Flat-Panel Displays Go Mainstream
By Kim Tae-gyu
Staff Report
However, the long-standing dominance of CRT is likely to be overtaken next year by the flat-panel screen _ thin-film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD).
DisplaySearch, an international consulting company, last week disclosed their projection that the world's demand for TV monitors would reach 200.9 million units in 2008.
LCD TVs were predicted to account for 46.7 percent of those with 93.7 million units, slightly higher than the 91.7 million for CRTs.
Although their market share is declining, CRT TVs have led the display competition based on a market share of 90.4 percent in 2004, 82.9 percent in 2005 and 68.8 percent last year.
LCD TV accounted for just 4.8 percent in 2004 but the figure increased to 11.3 percent in 2005 and 24.3 percent last year.
According to DisplaySearch, another flat screen type, the plasma display panel (PDP) will carve out a niche next year with a market share of 6.1 percent.
The research institute expected the rise of LCDs will be unrivalled further down the road and its market share will reach up to 63.9 percent by 2011.
By contrast, the market share of CRTs will plummet to 27.9 percent by then while that of PDPs will reach 7.8 percent.
Experts point out the standing of CRTs would be further undermined due to the brisk development of more futuristic products like the diode-based sets and other more flexible forms.
Flat Panel Duo
The LCD is the first offspring of the flat-screen family, which has many advantages over the traditional CRT products.
Both monochrome and color LCDs are made of a cell that contains liquid crystal material in a midway state between liquid and solid, sandwiched between two glass plates. This enables the sleek outlook.
LCDs consume less power than the power-hungry CRTs and cause less strain on the eyes. It is also much less vulnerable to electro-magnetic fields.
In its nascent stage, passive-matrix super twisted nemastic (STN) LCDs failed to produce clear colors, but an active-matrix alternative, called TFT, started offering colors as sharp as CRTs.
The strengths made LCD sales go through the roof and finally nudge past those of tube-based sets, which had so long ruled the world market.
Although LCDs ushered in the possibilities of flat-panel displays, it revealed shortcomings including its narrow viewing angle and somewhat late response speed.
Then came the PDP, which made its commercial debut around 1990 and has rapidly gained a global foothold, especially in the large-sized display market.
PDP products put up letters or graphics on the screen using light from plasma generated during gas discharge and has the advantage of powering a much larger monitor, typically bigger than 40 inches across diagonally.
Since the plasma itself emits light, it provides a wide viewing angle and is unaffected by magnetic fields, as well as boasting high quality color reproduction.
Because of its distinctive characteristics, LCD TV sets have been strong for monitors smaller than 50 inches while PDP TVs have ruled the display markets for bigger ones.
Korean manufacturers are divided into two opposing camps.
Samsung Electronics and LG.Philips LCD face stiff competition as they vie for LCD supremacy with Taiwan-based companies chasing the two front-runners.
In the PDP market, Samsung SDI and LG Electronics are battling to claim the top spot.
LCD Stands Out
LCD providers have overcome the above-mentioned disadvantages such as narrow viewing angle, late response time and small size in comparison to PDPs.
``Currently, the viewing angle of an LCD TV is as wide as that of a PDP set and the response time of the former is just as fast,'' a Samsung Electronics spokesman said.
``In addition, LCDs are infringing on the realm traditionally owned by PDPs. For example, 50 inch-plus LCD products are coming to town en masse,'' he said.
Samsung Electronics will crank out 52-inch LCD panels on its eighth-generation lines located in Tangjeong, South Chungcheong Province, later this month.
In response, PDP vendors are counterattacking in the 58-inch and 63-inch TV market, where LCD producers are struggling. The 52-inch products are regarded as the upside limit of LCD TVs in terms of commercial production at the moment.
CRT producers have more concerns on top of LCDs and PDPs _ a whole new set of futuristic displays are poised to debut in the not-so-distant future.
Included in such items are the organic light-emitting display (OLED) and the flexible display.
OLEDs produce images when diodes inside two glass panels emit light when a voltage is applied to them. The pixel diodes are selectively turned on or off to form images.
One of the great benefits of OLEDs over other technologies is that they don't require a backlight to function, which means that it draws far less power and it can be used with small portable devices.
Experts say that flexible displays will also sprout up for next-generation products such as wearable computers or bendable laptops.
``The era of the CRT is fading. After dethroning CRT, the LCD will surface as the run-away leader. For the time being, its status will be stable,'' Mirae Asset analyst Kim Kyung-mo said.