8K television market set for take-off, says report

The 8K TV market is forecast to grow from less than 20,000 units in 2018 to more than 430,000 in 2019 – eventually approaching two million units by 2020.

According to a new report from business information provider IHS Markit, all of this growth will be centered on 60-inch and larger screen sizes, with 65-inch TVs accounting for more than half of the volume.

8K TVs from major global TV brands are starting to launch now, kicking off the next wave of resolution transition. Samsung announced this month that its first 8K TV will go on sale in the UK from 17^th October with prices starting from £4,999.99. However, the predicted growth for 8K comes despite there being little 8K content available or due any time soon, outside of Japan.

Technologies like 8K, organic light-emitting diode (OLED) and quantum dot (QD) carry substantial premiums to traditional TV, making them an attractive option for manufacturers to bring to market.

Even 4K TVs still carry premiums of more than 35% at screen sizes where 1080p resolution is still an option, such as 40-inch to 49-inch TVs.

OLED TV is expected to grow more than 40 percent in 2019, rising to 3.6m units. Quantum dot LCD TV shipments are forecast to exceed 4m units in 2019.

Meanwhile, global TV shipments are forecast to grow 3.6% in 2018, with additional 1.4% growth in 2019.

Of the 226 million TVs expected to ship in 2019, more than half will be ultra-high-definition (UHD) models, the majority of which are 4K.

“Growth in the TV market typically is the result of more attractive retail prices for large-screen sizes and the continued commoditization of 4K resolution, driving TV replacements and upgrades,” said Paul Gagnon, research and analysis executive director at IHS Markit. “However, this growth through price compression has a negative effect on profits, so TV brands are actively looking for more growth from advanced TV models to improve earnings.”