displaysearch

Apple has plans for the so-called iPad Mini and it may be only a matter of getting production up and running, according to NPD DisplaySearch.

"For the 7.85-inch panel, there's a business plan for it, there's a mass production target for it. And we know that it's for Apple," Richard Shim, an NPD DisplaySearch analyst, told CNET.

"I don't know the name of the product, but I know it's going to be a tablet," he said.

NPD DisplaySearch talks to companies in the "supply chain" -- firms that … Read more

Apple's iPad helped catapult the company to the top of the mobile PC space last quarter, according to new data from NPD DisplaySearch.

The research firm revealed today that during the first quarter, Apple shipped 17.2 million mobile PCs worldwide, earning it 22.5 percent share of the market and jumping 118 percent year-over-year. Hewlett-Packard and Acer trailed with 11.6 percent and 9 percent market share, respectively. Lenovo and Dell rounded out the top five with 7.7 percent and 7.3 percent share.

NPD DisplaySearch, which defines mobile PCs as tablets, notebooks, and mini-notebooks, said total … Read more

Expect to see a lot of tablets milling about next year. Just don't expect to find Windows 8 on a lot of them.

Market researcher NPD DisplaySearch has upped its tablet forecast for 2013 to more than 180 million units, in a report released Thursday. That forecast, however, shows Windows 8 tablets having only a small impact through 2014.

DisplaySearch had previously pegged next year's tablet market at 168.9 million but now has revised that figure to 184.2 million.

And by 2017, the size of the market will jump to 424.9 million units, compared to … Read more

Once again, another survey found Apple dominated the tablet market in both the fourth quarter and throughout 2011 overall.

First, Apple shipped 23.4 million mobile PCs in the fourth quarter of 2011 (26 percent of the global market share) and over 62.8 million mobile PCs throughout the year--both mostly filled with iPad orders, according to the latest figures from NPD DisplaySearch.

Although mobile-PC shipments grew by 12 percent quarter to quarter and by 44 percent year over year, NPD DisplaySearch senior analyst Richard Shim explained in the report that mobile-PC brands had a difficult time last year.

Mobile-PC … Read more

A host of smartphones already use AMOLED screens, and the prospects are good for more tablets and TVs to take advantage of these thin, fast, bright displays, according to NPD DisplaySearch.

AMOLED (active matrix organic light emitting diode) displays are ideal for tablets and TVs as they offer high contrast ratios, quick response times, and wide viewing angles. The technology also allows for such devices to be thin, flexible, and even transparent, the research firm notes.

On the other hand, AMOLED technology has faced challenges scaling up to screen sizes much larger than those on smartphones. But the latest improvements … Read more

Making tablets with a very-high-resolution display in large volumes is posing a challenge for Apple, according to analysts and an Asia-based report.

Two analysts contacted by CNET today said that they don't expect a new version of the iPad, dubbed the iPad 3, until next year because of high-resolution display supply constraints. And a report today from Digitimes made similar claims.

"We have heard that panel makers have had trouble manufacturing panels at efficient yields with the resolutions that Apple is requesting," said Richard Shim, an analyst at DisplaySearch. "There's even been discussion of lowering the resolution to get better yields."

A 9.7-inch tablet display with 2,048x1,536 resolution "has been under development for some time," Rhoda Alexander, an analyst at IHS iSuppli, said in reply to an e-mail query. Alexander said iSuppli has built its projections on a 2012 introduction of an iPad with this kind of very high-resolution display. Apple's iPad 2, announced back in March, has a 9.7-inch display with a resolution of 1,024x768. … Read more

Yet another consumer electronics segment is bouncing back from the recession--demand for LCD TVs is showing new signs of life.

Third-quarter shipments of LCD TVs rose for the first time in a year, according to DisplaySearch's "Quarterly Global TV Shipment and Forecast Report," released Wednesday. That upward motion suggests that TV sales for the first quarter of 2010 could surpass those of the first quarter of 2009, the first gain in six quarters.

Total TV shipments will climb 6 percent in 2010 to reach 218 million units, versus 205 million for 2009, according to DisplaySearch's forecast. … Read more

It's been a hot year for Netbooks, but not so much for the rest of the portable PC market.

Netbook sales are likely to hit $11.4 billion this year, a 72 percent rise from last year, thanks to a 103 percent leap in shipments, according to a new report from DisplaySearch. But notebook revenue overall will be down around 7 percent from last year.

The latest DisplaySearch Quarterly Notebook PC Shipment and Forecast Report, released Tuesday, found that the surge in Netbook (mini-notebook) sales was not enough to offset declines for ultra-portables and larger laptops. Aside from Netbooks, … Read more

Netbooks continue to soar in sales at the expense of the venerable notebook, according to a new report from DisplaySearch.

Revenues for Netbooks, or mini-notebooks, rose to $3 billion in the second quarter of the year, a leap of 264 percent over the second quarter of 2008, according to the new "Quarterly Notebook PC Shipment and Forecast Report" released Thursday. With those gains, Netbooks now enjoy an 11.7 percent share of the portable PC market.

Though traditional notebooks still command an 89 percent slice of the market, their second quarter sales fell to $23.2 billion, a 14 percent decline from the second quarter of 2008.

Measuring 2009's second quarter against the prior year's quarter, sales fell in all subcategories of the portable PC market, including ultraportables and desktop replacements, the report noted. PCs in the 13-inch to 16-inch range managed to eke out a gain, but only measured against the first quarter of 2009.

The low prices of Netbooks appeal to consumers looking for a second PC and to those in emerging markets who don't need the rich and costly features of a large laptop. The market has also been buoyed by cable and telecommunications providers who have doled out Netbooks to customers who sign up for lengthy contracts.… Read more