Taiwan makers' shipments of small- to medium-size panels grew only 6.9% on quarter in the third quarter of 2015 to 307 million units largely due to China makers' furthering their presence in the white-box tablet market. Due to this trend coupled with increased competition in the smartphone panel segment, Taiwan makers' will see their total shipments in the fourth quarter drop 1.1% sequentially and 14.8% on year to 304 million, according to Digitimes Research.
Tablet panels in particular have seen some of the biggest drops in shipments, with Taiwan makers seeing a 13.8% decline in the third quarter. The makers reported a 9.2% total increase in handset panels during the quarter and some makers such as HannStar Display have begun shifting back to feature handset panel production in order to offset increased competition in the smartphone segment.
In the fourth quarter, Taiwan makers' overall handset panel shipments will grow 2.9% on quarter, with Chunghwa Picture Tubes (CPT) seeing a 4.6% increase in shipments, while tablet panel shipments will drop 4.1%, said Digitimes Research.
