A market-research company has predicted that shipments of 3D-capable TVs will rise to 1.2m in 2010, and that this figure will hit 15.6m units in 2013.

January 22, 2010 — In research announced yesterday, the market-research company DisplaySearch details its prediction for the 3D TV market over the next eight years. According to the company, just 200,000 3D TVs were sold in 2009, but a six-fold year-on-year increase will see sales of 3D-capable sets reach 1.2m in 2010. And that’s just the beginning: Annual sales are expected to number 64m units by 2018. The researchers attribute the growing feasibility of 3D TVs to the arrival of “enabling technologies” such as LED backlights and 240-hertz frame rates, but warn that the 3D TV era can only fully establish itself if manufacturers achieve interoperability between 3D devices. DisplaySearch’s director of TV electronics research, Paul Gray, said: “Consumers will want reassurance that such things as 3D glasses will interoperate between brands. ... The next stage is less glamorous but vital to secure 3D’s long-term value.” The report follows predictions by LG that it alone will sell 400,000 3D TVs in 2010 — an ambitious figure representing a third of the total 2010 figure that DisplaySearch forecasts.