1. Smartphone 2018: full screen mainstream technology into the market ripening agent;
In 2017, the smart phone market under full fatigue encountered a full screen, just like finding a life-saving prescription, although bitter, but may wish to give it a try.
Looking at the flagship models in the mobile phone market, most of them are related to the full screen, so that out of now 'is not a full screen, are embarrassed to develop the conference' ridicule from vivo to millet, from Huawei to Jin Li, almost all Of the emerging or traditional mobile phone manufacturers are following the concept of full screen, and even Apple and Samsung have also been the first to launch new products are in line with the concept of a full screen.
But it is worth mentioning that, although the full screen into the battle in 2017, but the full screen is not a standardized concept technically speaking, the full screen is still a market scarce resources due to have a larger screen share , A full screen not only requires special-shaped design, but also with the CNC or laser panel-shaped cutting, and the larger the screen, the smaller the space inside the alignment.In addition, a larger screen will also share the other components Put forward new requirements, at the same time more need camera, fingerprint recognition, handset, antenna and equipment factory collaboration, for brand manufacturers and ODM manufacturers, but also test their ability to integrate upstream and downstream resources.
In addition, it is foreseeable that the homogeneity of the full screen is hard to get the favor of the market anymore. In 2018, I believe more handset manufacturers will pursue differentiation in the full screen, such as the introduction of a profiled full screen mobile phone.
Full screen mainstream
What is a full screen mobile phone? From a technical point of view, the front of the phone usually consists of three parts, the top of the forehead, the screen and the screen below the chin 'Generally speaking, forehead will be placed handset, front camera , Light sensor, proximity sensor, and 'chin' are Home keys and other touch keys, while full screen means minimizing the size of forehead and chin to maximize the size of the front of the phone.
However, full screen mobile phone is not a new product.
With the continuous improvement of the panel technology, the screen size of the mobile phone has reached the limit, and in addition to the display material upgrade, the high screen proportion (full screen) stands out. The high screen proportion can give consumers more advantages Good visual experience, to see this trend of the manufacturers are numerous.
As early as three years ago, Sharp launched a full screen mobile phone EDGEST 302SH, from a technical point of view, Sharp uses the form of beveled cutting and refraction, the use of stacking technology will screen infinitely close around the top and bottom borders, which has become a comprehensive The earliest solution for mobile phone screen.But Sharp's core technology is to do the screen, the demand is the screen technology in the industry chain, the right to speak, so put a more sole source of resources, coupled with the traditional limited supply chain led to the price of finished products is too high, This product did not cause too many waves in the market.And then, although there are many adventurers, but the market has not been a wave of waves.
The market needs the ignition of the outbreak.With the first-tier handset manufacturers such as Apple, Samsung, Huawei two years in R & D and marketing intervention, the full screen mobile phone can be regarded as a "freshman." In many analysts forecast comprehensive The screen will be completely released in 2018 and 2019.
Qiu Yubin, vice president of research at WitsView, said to CBI reporter that in the future, the full screen will become the standard of handset manufacturers with shipments coming out next year and the year after. Channel penetration at 37%, while the latter is close to 70%
In its latest research report, Ping An Securities also pointed out that the penetration rate of full screen in handsets will be around 8% and the shipment volume will be about 110-130 million in 2017. With the successful application of Full Screen on the flagship aircraft, It is expected that the full screen will gradually penetrate from high-end models to mid-range and low-end models, and it is expected to be the standard for smartphones (1000RMB and above) in the next five years. The full-screen penetration from 2018 to 2020 is expected to increase from 24% To more than 60%, full screen mobile phone shipments by 2020 is expected to reach 1 billion, the next four years, the compound annual growth rate is expected to exceed 100%.
Technology into the market ripening agent
The concept of full screen attracted a lot of 'spoilers' in 2017. Many handset manufacturers are hoping to seize the full screen 'first recipe' with the help of concepts. A few hundred full screen products are beginning to appear on the market.
