Samsung is currently Apple's sole supplier of OLED panels, but this does not guarantee that Samsung with higher bargaining power will not be bargained by Apple.
South Korean media Bell reported that Samsung plans to produce 200 million OLED panels this year. Apple estimates that half of its production capacity will be double that of Samsung's shipment to Samsung X last year, but it also gives Apple an opportunity to negotiate with quantity.
The report pointed out that Apple is negotiating with Samsung on orders for OLED panels this year. Samsung's utilisation of OLED capacity has been underutilized and it has fallen from the start. Apple is demanding price cuts due to poor sales of iPhone X.
Last year, Apple paid US$110 for each OLED panel, which accounted for nearly one-third of the production cost of iPhone X. This year Apple intends to reduce the panel cost to around US$100 and cut about 10%. Samsung agreed to lower prices due to excess capacity, but The magnitude is still negotiating with Apple.
2.2021 smartphone OLED panel penetration rate will reach 46%, cost better than Mini LED
It is reported that due to lower sales of iPhone X than market expectations, Samsung has reduced the utilization of OLED production lines. The tension in the supply of OLED panels over the past two years has also been eased. According to Trendsce's WitsView data, Optronics has already begun to drive OLEDs. With the development of the panel, it is expected that the penetration rate of smart phone OLED panels will reach 46% by 2021. Due to the impact of OLED technology maturity and competitive costs, Mini LED may be difficult to gain growth momentum in the smart phone market in the short term.
2021 smartphone OLED panel penetration rate will reach 46% WiesView pointed out that the current Samsung OLED panel supply has been occupied by the iPhone and high-end Samsung smart phones, while the yield of other OLED panel makers is still low. Therefore, mobile phone manufacturers have been Trying to find alternatives for various flagship models. The Mini LED is considered a viable option because it is comparable to OLED in terms of high color saturation, high contrast, and support for HDR.
However, the advantages of OLEDs are even more obvious. In addition to high color saturation, high contrast and fast response, the greatest advantage of OLED panels lies in their self-luminous and bendable characteristics, which enables mobile phone manufacturers to deal with the thickness and design of mobile phones. More flexible. The Mini LED can be used as a transitional product before the Micro LED is fully mass-produced. With the original LCD structure unchanged, the LED chip size will be reduced to 100 to 300 microns, and LEDs can also be arranged by the matrix sorting method. Placed in the backlight module. For example, in a 5.5-inch FHD display, the number of LEDs used is as high as 2000 to 10,000. A smaller number of LEDs requires a longer optical distance, which will allow the device to have a greater thickness. Although a large number of LEDs can reduce the required optical distance and improve uniformity, making the entire device thinner, it can lead to heat dissipation problems and higher costs. At present, how to achieve this balance is still a major bottleneck for manufacturers. .
From the cost point of view, OLED is more competitive at this stage. Take a 5.5-inch hard OLED panel as an example, the cost is about 17~18 dollars; but for the Mini LED backlight board with the same size and the same resolution, the cost may be Doubled to $35 to $40. With the release of OLED supply tight news, WitsView said that in the long run, OLED smart phone panel prices are relatively weak, while the drop in LTPS panel prices will also bring more Mini LED Pressure. Therefore, if the Mini LED can not reduce its cost, it will be difficult to compete with the OLED panel in the high-end smart phone market.
The cost of using a Mini LED in smartphone backlighting depends on the number of LED chips used and the efficiency of wafer transfer. As a result, many LED manufacturers try to reduce costs through different technological solutions, such as reducing the LED chips through optical adjustments. The number, or increase the transmission efficiency of the chip bonding machine to reduce the cost of bonding.
However, in the niche market with higher total profit, the cost is not a priority for the supplier. Therefore, the Mini LED will have more opportunities in the niche market. WitsView
3. Look at BOE's value promotion: From the panel leader to the upstart of the Internet of Things
At the beginning of April, Beijing was warm and cold. The reporter walked into the box horse fresh flagship store in Jingkai District, but he felt a wave of smart retail. One-stop convenience shopping has quietly infiltrated into people's lives, providing this kind of retail Internet of Things. The solution was actually the BOE.
Referring to today's BOE, what the outside world first thought of was the company’s number one in semiconductor display: Shipments of smart phone LCD screens ranked first in the world, shipments of tablet PCs in the world ranked first, and notebook computers displayed The volume of screen shipments is number one in the world. Unbeknownst to all, BOE's new patent applications that have always attached importance to technological innovation have also ranked first in the global industry for four consecutive years.
