According to Strategy Analytics 2014 4K/UHD TV shipments are up by 633% to reach 12.1 million units, and should double to 27.5m units in 2015 before growing to over 100m units by 2018.

W. European shipments account for 11% of the total, following Asia Pacific (75%) and N. America (12%). The analyst adds W. European household penetration will be the the second highest by 2020, following the USA, as the future sees dropping entry level prices, greater model availability and customers looking to upgrade aging HDTVs.

Currently 60% of all 4K TV shipped in 2014 are 50-inch or larger-- but sub 50-inch sets should grow in popularity in the future and account for the "majority" of shipments by end 2016. Meanwhile premium 4K sets will see the addition of built-in wide colour gamut and high dynamic range support, thus creating a more discernible price tier structure in the market.

“[4K] will become the standard resolution for virtually all large screen TVs within 3 to 4 years’ time and we will see it penetrate further into smaller screen sizes as manufacturing efficiencies improve.” Strategy Analytics says, “As we saw with the transition from SD to HD, it is the TV manufacturers who are leading the 4K charge although significant steps are being made on the delivery infrastructure and content production parts of the value chain."

Go Strategy Analytics: UHD TV Displays Global Market Forecast