Mobile Phones Ranked Top Application for Touch Screens on Unit Basis, While Mini-Note PC/Slate PCs Emerge as New Growth Segment

“Touch screen penetration is rapidly increasing in portable devices like mobile phones, media players and navigation units.Over the next several years, touch screens will undergo strong growth in large-size applications such as all-in-one PCs, mini-note/slate PCs, education/training, and kiosks for point of information and self-check in,” notedJennifer Colegrove, Director of Display Technologies at DisplaySearch.“The touch screen industry is already a multi-billion dollar industry, and still has great growth momentum. This is what makes it so attractive.”

Figure 1: Touch Screen Module Revenue Forecast

Source: DisplaySearch 2010 Touch Panel Market Analysis

Touch Technologies

Resistive touch is still the leading technology in terms of unit shipments, and currently 90 companies manufacture it. However, projected capacitive technology has attracted numerous suppliers, with 56 companies currently supplying it, nearly twice as many as last year.

These two technologies are forecast to represent nearly 98% of touch screen unit share in 2010, and will continue to dominate unit shipments with 82% of unit shipments in 2016.

The touch screen industry is extremely diverse, with over a dozen touch screen technologies. About 200 companies are pursuing these technologies, and some of them, like Elo/Tyco Electronics and 3M, manufacture several different touch technologies.

In addition, some companies only produce controller ICs, such as Atmel and Cypress, while others manufacture entire modules, including the touch sensor and controller IC such as Elo/Tyco Electronics and 3M.

In-cell touch, which was commercialized in May 2009, is experiencing high growth and penetration into large size displays, is expected to take off in 2011 once the technology can achieve higher yield rates. The technology is forecast to grow to more than $600 million by 2016.

On-cell projected capacitive touch, which was also commercialized in 2009, is experiencing good growth, but yield rates remain a concern and need to be closely watched to control costs. This segment is forecast to reach $1.7 billion by 2016.

As DisplaySearch previously forecasted, projected capacitive shipments have increased substantially. Projected capacitive touch has been popularized by Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch since 2007. With the iPad and iPhone 4 adopting it in 2010, DisplaySearch forecasts that projected capacitive touch will surpass resistive touch technology for the first time to become the leading touch technology on a revenue basis. 

Touch Applications

Mobile phones are the biggest application for touch screens in terms of unit shipments, with two-thirds of units shipped in 2010. DisplaySearch forecasts that 531 million touch screens will ship for mobile phone applications in 2010, up 41% Y/Y. DisplaySearch forecasts that the penetration rate of touch in mobile phones will double from 25.6% in 2009 to more than 50% in 2016.

The next two largest applications—portable navigation devices and handheld games—are losing share of the touch market as smartphones and other touch-enabled mobile phones take on more functionality.

DisplaySearch forecasts that touch functionality in mini-note/slate PCs will take off after 2010, growing from 1 million units shipped to 50 million units in 2016. Touch penetration in digital still cameras and camcorders is expected to increase over the next several years as well.

Touch screens are also moving into new applications, such as e-readers and casino gaming. Touch technologies with high transmittance, low power consumption, multi-touch or gesture recognition will benefit the most.

The DisplaySearch 2010 Touch Panel Market Analysis is a comprehensive analysis of the touch panel technologies and their market forecasts through 2016. This report has detail breakdown of 21 applications with 11 touch technology categories and 9 size categories. It also has details on touch controller IC, sensor market, area and multi-touch forecast pivot tables through 2016.

DisplaySearch surveyed over 190 suppliers of touch screen modules, controller ICs, ITO film, and other components to produce the 2010 Touch Panel Market Analysis. These firms are profiled in the report, and 2009 shipments and revenues for over 100 touch screen suppliers are included.