Compared to the orientation given by the outside world (leading manufacturer of panel manufacturing), under the leadership of chairman Wang Dongsheng, BOE has already set a more ambitious development goal - to create a "smart port" product for information exchange and human health. "Professional Services Internet of Things"' and has been actively planning for the early realization of the above goals. Boxma's smart retail is one of the cases.
Create an Internet of Things ecosystem
Into the supermarket, through the mobile NFC (Close Range Communication Technology) or scanning the QR code, you can enter the online mall to get more product information; businesses do not have to worry about adjusting the price on the price tag, eye-catching promotional electronics The tag will synchronize the background information to realize real-time price change. The merchant can also obtain the inventory data of the goods and the consumers' browsing preferences at the same time. In the Jingmaosian flagship store in the Beijing Economic Development Zone, consumers can truly feel the wisdom of the retail station. Convenient shopping experience. As a key part of realizing the above-mentioned intelligent shopping, this retail Internet of Things solution comes from BOE.
'Based on electronic price tags, self-service terminals, and software services, BOE has always been committed to providing a total solution for the IoT of 'hardware + software platform + scenario applications' in the new retail space to provide a better user experience. ' BOE Chief Executive Director Chen Yanshun said in an exclusive interview with reporters recently that in the field of electronic price tagging, with the acquisition of SES, BOE has now achieved a smart retail distribution in 55 countries worldwide, covering more than 100 retail brands and 15,000 companies. The number of stores, ESL (electronic tags) exceeds 200 million pieces, which accounts for more than 55% of the global market share. In China, BOE has been a box horse freshman, Alibaba HOMETIMES family era, Tmall supermarket, Jingdong Four Seasons Optimization, Carrefour, Gujia Household, Excellent The well-known new retailers, such as Van Gogh Art, have super-sized ESL system solutions.
In fact, the smart retail business centered on the electronic price tag system is only a component of BOE's new ecosystem of 'core air purifiers' and 'Internet of Things'. In recent years, BOE has also expanded its focus on digital art displays and financial retail services. Smart equipment design and manufacturing services, photovoltaic power plant integration and operation, vehicle display and vehicle networking, and other business directions, providing intelligent solutions in the areas of Smart Manufacturing Services, Digital Arts, Smart Energy, Smart Vehicles, and more.
'Whether it is an industry or a single business, when it reaches a certain stage, it always meets the ceiling. Based on this consideration, the company's chairman, Wang Dongsheng, began to conceive the transformation and development of BOE as early as 2014, and actively Layout. 'Chen Yanshun said that the future of BOE not only needs to be a leader in the global display industry, but also a global leader in the Internet of Things.
According to Wang Dongsheng's previous statement, the growth of the Internet of Things led the first wave of the fourth industrial revolution. Humanity is entering the smart society. With the continuous evolution of artificial intelligence, and with the Internet of Things, display, sensing, The integration of sub-disciplines and special fields such as life sciences will bring about tremendous opportunities for development in related industries.
According to reports, in the era of “All things connected, all things are aware”, the number of IoT ports has grown exponentially, especially since 2016, when it entered the Internet of Things (1.0) era, smart ports have grown explosively, and by 2017, the number of ports has reached about 20 billion. , And it is expected to expand to 1 trillion by 2035. At that time, the market for IoT will exceed US$58 trillion. The Internet of Things will bring about huge economic growth in the areas of transportation, retail, medical care, manufacturing, etc., as well as drastic changes. Human production and life.
'Some people's impression of BOE may still remain in the production of a display company. In fact, as the Internet of Things industry continues to mature, BOE's future product applications are also expanding, the market demand is also expanding. 'Yan Yan pointed out The Internet of Things is accelerating and the display has integrated functions such as touch input and fingerprint recognition to become an important port for information exchange. BOE is accelerating its efforts to build a “core gas/device and” IoT ecosystem. , The core of the Internet of Things era of the chip, display devices, software and content, function and hardware in a harmonious combination to create a leading IoT ecological solutions.
Main focus on high growth
Currently, relying on long-term technological innovation, product innovation, application innovation, and business model innovation, BOE has formed three major business architectures around the four core technologies: Display, Sensing, Artificial Intelligence, and Big Data: Display and Sensors Business, Intelligence System business, health service business, and with the above-mentioned three major businesses as the pillar to create value for customers.
