4K headed for 23% market reach

4K TVs will reach roughly 23% market penetration by 2016 as prices become more consumer-friendly, according to a new study by market intelligence firm TrendForce.

The report said that 4K TV market reach will climb from roughly 13-14% this year with large screen sizes a focus for TV vendors looking to improve revenue and margins.

“TV sets with screens sized 50 inches and above now account for 19.7% of the total shipments, up from 18.3% a year ago,” according to the research. “The shipment share of this segment may arrive at 22% in 2016, with the 65-inch being vendors’ major focus.”

The study said that rivalry between OLED panels, favoured by LG, and curved LCD panels, which are backed by Samsung, will “continue to dominate the high-end market in 2016”.

TrendForce estimates that around 4 million curved-screen LCD TVs will be shipped globally this year, a figure that could rise to 8 million next year – representing an increase in market penetration from 1.9% to 3.6%.

OLED TV shipments are expected to climb from 450,000 to 500,000 this year to one million next year – a market penetration that will increase from 0.2% to 0.5%.

Overall, TrendForce predicts that global LCD TV shipments for 2015 will total 216 million sets – a slight annual decline. For 2016, it anticipates sales of 220 million, up 1.85% year-on-year.

“In the short term, consumer spending will generally remain weak due to the sluggish pace of the global economic recovery and currency fluctuations. Next year will unlikely deliver pleasant surprises as well because these macroeconomic factors will continue to affect the market,” according to the study.