Sharp targets 50% jump in LCD TV sales this year

Sharp Corp. is hoping to achieve a 50 percent increase in the number of LCD (liquid crystal display) televisions it ships in the coming fiscal year despite increasing competition in the market.

Martyn Williams

Sharp Corp. is hoping to achieve a 50 percent increase in the number of LCD (liquid crystal display) televisions it ships in the coming fiscal year despite increasing competition in the market.

The company, which in 2006 lost the top spot in the market for the first time, hopes to see shipments of its Aquos-brand sets climb from an expected 6 million in the current financial year to 9 million in the next year, it said this week. Sharp's fiscal year runs from April to March.

Sharp developed a lot of the basic technology for LCD panels and was the first major consumer electronics manufacturer to recognize a coming shift in consumer preference and started heavily promoting LCD TVs in the early part of the decade. As a result it was ranked number one each year in terms of sales by DisplaySearch Inc. but in 2006 fell to number three position behind Sony Corp. and Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., the market research company said last week.

The sales jump is hoped to be achieved with a concentration on higher priced premium televisions, Sharp said.

The proportion of sets it sells with screen sizes above 37 inches is 30 percent now and is expected to be 50 percent by the end of the coming fiscal year because of this concentration on high-end models. So-called "full HD" sets, which support the maximum 1080p (1,080 horizontal lines and progressive scanning) HD profile, made up 80 percent of all sets sold in the current half and all of Sharp's TVs will have full HD by the second half of the new fiscal year, it said.

Earlier this week Sharp announced a new line-up of LCD TVs for the Japan market. Among the sets is a model that offers 120Hz double-rate scanning. The system, which is rapidly catching on among TV makers, doubles the rate at which images are displayed on the screen and results in a clearer picture during fast-moving motion.

The new models are the first on the market to combine 120Hz scanning with full HD, Sharp said. The Aquos R-series sets will be available from March at prices between ¥1 million (US$8,254) for a 65-inch model and ¥500,000 for a 42-inch model.