For example, a 'eighteen line' mobile phone manufacturers shouted 'the world's first full-screen mobile phone thousand' slogan, or even the price of 899 yuan.But a supply chain who read the configuration but told reporters, 'simply People are flirting, but a better chip may not get them, get the cost can not carry.
In fact, trying to get a full screen on the limited $ 1,000 machine market in profit margins means more compromise on configuration, screens, etc. From a consumer perspective, Full screen mobile phone, the screen resolution of only 720P, this configuration, whether to retain the user is obvious.
The head of a mobile phone manufacturer once commented on the current full-screen market, 'full-screen mobile phones need to break the technology limit to achieve the dual balance of grip and vision is the so-called long way to go Xi Xi, mobile phone manufacturers from the truly comprehensive There is still some way to go with the screen phone and hope it is more sincere and less conceptual.
In other words, the real outbreak of the full-screen market requires technology to fully mature the 'full screen' phone in 'The Ideal'. The ultimate goal is to achieve a 100% share of the screen. This process requires a technological bottleneck breakthrough and user experience balance.
For example, from a technical point of view, the screen of a traditional full screen mobile phone is rectangular with four sides at right angles. Since the front camera, the distance sensor and the receiver are placed on the camera body, the screen has a certain distance from the edge of the upper and lower body, At the same time, the screen close to the fuselage will allow the screen to withstand more impact in the fall, which led to broken screen, so it is necessary for the screen profiled cutting.But profile cutting need to pay attention to a lot of places, on the one hand to do C corner of the screen Or R corner cutting, at the same time through the edge of the reinforced foam cushioning, etc., in order to prevent broken screen on the other hand need to do U-shaped cut at the top of the screen, for the front camera, distance sensor, receiver and other components to make room.
From the recent spy photos, iPhone8 may Apple's unique light sensor embedded in the screen patented technology-based, to achieve the existing technology to maximize the four sides of the box, but can truly revolutionary screen Accounting for 100% of the true full screen, may need some effort.For the Android camp, to ensure the user experience really full screen products, but also need to do further funding, the current increase in the domestic mobile phone market Slow down the case, but also a big test
2.AM MiniLED backlight to achieve high contrast LCD backlight innovation against OLED attack;
At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) show in 2018, physical displays of MicroLED TV displays have emerged that pose a real threat to the current OLED display, however, there are numerous technologies that MicroLED is going to mass-produce Before that, MiniLEDs with smaller die sizes will be the first to go public, and the display technology will also be used in LCD backlights to add performance to LCD screens.
In recent years, Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) has become the primary competitor of Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) due to its high color contrast and color rendering, and the MicroLED display technology with the momentum coming from the same also has a self-luminous display Advantage, is expected to become the mainstream technology of the next generation.Although the current Mass Transfer (Mass Transfer) and repair of dead pixels and other key technologies are still not reached the production level, but in 2018 CES, have been able to see the international manufacturers MicroLED Display entity display.
Before the actual mass production of MicroLED displays, vendors have also actively applied the technology to LCD backlights and brought LCD panels with high contrast and high color rendering performance to OLED panels in an Active Matrix (AM) architecture. The application is in production before the MicroLED display, the relevant suppliers of production capacity of the sea.
Korean factory massive investment MicroLED display
At CES 2018, Samsung Electronics showed a 146-inch mosaic of "The Wall," a MicroLED TV featuring Self-Emitting, as a highlight of the show (Figure 1).
Figure 1 Samsung Electronics showcased the 146-inch mosaic MicroLED television "The Wall" at CES in 2018 as a highlight of the show. Source: Samsung
Jonghee Han, president of Samsung Electronics' Visual Display Division, said The Wall is the world's first stitched MicroLED TV that enables MicroLED technology to be converted to any size and offers excellent brightness and color gamut performance.
The borderless stitching design allows The Wall to allow consumers to determine the TV size when it enters the consumer market in the future, as well as to meet a variety of different application environments by stitching the most appropriate display size for different display spaces.
