A new study from Futuresource estimates global interactive flat panel sales increased 39 percent in 2018, particularly in the corporate market.
Futuresource says interactive flat panel display (IFPDs) products remain popular in the education and corporate markets and will remain popular for the immediate future.
Samsung’s Flip interactive flat panel display is a popular product within the market.
Showing a shifting marketplace, the study finds that by the fourth-quarter of 2018, 83 percent of interactive display sales were IFPD, which is up 11 percent from the previous year.
Interactive whiteboard sales are declining, but these products are still contributing to overall sales figures, says Futuresource.
Standing out with the product category is Samsung’s Flip interactive flat panel display, a popular solution in many countries.
“The Samsung Flip is a cause of fast expansion in many countries,” notes Colin Messenger, senior market analyst, Futuresource Consulting.
“The ‘Flip Chart’ format is expected to be followed by many other brands, some early models were on display at ISE 2019 from i3 Technologies and Sharp.”
Interactive Flat Panel Screen Sizes Growing
The study reveals more than 24 percent annual IFPD volume growth in the U.S. with the market trending towards larger screen sizes. [related]
More than half of U.S. sales are products with screen sizes larger than 70 inches. Over three quarters of U.S. classrooms now include interactive flat-panel displays.
Looking ahead, Futuresource notes the interactive flat-panel market had been traditionally driven by education and specifically K-12 sales.
However, as the category matures, the corporate market is “almost untapped” with nearly 32 million corporate meeting rooms worldwide, and well under one million units installed to date.
“Providers are leveraging their existing channel and user relationships and promoting ‘all-in-one’ meeting room solutions,” Messenger comments.
“The volume of interactive displays sold into the corporate market expanded over 100 percent in 2018.”
Factors Contributing to Sales
Some of the options built into these products contributing to today’s and future sales include screen sharing with multiple devices, 4K resolutions, and multi-touch (10 or 20 point).
“The trend towards more display personalization continues,” adds Messenger.
“It’s very useful for a teacher or corporate user moving between classrooms/meeting rooms to be able to setup the display to a preset height, content and configuration via biometric fingerprint reader or NFC card control.”
