Taiwan-based ODMs shipped 21.90 million LCD monitors in the fourth quarter of 2014, decreasing 1.2% sequentially and 10.5% on year, according to Digitimes Research.Of the shipments, 58.1% were 20-inch and above models, Digitimes Research indicated.Taiwan-based makers shipped 85.81 million LCD monitors in 2014, dropping 4.6% on year. Their global market share reached 63.1%, down 0.2pp from 2013.The upcoming long Lunar New Year holidays in China will affect Taiwan-based ODMs' production there. Their monitor shipments will continue to decline in February, decreasing 5.4% sequentially to 20.72 million units. But compared to the volume for the same month in 2014, it will register growth, according to Digitimes Research.For 2015, global monitor shipments are expected to decline 2-3% to a volume under 133 million.

Taiwan-based TFT-LCD panel makers shipped 356.472 million small- to medium-size panels in the fourth quarter of 2014, growing 8.1% on quarter but dipping 3.3% on year, according to Digitimes Research.a-Si TFT-LCD panels accounted for 90.8% of the shipments and LTPS (low-temperature poly-Si) models for 9.2%, Digitimes Research indicated.In terms of application, handsets accounted for 78.9% of shipments, tablets 6.6%, automotive displays 3.8%, digital cameras 3.5% and GPS PNDs 2.3%.Chunghwa Picture Tubes (CPT), HannStar Display and Innolux were the three largest makers, accounting for 34.7%, 30.2% and 21.7% of shipments.Taiwan-based makers shipped 1.338 billion small- to medium-size panels in 2014, declining 8.2% on year.

Korea-based vendors who have adopted a one-stop business model for their LCD TV business have recently placed some strategic orders with outside ODMs for 2015. Samsung Electronics has outsourced production to China panel maker BOE's TV manufacturing subsidiary Beijing BOE Multimedia Technology, while LG Electronics has outsourced some of its LCD TV models for the North America market to Compal Electronics.Shipments are expected to reach at least one million units in both cases.Through the orders, Digitimes Research believes, the Korea-based vendors are looking to secure their external panel supply sources and gain better understanding of Taiwan ODMs' manufacturing capability and pricing structure.Samsung and LG, two major vendors in the global LCD TV market, have mainly adopted in-house produced components for their sets that they are also manufacturing in house. But LG made contacts with Taiwan's ODMs about the outsourcing orders in 2014.Compal has already started a project handling the LG orders and products will start shipping in the second quarter with a volume of around one million units. The LCD TVs adopt panels not manufactured by LG Display (LGD), a panel making subsidiary of the LG Group.By outsourcing its TV production to BOE, Samsung is clearly trying to secure external panel supply. Despite the fact that the LCD TV market is already saturated, Samsung is still aggressively expanding its presence in the market and aiming to sell 60 million LCD TVs in 2015, up from 50 million units in 2014.To achieve the goal, Samsung needs to acquire a sufficient supply of panels for 2015. Since only a limited number of panel suppliers are producing 32-inch panels - the most popular LCD TV size for emerging markets - Samsung is believed to have accepted the term from BOE to outsource parts of its LCD TV manufacturing to BOE's subsidiary in exchange for a stable 32-inch panel supply.Samsung's orders to BOE's subsidiary reportedly will reach between 1-3 million units. The final volume of BOE's LCD TV orders will depend on the supply status of the 32-inch panels in 2015.

Taiwan-based brand vendors and ODMs will ship a total of 18.05 million handsets in the first quarter of 2015, down 29.4% on quarter but up 11.2% on year, according to Digitimes Research.Of the total shipments for the quarter, smartphones will account for 16.55 million units, decreasing by 25.3% from the previous quarter but increasing 25.1% from a year earlier.The top-three ODMs, Chi Mei Communication Systems (CMCS), Compal Electronics and Arima Communications, will see their combined shipments slip over 30% sequentially in the first quarter due to decreasing orders from Sony Mobile Communications and Microsoft Mobile, Digitimes Research pointed out.Smartphone vendor HTC will see its shipments fall within a range of 10% on quarter in the first quarter, buoyed by orders for its mid-range models. Smartphone shipments from Asustek Computer and Acer aree xpected to dive 35% and 50% sequentially in the quarter due to high inventories at channels, Digitimes Research estimates.

Global demand for LCD TV panels in terms of total area in 2015 is estimated at 126.107 million square meters, increasing on year by 11.2%, according to Digitimes Research.The average screen size for LCD TV panels in 2015 was previously forecast at 40.5 inches, Digitimes Research indicated. Because Samsung Display and LG Display maintain a strategy of shipping LCD TV panels of larger sizes and China-based BOE Technology and China Star Optoelectronics Technology will increase shipments of 48- and 55-inch LCD TV panels, the 2015 average size has been upward adjusted to 40.9 inches, increasing on year by 3.8%.

