Mini LED applications to tablets and TV are expected to take off in 2021, but its incorporation into display monitors is expected to stay marginal with a penetration of less than 1%, according to industry sources.

Apple reportedly will launch the new iPad Pro featuring mini LED backlighting technology, and Samsung Electronics is also planning to release mini LED TV models in 2021, promising good business opportunities for mini LED chips vendors, the sources said.

But this will not be the case with vendors of display monitors or signage display solutions, as relatively high cost for mini MED panels has deterred them from adopting such chips in their products, the sources noted, adding that high-end display devices may adopt mini LED as lighting sources, but the ratio will be extremely low.

Victor Chien, president of Digital Display Business at Acer, said that display monitors differ from notebooks and tablets in application scenarios, as the former is usually installed at home or offices, without the portability for the latter.

Chien predicted mini LED will see mainstream application to 27-inch and above monitors in the future, which now account for 10-15% of the monitor market. But as mini LED panel prices are several times those of general LCD panels, mini LED display monitors are not expected to gain ground any time soon, he added.

Industry sources said 27-inch and 31-inch monitors are expected to maintain a double-digit sales growth in the months ahead, with gaming monitors and display devices with high resolution and high refresh rates to remain market mainstays.

The sources said sales of gaming monitors will grow over 50% in 2020, and the overall ASP for display devices will rise 6-9% along with the rapid growth for gaming models.

By DIGITIMES