On the other hand, Samsung LED backlight module supplier Lumens also exhibited the 0.57-inch Head Up Display (HUD) and the 100-inch large Signage at the 2018 CES show. It is reported that the head-up display is used in the 8 micron (μm) size of the grain, the billboard is based on the 300μm × 100μm grain composition.
In fact, to the current industry standard, the grain size must be below 100 microns to be called a MicroLED display.However, due to the transfer of the number and yield to have another breakthrough have their technical challenges, so manufacturers will die The size requirements were relaxed to 150 microns and the first to make the MiniLED display come true. However, Lumens displayed large billboards that still can only produce 20 to 30 tablets a month.
MiniLED backlight to improve contrast
After Sony exhibited a large-size MicroLED display screen in 2016, Hanwha's investment in MicroLED display technology can be seen at CES 2018. Despite the promising Micro-LED, however, capacity and price to reach consumer electronics The market's stringent requirements, I am afraid it will take some time before the MicroLED / MiniLED display technology really into the consumer market, the optoelectronic technology used in LCD backlighting applications, MicroLED become one of the products before the show came true.
Despite the self-luminous and high-contrast characteristics of OLED displays, LCD displays that are technically mature and inexpensive in a short period of time will remain the market due to the short life, screen burn, humidity and heat environment and their capacity problems Bulk.
(Figure 2), the current LCD backlight technology to metering LED bulk, with light guide plate (Light Guide Plate) make linear light source into a surface light source in the MiniLED into the LCD backlight , Direct-type backlight technology enables both local Dimming range and particles to be smaller than ever before, and a more precise and precise dimming area, further enhancing the performance of the LCD screen with High Dynamic Range (HDR).
Huang Bingkai, manager of the Accumulator Technology Micro-LED Division, shared that the direct-backlight technology makes the Local Dimming range and particles smaller than ever before introducing the MiniLED into an LCD backlight.
Passive architecture Tim efficiency
At present, many manufacturers in the industry have indicated that they are developing MiniLED backlight technology, and in the 2018 CES exhibition, Innolux will showcase the world's first AM MiniLED backlit automotive panel.
In this regard, group executive vice president of Technology Development Center Ding Jinglong executive vice president, said the product is most technologically characterized by its active architecture, which means that the use of active matrix formed by the TFT matrix to drive MiniLED, so that it can Really play its performance advantages, at the same time have a reasonable cost.
Recently LCD industry to further enhance the quality, especially for the OLED camp is often attacked by comparative performance, began to widely use Local Dimming backlight technology to achieve HDR function, to significantly improve the contrast ratio to the same level with the OLED. In order to do A Local Dimming backlight, mining direct type backlight is the most reasonable architecture, but the thickness and the LED array spacing is proportional to each other, so in order to achieve the product's ultra-thin requirements, you must significantly reduce the LED spacing, that is, you must significantly increase the LED Count to hundreds or even thousands.
However, in addition to the aforementioned ultra-thin HDR direct-lit backlight, HDR must be the top HDR if it is to be truly OLED-friendly with respect to the sharpness of the screen. That is, the Local Dimming Zones of the Local Dimming backlight must To hundreds or even thousands of area is enough, that is, the basic concept of the MiniLED plus the "every LED as a sub-area" bold idea.But if the traditional LED backlight driver circuit architecture, so that The idea is that because of the overuse of components, at the expense of cost and slim design, Innolux proposes the AM MiniLED architecture driven by an active matrix TFT circuit to solve the above issues.
The AM miniLED allows for precise current regulation with bright images up to several times the normal brightness and dark images near zero brightness, allowing users to be clearer with contrasts up to 1,000,000: 1 , Bright message, taking into account the visibility of the sun and the comfort of reading at night.In addition, in order to provide customers more design freedom, the group also AM M iniLED with flexible substrate (Flexible Substrate), as Shaped / curved LCD backlight solution required.
To sum up, the latest technology of AM MiniLED on Flex, released by QunXuan Group, is based on the excellent performance of Micro LEDs (HDR Peaking, contrast, color saturation), energy consumption and design excellence Display before the advent of the OLED medium-term strategic role of competition.
