Quarterly Data Report (Taiwan LCD TVs – 1Q 2015). Visit our latest Data reports.