Sales of large display screens have been declining for several quarters, and major providers such as Samsung, Sony, and LG say this has hurt their most recent quarterly earnings. (See: Headache, but Also Some Relief in Q3 for Asian OEMs.) TV sales in particular have stalled as consumers pull back on their spending, and features such as 3-D have failed to take hold.
But the market for small displays, or microdisplays, is poised for growth. According to a report by MarketsandMarkets, the global microdisplay market is expected to reach $995 million in 2016 from roughly $250 million this year. In particular, applications like head-mounted displays, which are used extensively in the medical and military fields, "will indirectly help the microdisplays market to increase."
These are the kind of screens that caught hold with the introduction of virtual reality, which is still pretty much a niche market. However, by targeting the military, automotive, and medical markets, makers of these displays have positioned themselves within three industries that are growing in spite of the general economic malaise.
Microdisplay makers are also combining technologies for better resolution. For example, organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology -- which consumes significantly less power than other devices -- is making headway in this market. "The combination of different types of display technologies" has helped the microdisplay market diversify, MarketsandMarkets said.
The automotive market is one of the few markets expected to grow in the near term, according to William A. Strauss, senior economist and chief economic advisor to the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. At a recent ECIA conference, Strauss said car prices are beginning to decline now that the worst effects of the March disaster in Japan are abating -- at least from the manufacturing standpoint. (See: Roundup From ECIA.) "There is pent-up demand for vehicles," he said.
MarketsandMarkets discusses the use of microdisplays in the automotive and aerospace markets:
Microdisplays, with the help of head mounted displays, will be majorly seen in the automotive industry for automotive prototyping in terms of virtually designing a car, and the exact position of different parts can be evaluated and changed accordingly. They are also used in the automotive sector for providing additional information to the driver with respect to night vision. The digital printing and the data storage are also potential applications in the microdisplay market. The use of microdisplays in aerospace applications refers to flight training and simulation where the key product used is a head mounted display.
Displays in general have become a mainstream product for industrial applications. When small touch screens hit the market, distributors began targeting applications such as gas-station kiosks, a market not typically associated with electronics distribution. The screens also made early inroads in the medical market as LCDs became smaller and less expensive and medical equipment became portable. Though these displays are expected to be widely used in smartphones, opportunities outside the consumer market remain the sweet spot for electronics distribution.
Customers all over the world prefer portable media since they expect privacy. Also, for video gamers who need visual reality switch to small size head mounted displays. It will also be successful in the field of education if the cost of these displays are brought down.
When times get tough one of the first things to be cut is new toys, and large screen televisions certainly are expensive toys. So part of the slump in sales is not by any means the fault of the product. Of course, the 3D gimmick is another story. It has been some time since a product was marketed that offered so little value for the big price. Hopefully the public will understand that 3D is a stupid waste of energy and resources and is primarily an attempt to create another market without delivering any value. The best outcome would be for the promotors to lose both shirts and shorts, and possibly learn that the consumers as a whole are not quite that stupid.
Good to know Adeniji, I have tried to collect some infos about and in effect as American Optometric Association has reported, it is quite difficult a deterministic correlation between screens and human health. As reverse face of the coin, we would say we still can't exclude that possible dangers could come.
@MFBERTOZZI,well, that is another aspect of this matter, while i feel small screens don,t really have so much adverse effect on the eye, some big screens may do .
smaller screens does basically everything a large screen can do plus so much more
@Damilare, I dont think small screen can do everything that a large screen can do because you cannot display large amount of data on a smaller screen. It would be very difficult for the readers to read small text/image. People still prefer bigger monitors/Television for entertainment purposes.
@Damilare, well, but this is not applicable to LCD TVs and Monitors. They are in the class of themselves and people are still buying them and dropping the old and faithful CRT TVs. I feel they the big screen and the small one perform the same task but different area of use so what I expect is a level -up in the use of the two screens.
personally I think little screens will continue grow more than the larger screens. For reasons such as price, portability and a multipurpose nature, smaller screens does basically everything a large screen can do plus so much more
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Thailand Stages a Comeback Join EBN contributor Jennifer Baljko on Thursday August 23, 2012, at 11:00 a.m. EST for a live chat on how electronic manufacturers in Thailand have shored up their supply chain to reduce the impact of future natural disasters.
Euro-Crisis: What It Means for High-Tech Firms Join EBN Editor in Chief Bolaji Ojo and Contributing Editor Jennifer Baljko on Thursday, July 12, at 10:00 a.m. EDT for a Live Chat on high-tech and Europe's economic difficulties.
Microsoft Surface: Potential Winners & Losers What are the implications for the electronics industry supply chain of Microsoft Corp.'s decision to launch its own tablet PC? Join industry veteran and EE Times' systems and OEM expert Rick Merritt on Tuesday, July 3, at 12:00 pm EDT for a Live Chat on this subject.
Join EBN contributor Jennifer Baljko on Thursday August 23, 2012, at 11:00 a.m. EST for a live chat on how electronic manufacturers in Thailand have shored up their supply chain to reduce the impact of future natural disasters.
Peter Drucker famously said "Trying to predict the future is like trying to drive down a country road at night with no lights while looking out the back window." Yet in the razor's-edge world of electronics—with a lean supply chain and just-in-time demands—the need to know the future is vital.
While no one really can accurately predict the future, we can take guidance from another Drucker saying which is the best way to predict the future is to create it.
You've heard the saying "the No. 1 supply chain risk is your people." That hasn't always been the case. But today's complex global supply chain requires a new type of multitalented employee. It's one who understands, finance, marketing, economics, is savvy with technology, graceful with relationships and can think analytically.
Where are these people? Are universities properly preparing the next generation supply chain professionals? How do train your existing workforce for these new, demanding positions?
Brian Fuller, editor-in-chief of EBN, will lead a 60-minute Avnet Velocity panel discussion that will ask and answer these and other questions swirling around today's supply-chain talent challenges.
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