High brightness to meet vehicle needs
As OLED display in automotive applications, can not meet the high temperature and other harsh reliability requirements, OLED materials used in the luminescence, with inherent life issues.Group said that in the future will be to develop flexible substrates AM M iniLED backlight , To match Shaped / curved LCD, to meet the needs of automotive customers.
Group AM miniLED in automotive applications, OLED can reach the same level of contrast, but also in the screen with the OLED flatter rival anti-court, and there will be no OLED in automotive applications can not meet the high temperature reliability, life expectancy and branding and other issues In addition, with precise current regulation, bright state brightness can be multiplied several times.
Group said that the automotive market will serve as AM M iniLED commercialization of the important goal of the future will further develop the AM M iniLED soft substrate backlight to match the special / curved LCD, to meet the car customers in the design and The appearance of the demand.
AM MicroLED monitor is the ultimate goal
Due to the simplicity and maturity of the Passive Matrix (PM) drive architecture, the market is still large, however AM MicroLED is the industry leader because of the high brightness of the AM architecture, no screen flicker, and the ability to keep the LED on. The ultimate goal.
Huang Bingkai said that even if the AM drive architecture relative to the PM drive architecture has many advantages, however, AM drive architecture current control is relatively difficult, to improve accuracy, the complexity and cost of the circuit will also be increased with the current can achieve Of the LED driver for LCD backlighting is sufficient, however, higher resolution requirements must be met for MicroLED displays.
On the other hand, even if the AM drive architecture can be used on glass substrates and flexible substrates, the future will be able to make room for flexible display panels such as TV screens, cell phones, etc. However, in large-scale commercials Printed Circuit Board (PCB) used in the card, the current still must use the PM drive architecture.Huang Bingkai said that the current accumulation of science and technology is the main business is to actively develop the LED architecture of the PM matrix driver IC, and optimistic about the use of PCB board Large-scale MicroLED display will be implemented first, looking forward to the first large-scale production of MicroLED displays. New Electronics
3. Slim flexible screen technology debut, the skin directly shows the pulse rate;
Breakthrough in screen technology, in addition to the color and pixel can be seen on the television or mobile phone upgrade, medical applications are also a small number of researchers at Tokyo University recently developed a new flexible screen that can be posted on the skin pulse rate And other information.
This screen uses a breathable micro mesh electrode with extensible circuitry and Micro LED lights for a very slim and elastic effect, though with a limited pixel size, but with a thin 1mm design for easy and comfortable attachment to the skin while displaying important information The screen simultaneously detects the pulse rate and connects the smartphone to the cloud system, which is more convenient for people who are worried about heart health than wearable devices. Its light-emitting design is also available in darker places In fact, a similar technology has appeared before, but this new design has a longer life expectancy, and better fit.
Dainippon Printing, which is responsible for making the film, said it hopes to bring this technology to life in the next three years, making the technology more reliable and mass-producing it, and if it is actually commercialized, it can be used to assist patients nurtured at home to show them important physical conditions , Can be synchronized to inform the family or medical institutions to follow up.This technology in addition to medical treatment, but also for other general consumer applications, the future of wearable devices, may have a completely different form.
4 AUO MiniLED grab the gaming console;
Taiwan panel Double Tiger this year, Arch Mini LED, AUO locked in the high-end, professional application market, has been and gaming gaming, display monitors and other art applications to discuss product development, planning shipments in the second half, to be the industry's leading volume production Mini LED backlight display panel As for the Micro LED, AUO Chairman Peng Shuanglang also stressed that the company is definitely in the industry leading group.
Peng Shuanglang pointed out that Mini LED applications in the backlight, the use of a large number of LED, increasing the number of dimming partitions, to enhance the color and contrast of the LCD panel.A 5 ~ 6 inch mobile phone panel, to use up to 5,000 LED, with a 15-inch notebook panels, LED usage is as high as 7,000 LEDs. Increased LED usage, more sub-area dimming, increased IC usage, improved display performance, and greater natural cost.
