LED Backlights for TVs: Strong Growth in the Next Five Years

The price gap between Light Emitting Diode (LED) and Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamps (CCFLs) has narrowed due to the higher yield rate of LEDs, as well as the oversupply that resulted in a drastic price reduction for LEDs in the second half of 2008, according to iSuppli Corp.

And with the advent of green technology, power savings and thinner form factors, more branded manufacturers are looking at LED-based notebooks and even TV solutions in 2009. Most LED-based notebook panels currently use side-mounted white LED backlights rather than RGB-based products due to their lower costs, although RGB based products have a higher color gamut. Also, white LEDs feature advantages such as lower power consumption, a slim form factor, lower weight and mercury-free attributes. Panel suppliers have started using white LEDs for monitors as well as TVs.

LEDs Emerging At Last in TVs.
Television brand manufacturers have introduced LED-based TVs for some years now without much success. Mostly, this was due to a higher price and larger cost differential between LED and CCFL products. But there is a renewed interest for LED backlight-based TVs with the use of white LEDs. Instead of focusing on color gamut, picture quality and high-end RGB solutions, manufacturers are starting to focus more on thinner form factors and lower power consumption with the use of side-mounted white LED backlight solutions.

The lower price differential between CCFL and white LED solutions, combined with the lure of thin TV, had led to an increasing adoption rate of LED-based TVs. Also brand manufacturers such as Samsung are also really focusing on shifting a significant portion of their Liquid Crystal Display-Television (LCD-TV) offerings to LED backlights.

For TV applications, panel suppliers are offering higher 120Hz frame rates with edge-lit LED backlights to achieve thinner form factors, lower power consumption and mercury-free “green” attributes. In some cases, power savings with the use of LED backlights can be as high as 30 percent to 50 percent. Thickness and weight savings also can be as high as 30 percent to 50 percent.

Green Light
Owing much to the “green” initiative from many countries in the world, lower power requirements for TVs are expected in the next few years, and the current power-consumption level of many TVs may end up being below these requirements. This will lead to a faster shift to lower-power-consumption products. In a recent consumer survey presented in iSuppli’s April edition of its U.S. TV Consumer Preference Analysis, more than 50 percent of U.S. consumers take the “green initiative” factor into their TV buying decisions.

While most TV panels are starting to use edge-lit white LEDs, some have introduced backlit (direct mount) white LEDs with blinking or dynamic light control to improve color gamut and image quality, especially the black levels even with white LED solutions. On the other hand, high-end TVs will use backlit (direct mount) RGB LEDs to achieve better picture quality and product differentiation in spite of the high costs involved—while RGB LED backlights offer the advantage of high color-gamut ratios, dynamic-area-control ability and mercury-free attributes, they are much more expensive than white LEDs. Some panel suppliers have shown prototype products of white LED-based TVs in a side-mount format that can achieve a more than 90 percent NTSC color gamut.

iSuppli forecasts a 3 percent adoption of LED backlights for TVs in 2009, with the rate rising to 30 percent by 2012 and then to 39 percent by 2013. This equates to 90 million LED-equipped LCD-TV panels being shipped by 2013, with a staggering Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 190.1 percent, up from just 438,000 LED TV panels in 2008.

Supply in Chains
However, because LEDs also are used for general lighting purposes, recently there has been some concern about LED chip supply. Furthermore, the LED backlight supply chain is still evolving with varieties of solutions and many different suppliers that need to be involved. Already, panel suppliers are either entering joint ventures partnerships or developing their own in-house LED solutions to streamline the value-chain process, reduce costs and gain better control over the supply.

New innovations and higher performance will help LEDs to gain faster adoption in TVs in the years to come. The price difference for LED vs. CCFL TV systems may range from $300 to $700, depending on the size and type of LED used. The gap, however, is expected to narrow in the future, and many branded TV manufacturers are planning new LED-based TV models with very aggressive prices in the second half of 2009.

Given the current high price gap between a CCFL- and an LED-based TV system and panel, panel suppliers are hoping to reduce the price difference—to less than $100 between the 40/42-inch CCFL and LED-based panels, and to below $150 for 46-inch panels. This compares to a difference of more than $150 for 40/42-inch sizes at present.

With increasing importance being placed on lower power consumption and green initiatives, TVs are expected to have more stringent requirements in future. LED backlights will enable next-generation TVs to fulfill those requirements.