The price of 10-inch panel in the second half of April is expected to rise slightly as non-Apple tablet PC vendors will launch their devices in the second quarter, according to sources from panel players.

The sources pointed out that 10-inch 1,024x600 panels currently cost about US$37, while 10-inch 1,280x800 panels cost about US$65-70. Motorola's Xoom is currently using panels with a resolution of 1,280x800 to achieve a stronger image output.

As for 7-inch panels, the average price is currently at around US$24-30. With the appearance of the iPad 2 and non-Apple tablet PCs, 7- to 10.1-inch panel price are expected to maintain a strong level for the second quarter.

The increasing medium-size panel demand has also helped Taiwan-based panel makers such as HannStar Display and Chunghwa Picture Tubes (CPT). HannStar shipped about 38.17 million small- to medium-size panels in March, up 36.6% on month, with CPT shipped about 35.61 million units, up 27.2% on month. HannStar has also decided to have its 5.3G plants to join the production of small- to medium-size panel, while CPT is having its 6G plants to also join the production of the related panel.