The 2018 is the first year of BOE's implementation of the 'Wood Sword Strategy.' The so-called wooden sword strategy is the fourth strategic phase of the 25-year long-term strategic development plan that BOE has formulated after entering the display industry. According to the strategic plan, from 2018 to 2022 During the period, the company not only further strengthened its global leading position in the display field, but also achieved a qualitative leap in smart systems and health services. In terms of business objectives, BOE has strived to achieve high annual growth in its own turnover.
Based on this, what the outside world is most concerned about is undoubtedly, where does the foundation of the company's future revenue growth in recent years come from? It is undeniable that the display and sensor parts business is still the core source of BOE's operating performance and will continue to grow in the next few years. The production of major production lines will inevitably bring a significant boost to the company's future revenue.
According to Chen Yanshun, BOE currently has a total of 12 production lines, of which 10 are in the production phase and 2 are in the construction phase. Specifically, BOE production lines below the 6th generation will gradually shift to vehicles, industrial control, electronic labels, medical displays, etc. Segmented markets and sensors and other application products; Chongqing, Hefei and Beijing 3 8.5 generation lines will be based on market demand, flexible adjustment of product structure, corresponding LCD mobile phone display, laptop display, monitor display and 32 to 65 inches TV display; Fuzhou 8.5 generation line will apply cutting technology, focusing on the layout of the 43-inch TV display and some curved surface products.
It is reported that BOE Hefei 10.5 generation line (design capacity of 120,000/month) has been mass-produced in March 2018, and the yield rate has exceeded 70%. It is expected to reach full capacity in the first half of 2019. In addition, BOE Wuhan 10.5 generation line (construction period two (year) Construction has also begun. The above two 10.5 generation lines will continue to reach full capacity in the future, which will effectively fill the market gap for ultra-large size ultra-high definition display products and further increase the company's market share and comprehensive competitiveness in large-size TV LCD panels. , It will also become an important source of company revenue increase.
Or will enter a new round of 'harvest period'
Similarly, in the field of OLEDs, BOE Chengdu's 6th-generation flexible AMOLED production line was put into production on May 11, 2017, and achieved volume production in October of the same year. The company's sixth-generation flexible AMOLED production line is currently under construction. Successfully, it is expected to start production in 2019. In addition, the company also announced in March this year that it will invest in building the 6th-generation flexible AMOLED production line project in Chongqing. The production line will have the same design capacity as Chengdu 6th-generation line and Mianyang 6th generation line, both at 48K/month. .
With the above three flexible AMOLED production lines put into production one after another, BOE will lay its market competitive advantage in the field of flexible AMOLED, giving the company the ability to provide high-quality flexible AMOELD screens for global brand manufacturers. Facing the huge market space of flexible displays , BOE's development in the next few years is even more worth the wait.
The on-going production of the core business-related production lines, full production expectations, and the rapid development of various branches of the company’s smart system business (Intelligent Services, Digital Art, Smart Retail, Smart Vehicle Alliance, Smart Energy) and health service business, can be foreseen, BOE will enter a new round of 'harvest period' from 2019 onwards.
'We will not be an oligarch of a certain industry or field. Just as Chairman Wang Dongsheng stated, under the joint efforts of all BOE people, the company will continue to cooperate with partners in all walks of life with a positive and open mind to create new innovations. Customer value, Sharing growth opportunities. 'Chen Yanshun said. Shanghai Securities News
4. TV panel technology competition extended screen value chain
In addition to the display technology and the competition on the production line, the panel company also exerts its power on its own ecosystem.
On April 11th, the 6th China Electronics Information Expo ended in Shenzhen. During the exhibition, it showed that the development of the semiconductor industry was one of the hot topics. BOE, LG Display (LGD), Sharp and other companies have spared no effort to show new ones. Technology flow products. In the booth, 8K LCD TVs and OLED TVs were placed in key positions. In addition to OLED and quantum dot technology, Micro LED and Mini LED were also mentioned many times. On the other hand, all manufacturers Product layout is more diversified and competition is more intense.
At the same time, the “Three-year Action Plan for New Display Industries Beyond Development (2018-2020)” will be released soon. This policy will help domestic display industries improve industry support and build industrial eco-chains. Previously, in the “2010-2012 flat panel display Industrial Development Plan, and the "2014-2016 New Display Industry Innovation and Development Action Plan" implemented, the domestic display industry has rapidly expanded.
