LG Dominates Tablet Display Market

LG has become the prominent supplier of displays for tablets. Large volume contracts with Apple, Amazon and Barnes & Noble enabled the company to ship 51 percent of tablet display panels in the second quarter of 2011, market research firm IHS estimates.

ZoomSamsung Mobile Display, which also supplies Apple with displays as well, follows with 35 percent, and Chimei Innolux, another Apple supplier, with 9 percent. All others shipped just 5 percent of all tablet panels in the second quarter of this year.

“Apple, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble have very different offerings in the media tablet market - but they all depend on LG Display because of its advanced in-plane switching (IPS) display technology,” said Vinita Jakhanwal, senior manager of small and medium displays at IHS. “LG Display’s amorphous silicon LCD panels utilizing IPS technology offer faster response speeds, wide viewing angles up to 179 degrees, and no after image—all while consuming 30 percent less power than conventional LCDs.”

IHS forecasts tablet shipments to climb by 273 percent this year compared to 2010. However, the firm said that display suppliers will have to keep pace with the growing resolution in tablet displays. While 9.x-inch displays currently have a typical pixel density of 132 ppi (1024x768) and 7-inch tablets are at 170 ppi (1024x600), the next 9.x generation and Apple's iPad retina display may exceed 300 ppi, IHS said. "Panel suppliers that cannot meet these exacting display standards or efficiently produce viable displays at such sizes and resolutions will find it very hard to compete in the market," IHS said.