Peng Shuanglang said that at this stage a lot of Mini LED backlighting costs to improve, to look at the laptop panel, a Mini LED backlight panel, compared with the traditional laptop panel, the cost increased by tens of times, how to further reduce the cost of product development In the case of a substantial increase in costs, Mini LED difficult to become a mainstream product in the short term, at least if more than 1,000 US dollars professional laptop is possible to produce, so AUO locked in demanding specifications, the price Less sensitive application marketing, such as gaming, as well as professional applications demanding color accuracy. AUO has been negotiating with customers this year, there will be product launches.
As for Micro LED, Peng Shuanglang said that AUO has invested considerable R & D resources in the industry is definitely the leading group. Micro LED Taiwan is a very good opportunity, with the existing LED with LCD two very mature industries, but The middle there are many processes or technical breakthroughs. And LCD technology is quite mature, the cost is also very competitive, so Micro LED to be commercialized, we must find suitable for entry into the market.
Although this year the South Korean panel makers to exit the notebook panel market, but AUO this year more emphasis on high-end notebook market expansion.In addition to Mini LED notebook panel debut, there will be more and more LTPS laptop panel production Shipped this year CES, Lenovo introduced the Lenovo Miix 630, thickness 15.6 mm, weighs only 1.33 kg, ultra-thin laptop battery but there are up to 20 hours of video playback life, using the AUO LTPS panel.
5. Hon Hai attack panel to expand the three;
Hon Hai Group, Golden Dog full sprint panel business, Taiwan, mainland China and the United States go hand in hand, its group spending this year, an annual increase of 120% in capital expenditures to 55 billion yuan, is the largest panel mills in the country; cooperation with Sharp mainland China Zengcheng Super Depending on the 10.5 generation plant will also start construction; the United States Wisconsin 8K +5 G ecosystem core area, but also to be started after the snow melt.
Mainland and South Korea panel factory rely on official resources to play the World Cup, Taiwan's dual-Tiger panel business strategy to win. Group create an intelligent manufacturing platform to actively break new ground with more new technologies and new applications; AUO strict implementation of the principle of smart investment to ensure that Lee.
Group planning, capital expenditures this year estimated at 55 billion yuan, compared with 25 billion yuan last year, a significant increase of 1.2 times; AUO estimated capital spending this year about 45 billion yuan, an increase of only 2.5% .Group said this year's capital Expenditure soared, mainly due to the purchase of the balance of 25 billion yuan from the purchase of the low-temperature polycrystalline silicon (LTPS) production line at Hon Hai Road in the sixth generation of the Company. The remaining 30 billion yuan was adjusted and optimized for the Group's production line.
At present, the operating mode of Road Bamboo LTPS Factory has not changed yet, and it is still the Hon Hai customer who has helped to found the factory. The future will proceed in the direction of the value chain and gradually optimize in the selection of customers and products. Last year, the group accounted for about 5% to 6% of revenue.
Large-size panel layout, Hon Hai is to strengthen the mainland and the United States to build operations.According to Hon Hai Group's panel construction team planning, mainland China Zengcheng Super Vision 堺 10.5 generation plant has started construction projects related operations.
As for the former clapboard, the core area of the 8K + 5G ecosystem in Wisconsin, USA, will wait for the start of the plant operation in the spring when the current cold winter season is over.
It is learned that the Hon Hai Group Willow Park will be the first to build the latter part of the plant, as well as related office and other supporting facilities.As for the 10.5-generation panel makers need glass melting furnace and other supply chain, may have to spend longer build time. daily
6. Hon Hai Group Vice President Dai Zhengwu International DNA lead Sharp transformation
Since becoming the president of Sharp, Vice President and CEO of Hon Hai Dai, President of Hon Hai Group, Sharp has not only made Sharp return to the track of profits and return to the one of the East China Securities, he is quite confident of Sharp's transformation. Plan, one of the most important key is to let Sharp in the gene integration, to become an innovative and creative international company.