On April 10, on how to promote the further development of the display industry, Qiao Yueshan, Director of the Electronic Information Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, expressed at the Forum on Display Industry that the first draft of the three-year action plan was issued and will be passed as soon as possible after the review. Second, in terms of strengthening the 4K industry alliance, it will continue to promote the construction of 4K content; Third, it is necessary to further improve the 5G and other industrial supporting and hardware environment.
Fighting new technology
In current TV products, liquid crystals, OLEDs, and quantum dots are still mainstream technologies. However, there are more and more researches related to Micro LED and Mini LED optimized for traditional LCD technology, except BOE, Foxconn, and domestic Ruifeng Optoelectronics. , Zhao Chi shares, National Star Optoelectronics, etc. have a layout of the Micro LED or Mini LED. Not only is the panel maker, but recently the news that Apple will use the Micro LED screen again.
Zhang Yu, senior vice president of BOE, told the 21st Century Business Herald reporter: 'In addition to OLEDs, we are also investigating Micro LED and Mini LED. From a display point of view, one disadvantage of LCD (liquid crystal) is that it is in dark field. Under the circumstances, the screen is a bit gray and the contrast is not enough. However, the Mini LED can be almost comparable to the OLED, the dark field can be completely black, and the price cost is lower than that of the OLED. 'So, in terms of large-screen technology iterations, BOE also No choice was made.
Foxconn is also studying Micro LED. Chen Zhenuo, vice president of Foxconn Technology Group, told reporters of the 21st Century Business Herald that 'Innovation of Guo Dong (Guo Tingming)'s investment has already released Micro LED's on-board screen. In June of this year, We will also show a large-screen Micro LED.
Each one fancy these two technologies, on the one hand, compared to the traditional LCD screen display significantly improved, on the other hand can be low-cost response to the OLED screen offensive and mass production problems.
However, WitsView, an optoelectronics research center of Jibang Consulting Group, said in an interview with 21st Century Business Herald: “In fact, the advantages of Mini LED in comparison with OLED are not obvious. At most, it is close to the same level, but since it is still Backlighting system, so that there is no capital to expand the production of OLED panel factory and even the supply chain of the backlight upstream and downstream can have more space to play; Related manufacturers currently believe that its cost has the opportunity to be better than OLED, but this is the ultimate use of the LED display The trade-offs between the number of stars and the optical distance are related to the trade-offs between heat dissipation and power consumption. The overall thickness is also a must on the terminal device.
'The Micro LED is a highly integrated technology with the TFT-LCD. Its advantages in life, color saturation, and reaction speed are relatively obvious. The display performance has a better chance than the OLED; but because each sub-pixel needs a LED, the huge transfer rate of yield is still the obvious bottleneck. In addition to the uniformity of the LED, the beat time, whether it is too long compared to LCD or OLED, and the difficulty of repair is the current business of this technology The problem that must be solved before chemicalization. ' WitsView said.
On the other hand, LGD also researches Micro LED, but on the big screen, it focuses on OLED, and is the only company that can mass-produce large-screen OLEDs. OLED wallpaper TV, self-acoustic OLED TV, 6-piece UHD 77-inch screen composition The cylindrical OLED commercial displays are the masterpieces of LGD. In terms of form, there are already curled, folded, double-sided, embossed, etc. The research institution IHS data shows that from the second quarter of 2018, the number of Chinese OLED TVs will be Entering a period of rapid growth, which is expected to increase 118.8% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2018, and is expected to increase 120.4% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2018.
However, the market share of OLED TVs is still very low and has not yet reached the tens of millions of units. Although OLED is rapidly expanding, OLED and LCD TVs will continue to coexist.
In addition to the display technology and the competition on the production line, the panel company also exerts its power on its own ecosystem.
Competition Industry Chain
According to data from WitsView, a state-owned company in Taiwan, the TV panel shipments rankings in 2017 were top three in terms of LGD, BOE and Innocore. Both LGD, BOE, and Foxconn Group where Innolux and Sharp are located. , are strengthening their own industry chain.
Among them, LGD continues to expand its product line around OLED and expand its ally; Sharp focuses on the ecological layout of 8K+5G and is an important part of Foxconn Industrial Internet; BOE publishes Internet of Things solutions outside the panel.
LDK Global Marketing General Manager Lin Jingde told 21st Century Business Herald reporter that according to LGD's plan, OLED revenue will exceed 40% by 2020. At the same time, OLED's camp is expanding, Lin Jingde said, OLED sales brand Currently, there are more than 10 brands such as LG, Sony, Philips, Skyworth, Konka and Changhong. According to the reporter's understanding, Hisense will also begin to sell OLED TVs in the second half of this year.