Notebook shipments (excluding detachable models) by the top-five vendors as well as top-three ODMs suffered a sequential decline of 25% and 19%, respectively, in January due to a high level of inventory at channels which resulted mainly from excess shipments of consumer models by Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Lenovo in the November-December period, according to Digitimes Research.HP and Lenovo saw their notebook shipments plunged 45% and 30% on-month, respectively, in January, while other brands managed to control the sequential decline rates within 10%.Among the top-three ODMs, Compal Electronics suffered a significant drop in shipments in January as a major portion of its orders were coming from HP and Lenovo, said Digitimes Research.While vendors were ramping entry-level consumer models in the fourth quarter of 2014, shipments of Chromebooks in the quarter were down more than 20% from the previous quarter. This may have been the result of competition coming from shipments of more models under Microsoft's low-cost strategy, or of a declining momentum of Chromebooks themselves. Shipments of Chromebooks by Acer and Samsung Electronics, mainly to the education segment, slid substantially in the fourth quarter.Microsoft is expected to continue to resort to a low-licensing fee policy to ward off competition from Chromebooks in 2015, but the package deals for Windows 10 and Windows 8.1 will be different in the third quarter. Low-cost Windows 10-based models will still be limited at 14-inch models without the use of HDDs for main storage, but will not be confined only to the sub-US$249 segment.

The fourth quarter of 2014 is typically the busy season for touch panel makers. In China alone, makers experienced 9.8%, 7.1% and 2.5% sequential increases in the handset, tablet and notebook segments but will see declines of 17.9%, 24.8% and 13.4% respectively heading into the first quarter of 2015 as the industry enters the slow season, according to Digitimes Research.In the fourth quarter tablet applications saw some of the largest growth as vendors in China increased orders with local makers. Notebook touch panel shipments on the other hand were amongst the lowest of the figures as a number of metal mesh orders to O-Film were shifted to Taiwan makers. Heading into the first quarter of 2015, makers will see a decline as white-box brands fade from the market while orders for notebook applications will only see minor declines as new orders from Lenovo are still expected to be distributed to supply chains.In terms of makers, Truly has entered the Sony supply chain to supply OGS solutions for handsets in hope to make up for losses incurred from orders being shifted to Samsung. EELY meanwhile is continuing to cooperate with Samsung, but is shifting the cooperation from tablet developments to smartphone applications, which contributed to the maker's 19.3% decline in tablet touch panel shipments during the third quarter of 2014. However, the company will see the lowest sequential decline in the first quarter of 2015 at 12% due to orders from Samsung, said Digitimes Research.

Taiwan makers' LCD TV shipments reached 10.86 million in the fourth quarter of 2014, the first time they broke the 10 million mark since the first quarter of 2012, according to Digitimes Research.The amount is a 19.4% on-quarter increase and a 14.2% on-year increase. Total shipments for the makers in 2014 amounted to 36.14 million, up from 34.13 million in 2013.Taiwan makers held over a 50% share in LCD TVs shipped to North America in the fourth quarter and Foxconn Electronics saw major increases in shipments to the Mexico market. The makers' shipment proportion to Europe-based customers also increased.TVs sized 50-inch and above made up a larger portion of the makers' shipments during the fourth quarter while 32-inch units dropped below a 20% proportion.TPV, Foxconn and Wistron were the top three makers throughout the fourth quarter, with Wistron responsible for most TV supply to Vizio for Black Friday sales events.Looking to the first quarter of 2015, the makers' shipments are expected to drop about 20% on quarter to 8.38 million but grow 11% on year, according to Digitimes Research.

Shipments of handsets by Taiwan-based ODMs and brand vendors totaled 25.56 million units in the fourth quarter of 2014, increasing 15% sequentially and over 50% from a year earlier, according to Digitimes Research.For all of 2014, handset shipments by Taiwan's suppliers amounted to 85.15 million units, showing an increase of 39% from the previous year.Handset ODMs Chi Mei Communication Systems (CMCS) and Compal Electronics both saw their handset shipments gain over 15% sequentially in the fourth quarter thanks to pull-in orders from major clients including Sony Mobile Communications and Microsoft Mobile, said Digitimes Research.Brand vendor HTC managed to ramp up its shipments by 10% sequentially in the quarter, buoyed by the release of new mid-range models. Fourth-quarter smartphone shipments from Asustek Computer and Acer were up one million and 400,000 units, respectively, from a quarter earlier, powered by low-priced models.Mainstream smartphone models shipped by HTC and Asustek in the fourth quarter came mostly with 8- and 13-megapixel cameras, while the cameras used in the major ODM smartphones from Sony Mobile have also shifted to 8-megapixel from the 3-to 5-megapixel models used previously, Digitimes Research noted.

January average retail price for 7W LED light bulbs (equivalent to 40W incandescent ones) in the China market decreased 6.4% on month to CNY33.4 (US$5.4), while prices for 9W models (equivalent to 60W incandescents) increased 13.5% to CNY42.1, according to Digitimes Research.Average retail prices for 40W- and 60W-equivalent LED light bulbs in Japan in January stood at JPY1,709 (US$15.0) and JPY3,299 respectively, with the former rising 0.6% on month and the latter 1%, Digitimes Research indicated.January average retail prices for 40W- and 60W-equivalent LED light bulbs in other markets were: KRW13,542 (US$12.20, up 18.8% on month) and KRW14,191 (down 1.2%) in South Korea; US$21.70 (up 21.2%) and US$19.40 (down 1.0%) in the US; and EUR9.10 (US$11.10, down 4.2%) and EUR13.50 (down 4.3%) in Europe.Samsung Electronics' 40W-equivalent LED light bulbs and Philips' 60W-equivalent models for sale in South Korea had the highest average lumen-price ratios at 80.6lm/US$ and 97.7lm/US$ in January. In terms of luminous efficiency, Toshiba 40W- and 60-equivalent LED light bulbs available in Japan had the highest average levels at 81.1lm/W and 104.1lm/W.