Recently, LG Display stated that this year the company will provide large-size OLED panels to two brand companies. This is a new partner. This means that the OLED TV camp is further expanded. The data shows that OLED TV is becoming a high-end market' Xiangxi', the situation of supply is forming.
Overall color TV performance remains low
Recently, many color TV companies have announced detailed annual reports for 2017. From the perspective of the annual report, the overall status of the LCD TV business was poor last year, and brand companies encountered many difficulties in this sector.
Last year, the operating income of Hisense Multimedia's multimedia segment was approximately RMB 30.6 billion, operating costs were approximately RMB 26.2 billion, operating income increased by 6.95% over the previous year, operating costs increased by 11.68% over the previous year, and gross profit margin decreased by 3.62% over the previous year; Its operating income from TV products increased by 6.83% over the previous year, operating costs increased by 11.89% over the previous year, and gross profit margin decreased by 3.88 percentage points compared with the previous year. Konka Group’s revenue from electronic sector was approximately 16.1 billion, and its operating cost was approximately RMB13.1 billion. Operating income decreased by 5.93% year-on-year, gross profit margin increased by 3.8%; operating profit of Konka Color TV business was approximately RMB 12 billion, operating cost was approximately RMB 10.1 billion, operating income decreased by 3.87% year-on-year, gross profit margin increased slightly by 2.1%. Changhong achieved operating revenue of 77.632 billion yuan. Yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15.57%, and the parent company’s net profit of 356 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 35.76%. In 2017, Skyworth realized an operating income of 725,480,560, an increase of 22.40%, and a net profit of 95,244,200 yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 81.93%.
According to the data, in 2017, China's color TV retail sales reached 47.52 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 6.6%, the largest decline since 2003. At the same time, the analysis of the reasons for the rising price of memory chips and panels has appeared in the annual reports of many companies. It is the rise in the manufacturing cost of the whole machine. On the one hand, it is the decline in sales volume. The final result is that the profit of famous brand dealers has dropped to the lowest level in recent years.
High-end market 'scenery' is very different
Compared to many domestic well-known color TV companies in the multimedia business 'struggle', Sony last year in the color TV business can be described as wind and water.
At a recent Sony brand event, Sony’s performance in the high-end TV market was repeatedly mentioned by the company's executives last year. Sony said that in 2017, although the overall scale of the Chinese TV market has shrunk, Sony seized 4K. The market opportunity of increasing demand in large-sized segments, etc., leads the upgrade of the consumer structure by increasing the supply of high-value-added products, and eventually succeeded in achieving high market share in the large-screen segment.
In fact, last year, Sony combined its own advantages in color TV chips and launched its flagship OLED TV product. The sales performance is impressive. According to the HIS data from a well-known market research organization, Sony’s overall TV revenue in 2017 increased by 21% compared to 2016, including OLED TV contribution. The rate reached 8%.
The results of strenuous efforts on high-end color TVs have also become one of the few highlights of some domestic TV companies last year. The Skyworth annual report pointed out that high-margin, large-size products can greatly reduce the industry’s average selling price fluctuations against corporate profits. The impact of this, and the large sales of OLED TVs, are the primary drivers of Skyworth’s high-end product line sales growth.
OLED becomes the absolute main force in the high-end market
Last year, laser TV and ULED super quality TV were the main layouts of Hisense in the high-end TV market. These two products did bring bright colors to Hisense's color TV business. This year, the company's layout in the high-end market may take place. In the second half of this year, Hisense is expected to join the OLED TV camp. However, at present, Hisense has not formally confirmed this news.
'The television industry is currently saturated, but OLED TVs bring new value to the market and will become a breakthrough in the display industry.' Liu Weizhi, CEO of Skyworth Group, said publicly.
At present, under the situation that the overall demand has reached 'saturation', if TV manufacturers do not want to fall into the trap of price wars, they will only seek new value and develop high-end markets, thus achieving new breakthroughs.