In addition to televisions and computer screens, LGD demonstrated its OLED lighting products in China for the first time. According to the LGD introduction, OLED lighting is different from conventional light sources in that high-end light source surface light sources can provide reduced blue light and its light source uniformity. Can avoid dazzling and shadow, reduce eye fatigue. In addition, due to the flexible nature of OLED, such lighting products can be bent freely.
With support from Foxconn, Sharp has deployed 8K LCD panel factories in Japan, China, and the United States. In terms of content ecology, Sharp and Japanese imaging equipment manufacturer ASTRODESIGN have jointly developed an imaging system that supports 8K content, including photography. Or create cameras, video processing devices, monitors and other products necessary for video production. In addition, Foxconn and Sharp also participate in the global future display technology and innovative application R&D center of Shenzhen Luhu to accelerate the development of the 8K content industry. Chen Zhenuo believes that ' 2017 is the beginning year of 8K, 2018 is the 8K ecological first year, and the beginning of 2020 is the true outbreak.
In the application of 8K screens, Chen Zhenguo stated that there are three aspects that are currently used in many areas: safety field, health field and industrial field. 'The upcoming Foxconn Industrial Internet Company has prepared the entire intelligent manufacturing process. 8K monitoring system. The data in the application of industrial Internet is the key, we have a huge amount of video big data.
Outside the screen, BOE also showcased IoT solutions such as digital art, smart retail, and mobile health. In terms of digital art painting, Zhang Yu told reporters: 'There were nearly 50,000 units sold last year, initially for professional users, painters. , Artists, Photographers. Later we will develop new series for subdivision areas. For example, now we are talking to the museum, we can use it as a member's end product, and gradually spread from commercial to consumer.
In the electronic screen of unretailed retail, Zhang Yu said that the recently acquired French companies are mainly targeting overseas retail markets, Europe has been doing more than three years, and China has just started, domestic box horse fresh, Jingdong 7fresh, Carrefour, Yonghui Supermarket Old and new retailers are already using BOE's retail screens and solutions. 'In addition to hardware, we still need to extend the value chain. We just started to measure volume last year. More than 15,000 merchants worldwide use our retail solutions.' Yu said. In addition to the display technology and production line competition, panel companies are also working on their own ecosystem. 21st Century Business Herald
5.2018 TV panel manufacturers actively develop 8K display panel
8K display panel is expected to replace OLED as the flagship model of each brand
Key points:
Japanese TV station, NHK intends to provide better Ultra HD 8K4K picture quality and ultra-high color gamut than 4K for the Tokyo Olympics in 2020. The BT2020 will leave the world with the most clear and deep impression on the famous people.
Major TV manufacturers such as Sony, Panasonic, Samsung and Hisense are all ready to provide a full version of the 8K flagship TV by the end of 2018 or early 2019. Meanwhile, 8K content is expected to be used in various memorable historical programs in the future, such as the Olympics. World Cup football, NBA playoffs, etc.
In order to smoothly put 8K panels before 2020, in 2017, TV panel makers have been working with all panel component manufacturers, such as ICs, quantum dots, optical films, and machine manufacturers, to develop 8K display panels.
According to IHS Markit’s “Quarterly Large Area Product Roadmap Tracker” report, 8K displays have recently become very popular, mainly because the two companies in the future have already developed screen driver boards and 8K TV chips for 8K display panels. To do image upgrades. Earlier in 2016, several panel makers started to develop 8K display panels. However, due to the lack of mature materials and components, 8K display panels produced at that time had a lot of problems. But this year with 8K screen drivers Boards and 8K TV chips allow panel makers, TV stations, and brand manufacturers to expect more from 8K. Currently, system chip makers such as Morningstar, MediaTek, and Hassig have stepped up their efforts to develop 8K system chips. On the other hand, Sharp recently provided 70's. AQUOS 8K TV has already started selling in the first quarter of this year, which has forced other TV brands to become tighter, otherwise it is equivalent to high-end products that are incompetent.
The following is a blueprint for the amount of time and technology trends for each panel factory of 8K4K:
The above figure has indicated the frame rate, because sports events require motion-blurred image display, so the need for high-Hz, so 120 Hz is the basic specifications. In view of 8K is used in flagship models, IHS Markit expects the future 8K display panel must match Ultra-high color gamut of BT2020 and 120 Hz. IHS Markit