Improve product added value
Dai Zhengwu said, "Sharp will continue to make profits," the goal is only a process, in general, Sharp will continue to invest in the future, more international, under the "One SHARP" principle, these little bit of integration will allow Sharp's successful transformation, the future is not only a hundred years of high-tech enterprises, Sharp is also committed to fulfilling corporate social responsibility, to contribute to the international community.
Sharp is actively developing AIoT (Artificial Intelligence Internet of things), Dai Zheng Wu stressed that Sharp in the process of globalization, Sharp will also allow integration of a more international perspective, while increasing the added value and development of commercial AI direction, not Divided into nationalities and introduced more partners in the smart home layout. He emphasized that accelerating the transformation and development of AIoT will be the direction of sustainable development in these two or three years.
In addition, Sharp has been cultivating more than 60 years in the field of healthy environment system business, and white goods have been launched in Japan to repay local consumers' activities.Dai Zhengwu also hopes that in the future, more new health products and experience services will be brought to Taiwan folks, Including the cooperation with Welfare Fresh launched membership services, so that when the Taiwan folks to buy Sharp appliances, can be equipped with ingredients boxes home delivery to the house.
Dai Zhengwu has also repeatedly returned to Taiwan on the night of Friday many times to participate in Sharp's activities. It is not hard to see that he attaches importance to his hometown activities.
Speaking of his past, single-handedly into Sharp Corporation, but after entering Sharp, he deeply felt the unity of the company and obey the leadership of the culture.Dai Zhengwu said he was tough personality, has been very serious, stress management practices , Employees are also rewards and punishments, such as his release of "lucky money" in Japan, using cash to motivate staff morale.
And Dai Zhengwu previously Tokyo and banks to communicate, it is rare with the accountant in charge of a car, when the other side opened a notebook, he saw each other is the "lucky money" in the notebook inside, I was quite surprised.Other party also expressed the Sharp company Really touched by change.
The chief accountant said that one of the biggest differences between the previous Sharp and the current Sharp is that all the ruling of more than 3 million Japanese yen at the meeting was personally approved by Dai Zhengwu and that Dai Zhengwu could immediately make an immediate decision on the spot, Say the reason and make the staff convinced.
Dai Zhengwu modestly said that because he has been learning around Guo Dong, whether it is panel, cell phone, camera module to the semiconductor are quite familiar with, from equipment investment, operating structure, product structure has a certain degree of understanding, but also this 40 years To cultivate the skill; "Just, Sharp and Hon Hai have many areas similar."
Focus on the two major growth strategies
Looking back Sharp these changes, Dai Zheng Wu believes that the implementation of these little by little, so Sharp make money should be the past, Sharp in 2014 and 2015 have lost more than 200 billion, and he took office for six months, just saved More than one hundred billion dollars. Moreover, management not only emphasizes cutting expenditure and timeliness, but also opens up new values through the layout of new technologies and globalization. This will make Sharp more international and help Sharp to transform and develop.
Sharp's medium-term plan, has been set in the AIoT and 8K ecosystem development of the two major growth strategies.Dai Zhengwu said that although the current 8K ecosystem to be content to promote the efforts of all walks of life, however, even if the 8K camera input loss is Quite worthwhile, because it will help to promote high-definition content.And into the 8K era, but also with the Hon Hai Group's storage, communication and panel, etc. one by one series, Sharp and the two sides in the 8K ecosystem will be very complementary and quick match .
In the future, Sharp plans to invest further in the United States. Although the plan is still under way and not yet finalized, however, Dai Zhengwu said that it is now reorganizing the military and hoping that the overall layout will be quickened as soon as possible. Such an investment will enable the development of high added value Products, not only sustainable profits, but also with the Hon Hai Group to play complementary effects.
From the application point of view, the local demand is definitely not a dime two cents applications, Dai Zhengwu also said that in addition to the airline's aircraft using Sharp Panel, the future of space, space shuttle, government procurement agencies, and even defense areas , Can promote the relevant application