DisplaySearch Report Indicates Q1'05 LCD Desktop Monitors Rise 7% Q/Q; LCD Monitors Account for Over 63% of Desktop Displays Shipped Worldwide in Q1'05.

AUSTIN, Texas -- DisplaySearch, the worldwide leader in flat panel display (FPD) market research and consulting, indicated in its latest Quarterly Desktop Monitor Shipment and Forecast Report that worldwide LCD desktop monitor shipments grew on track with previous predictions, rising 7% Q/Q to 22.7M units in Q1'05. This growth represents a unit shipment growth of 44% Y/Y, continuing the 26% Q/Q growth seen in Q4'04 brought on mainly by the aggressive street-level price points which began to hit the market in the fall of last year. For the quarter, the three most popular LCD monitor sizes continued to carry average retail price points of $199 for 15", $299 for 17" and $399 for 19", which increased penetration of LCD-based desktop solutions to reach a record high penetration rate of 63.6% of the total Desktop monitor marketplace in Q1'05. The increased demand that yielded record revenues of $8.2B in Q4'04 was not enough to overcome the continued aggressive industry price points, so revenues dropped 5% to $7.8B in Q1'05.

Table 1                   Worldwide LCD Monitor Penetration Rates

                         Q1'04    Q2'04    Q3'04    Q4'04    Q1'05
                         ------   ------   ------   ------   ------
LCD Monitors              49.9%    48.1%    50.3%    56.2%    62.6%
LCD PCs                    0.9%     0.8%     0.8%     1.3%     1.1%
----------------------   ------   ------   ------   ------   ------
Total LCD Penetration
 (Monitors and PCs)       50.7%    48.9%    51.1%    57.5%    63.6%
----------------------   ------   ------   ------   ------   ------
CRT Monitors              49.2%    51.1%    48.9%    42.5%    36.4%
----------------------   ------   ------   ------   ------   ------
Total Desktop Displays   100.0%   100.0%   100.0%   100.0%   100.0%
----------------------   ------   ------   ------   ------   ------

The aggressive price points for LCD monitors seen in Q1 continued to erode the share of CRT monitor shipments for desktop computing worldwide, resulting in CRT monitor shipments falling 21% Q/Q to 13.2M units. As more PC companies move away from bundling CRT products in their entry level PC bundles, the CRT monitor market is forecasted to fall even faster than previously expected.

EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) was the largest market for LCD monitor shipments in Q1'05 with 41.0% of the world's shipments going into this region, slightly down from 43.7% in Q4'04. The North America market remained the #2 region with 31.6% of worldwide shipments.

Dell was again the worldwide leader in the shipments of desktop LCD monitors in Q1'05, with a 20.2% worldwide market share. After Dell in worldwide shipments were Samsung, HP, Acer and LGE. Among the top 10, Acer showed the strongest worldwide Q/Q growth with shipments up 13.7% Q/Q.

Dell continued to hold the top positions in Japan, North America and Latin America. Dell has almost a 40% market share in North America, but Acer grew a remarkable 46.4% Q/Q, increasing its market share to 5.1%. Dell's dominance in the LCD monitor market is becoming evident in EMEA as well, growing 16.5% Q/Q to an 11.3% share. Samsung held the dominant position in the AP (Asia Pacific) region with a 21.6% market share, while Lenovo held the top position in China with a 14.2% share.

The market share results for the top five vendors for Q1'05 are shown in the following tables:

Table 2   Q1'05 Worldwide Desktop LCD Monitor Market Share and Growth

  Rank       Manufacturer          WW Share           Q/Q Change
--------- ------------------- ------------------- -------------------
   1             DELL               20.2%                 8%
   2            SAMSUNG              9.7%                 3%
   3              HP                 8.2%                -4%
   4             ACER                6.7%                13%
   5              LGE                6.2%                 9%
--------- ------------------- ------------------- -------------------
                Others              49.0%
           ------------------- -------------------
                 Total               100%                 7%
           ------------------- ------------------- -------------------

Table 3
       Q1'05 North America Desktop LCD Monitor Market Share and Growth

   Rank       Manufacturer          NA Share           Q/Q Change
---------- ------------------- ------------------- -------------------
    1             DELL               38.8%                 4%
    2              HP                 9.1%                 0%
    3            SAMSUNG              5.3%                 5%
    4             ACER                5.1%                46%
    5             SONY                4.0%                 8%
---------- ------------------- ------------------- -------------------
                 Others              37.7%
           ------------------- -------------------
                  Total               100%                 6%
           ------------------- ------------------- -------------------

New desktop monitor sizes from 19" wide to 24" wide continued to emerge, but the three most popular sizes -- 15", 17" and 19" -- accounted for 96.7% of all desktop monitors shipped in Q1. 15" LCD monitors had a 19.7% market share, even though shipments were down 20.3% Q/Q. Shipments of 17" grew 11.1% Q/Q to 58.4% market share, and 19" grew a significant 45.2% Q/Q to capture 18.3% share in Q1'05.

With sales demand still strong in Q1'05 but revenues down due to the aggressive street-level price points, pricing for the LCD monitor panel components began to rise in Q1. The effect of these component level price increases is already starting to impact the street prices of end-market LCD monitors, which are now on the rise. Increases in street-level pricing usually slow the growth of the LCD monitor market especially in seasonally weak periods, a market condition seen as recently as Q2'04. If the unprecedented amount of planned additional LCD production capacity continues to ramp, however, these street-level price increases may not last for long, thus allowing for LCD monitor price points to realign with the market to allow for continued sales growth throughout the rest of 2005.

The Quarterly Desktop Monitor Shipment and Forecast Report includes shipment and forecast data for LCD monitors, CRT monitors, LCD PCs, and TFT LCD monitor modules. The Quarterly Desktop Monitor Shipment and Forecast Report also provides cost forecasts of TFT LCD monitor modules, LCD monitor interface electronics, and LCD monitors. This report is delivered in PowerPoint and includes Excel pivot tables. Please contact Carl Steudle at DisplaySearch at 408-452-1192 or [e-mail] for subscription information.

DisplaySearch is holding its annual HDTV Conference 2005: The Future of Television August 23-24, 2005, in Los Angeles, Calif., at the Beverly Hilton. For more information, please visit www.displaysearch.com/hdtvconference or contact Kendra Smith at 512-459-3126, ext. 107, or [e-mail].

About DisplaySearch

DisplaySearch has a core team of 20 analysts located in North America and Asia who produce a valued suite of market forecasts, technology assessments, surveys, studies and analyses, and they organize influential industry events worldwide. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, DisplaySearch has regional operations in Chicago, Hong Kong, Houston, Kyoto, Shenzhen, San Diego, San Jose, Seoul, Taipei and Tokyo, and the company is on the web at www.displaysearch.com.