Blaming the global economy for wreaking havoc on CE products of all kinds, including all things HD, new data from DisplaySearch shows a six-percent drop in TV shipments for the first quarter of 2009 compared to the same period a year ago.
In all, nearly 43.5 million DTV units (mostly HD) were shipped worldwide in the January–March period. On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, the decline from the end of 2008 to early 2009 was 25 percent. Revenues fell even more — down 12 percent.
LCD sets, however, fared the brisk economic winds rather well, all things considered, thanks to stronger demand than anticipated from North America and China. Also, overall, LCD prices continued to fall in the first quarter.
LCD was the only HD-related technology to gain market share in the last quarter — sliding up four notches to 62 percent, while plasma unit shipments represented only a six percent share in Q1 2009.
China remained the top region for shipments in early 2009, increasing its DTV share to more than to 21 percent with what DisplaySearch calls "a strong growth in LCD TV shipments."
