LED-Backlit LCD TVs To See Rapid Growth In China & Brazil: iSuppli

The proportion of LCD TV displays that use LED backlight technology is set to grow rapidly in the emerging markets of China and Brazil, according to California-headquartered market research and consulting firm iSuppli. Expanding beyond the developed markets of North America and Europe which may hit saturation point over the next few years, LED penetration among LCD screens is expected to exceed 40% in China and 26% in Brazil in 2011.

LED-backlit LCD TV

LED TV (or LED-backlit LCD TV, its technically correct term) has grown in popularity in recent years among consumers looking to buy a flat-panel HDTV, thanks to the display technology’s attractive form factor and reduced power consumption. Although market penetration in emerging regions remained low last year, this is due to change for the better this year, with lower prices, increased availability of LEDs, and more LCD television manufacturers switching to LED backlighting being important factors that will serve to enhance the appeal of LED LCD TVs to customers in these countries.

In China, the prospects for LED TVs were further boosted by the implementation of an energy efficiency standard for flat-screen televisions by the Chinese government since the 1st of December 2010. LCD TV sets equipped with LED backlight are known to consume less power than their similarly-sized CCFL (cold-cathode fluorescent lamp) counterparts.

iSuppli forecasts that the percentage of LED-backlit displays among the total number of LCD TV screens sold in China will reach between 45% and 50% this year, with established TV brands such as Samsung, Hisense and Skyworth capable of even higher penetration rates. By 2014, LED-based models are expected to make up 87% of the Chinese LCD television market.

Brazil will also see similarly stellar growth according to iSuppli. LED-backlit sets will account for 68% of the total LCD TV sales by 2014, which corresponds to 11.5 million units shipped. This is a huge jump from 1% and 6% market penetration in 2009 and 2010 respectively, in effect delivering a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 28.7%.