When it comes to high-end markets, the performance of OLEDs has to be mentioned. IHS data show that last year, the high-end TV market of more than $2,500 accounted for 51.3% of the world's OLED TVs. It accounted for half of the world's total, surpassing LCD TVs for the first time. This figure is It was only 15.5% in 2015 and 35% in 2016.
IHS expects that in the high-end market, OLED TVs will continue to maintain high-speed growth. In 2018, OLED TVs will climb to 70.7% in the high-end TV market of US$2,500, becoming an absolute mainstream.
It is worth noting that LG Electronics’ overall TV revenue in 2017 increased by 9% compared to 2016, of which OLED TV contribution rate was as high as 52%. LG's LG Display is currently the only company in the world to mass produce large-size OLED panels.
Li Shangxun, vice president of marketing and marketing of LG Display Television Division, said in an interview with the Nanfang Daily reporter recently that companies that had been hesitant have now started to invest in the OLED market. Since the end of 2017, OLED camps have expanded to Philips, including Sony, Panasonic and other Japanese companies. Manufacturers, Korean manufacturers such as LG Electronics and Skyworth, Changhong, Konka and other major Chinese manufacturers, a total of 13.
'Now you can be sure that there will be two new companies participating in the OLED TV camp this year.' Li Shangxun revealed. For business reasons, Li Shangxun did not disclose the specific company name.
For both companies, the industry is currently generally considered to be Hisense and Toshiba. Whoever it is, this means that the OLED TV camp is further expanded.
China will become the main battlefield of OLED TV sales
'In March this year, OLED TV panels have seen a 30% shortage of supply and demand.' South Korea's KB Securities analysts said that increased demand may cause OLED panel prices to rise. IHS data analysis shows that the OLED TV panel market will significantly increase in size, 2018 Demand will soar from 1.7 million in 2017 to 2.9 million, and by 2021 is expected to reach 9 million.
At present, from the upstream of the industry, the prices of materials and equipment required for the production of OLED panels have not been loosened, while LG Display stated that the company's 2018 OLED panel production capacity is approximately 2.8 million.
Li Shangxun also told the Nanfang Daily reporter: 'At the end of last year, the production of OLED panels had achieved scale operations and turned losses into profits.'
All the above signs show that in the next two years, the prices of OLED panels will not be loosened, but they will not rise so much and will remain relatively stable.
Despite the high price, OLED TV sales competition will be more intense with the participation of more brand companies. At present, in North America and Europe, OLED TV sales have matured, and the industry expects that in the future, China will become The main battlefield of OLED TV sales.
In the fast-growing OLED demand, the Chinese market has played an important role in promoting. According to HIS data, from the second quarter of this year, the number of Chinese OLED TVs will enter a period of rapid growth, of which, the second quarter of this year is expected to increase 118.8% year-on-year. , The third quarter of 2018 is expected to increase by 120.4% year-on-year.
According to the agency’s expectations, next year, China’s OLED TVs will continue to maintain rapid growth, which is 115.5% higher than in 2018. By then, China will also become the only region in the world where the growth rate of OLED TVs exceeds 100%, and the second fastest growth rate in Japan is expected to be 64.7. %.
This is actually the result of consumer upgrades. Nowadays, users are increasingly demanding audiovisual effects. Not only are the requirements for TV screen size and display performance constantly increasing, but also the appearance of televisions is increasing. Designs such as 'Borderless' have been widely sought after. This is also due to the fact that high-end OLED TVs with a free display space are highly sought after because they do not require backlight modules.
In order to seize the Chinese market, at the end of last year, LG Display confirmed that it will build a world-leading 8.5-generation OLED TV panel production line in Guangzhou, with a monthly production capacity of 60,000 (glass substrate benchmarks). Production is expected to take place in the second half of next year. This is the second largest in Korea. After the first overseas OLED panel production line in China, LG Display’s 8.5-generation OLED plant in Guangzhou will become the second OLED TV panel production base in the world.