Over 600 Million Touchscreens Shipped During 2009

Many epithets have been coupled with the 2008-2009 period, most of which aren't exactly positive. Though not all levels of the industry suffered the same, the economic recession turned the past two years, especially late 2008, into one of the most dismal periods for the IT market. Sales dropped in almost every field, and many companies resorted to cutting their workforce in order to avoid even heavier losses. On the other hand, there have been a few areas that, despite all odds, saw growth even under these conditions.

One of the market segments that showed a significant on-year growth for 2009, according to DisplaySearch, is that of touchscreens. No doubt the global financial and economic crisis had its say, but it still wasn't able to prevent the on-year growth of 29%. No less than roughly 606 million touch panels shipped, 31% of which were capacitive, while 50% used resistive technology. The remaining market share belongs to the more than 10 other technologies currently in existence. It should be noted that 376 million panels made their way to phones, devices expected to continue driving the touch market throughout the ongoing year.

“Touch screen penetration has been rapidly increasing in mobile phone, PMP/MP3, portable navigation, and other applications. 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, and education/training,” noted Jennifer Colegrove, PhD, Director of Display Technologies at DisplaySearch.

DisplaySearch forecasts that 2010 will be the year when new touch technologies, like on-cell and combination-type panels are commercialized. Also, driven by iPod and tablet sales, projected capacitive touchscreens should grow in popularity this year, to the point where they will become more widespread than resistive touch. Yield rates for such screens need to be closely watched, however, in order to control their cost.