New LED displays to usher in new opportunities, and integrated innovation will become an important direction

Driven by the two major new visual changes, 5G+8K and 5G+AR/VR, the ultra-high-definition display industry has ushered in a new round of development opportunities, and at the same time put forward new requirements for display technology. Applied to scenes such as sports events, film and television entertainment, remote teaching, remote medical treatment, intelligent transportation, and data center display screens in the 5G era, new LED displays and ultra-high-end high-end displays usher in rapid growth.

New LED displays are facing new development opportunities and market opportunities. In 2020, the domestic LED application industry will make steady progress, and the new investment in the Mini/Micro LED field has achieved significant growth compared with 2019.

According to the data of Design Consulting (DISCIEN), the domestic LED small-pitch market shipments will increase significantly in 2020, and the domestic LED small-pitch product sales will increase by 11% throughout the year, and the sales volume will increase by 37.3%. From the perspective of industry applications, nearly 80% of the market share of small-pitch LEDs is concentrated in the industry where the public sector is located. The top three industries for market share are government departments, public security, public security, and transportation, accounting for 49.1%. Outdoor large-screen display markets such as transparent screens, Grid screens, naked-eye 3D screens, etc. are becoming more and more diversified; the commercial display market welcomes many online market demands such as distance education and online office, and the LED display industry has thus obtained new market opportunities.

In terms of pixel pitch, small pitch and ultra-small pitch are the mainstream development directions of LED displays. According to the data of DISCIEN, in 2020, P1.1-1.4 pitch products have occupied first place in the sales volume and sales of small-pitch LED display products and accounted for 27.2% of the small-pitch LED display product market. Among them, P1.2 is the main one. The ultra-fine pitch (point pitch P1.1) products have the greatest growth momentum in the future due to the low base currently.

Take the COB package-based Micro LED ultra-high-definition display as an example. It can be seamlessly spliced, has high protection, high reliability, ultra-high-definition display with an immersive experience, long life, low energy consumption, convenient installation and disassembly, and maintenance cost Low, making it gain prospects in professional display fields such as security, emergency, transportation, commercial display fields such as radio and television media, corporate conferences, exhibitions, and civilian display fields such as home TV and private theaters. In the future, with the blessing of 5G technology, it is expected that many collaborative business scenarios will continue to emerge in the dedicated display field, helping relevant units to realize data visualization and management intelligence.

In addition to professional displays, Tu Menglong, senior director of the Ledman Optoelectronics Technology R&D Center, publicly stated that ultra-high-definition displays based on COB technology are also entering the home. For 8K ultra-high-definition video to enter the home, a screen with a capacity of 100 inches to 180 inches is a necessary equipment condition, because from the physiological characteristics of the human eye and the viewing distance, the display screen below 100 inches is too small and the viewing distance is too short. Come to experience the immersive experience and take advantage of the ultra-high-definition advantages of 8K video. There are many technologies to achieve ultra-large ultra-high-definition displays of more than 100 inches because Micro LED has the advantages of self-luminescence, high contrast, wide color gamut, long life, faster response time, unlimited size expansion, and ultra-high pixel density. COB-based Micro LED display technology is the first choice for 8K ultra-high-definition displays.

In addition to the performance of ultra-high-definition displays based on COB technology to bring an 8K experience to home users, its cost potential is also a major factor that cannot be ignored in determining whether it can enter the home market in the future. Based on COB's own technical architecture, there are several feasible cost reduction directions: LED chips, COB substrates, LED drive technology, LED display control technology, Micro LED pixel engine technology, and high-yield production process.

Integrated innovation will become an important direction

With a huge industrial base, a systematic supply chain system, continuously optimized performance, and declining costs, LCD will still be extremely competitive in the large-size panel market; AMOLED is in a period of rapid development and will occupy a larger market share. The rapid development of new technologies such as LED, laser display, electronic paper, etc. occupies a place in market segments.

Specifically, in the TFT-LCD field, the mass production capacity of low-temperature polysilicon, oxides, and other products has been continuously improved. The development of new technologies such as overlapping screens, under-screen fingerprints, and dynamic backlights has further enhanced my country's dominant position in the TFT-LCD field. In the AMOLED field, domestic enterprise products have gradually been recognized by brand companies, and shipments have increased rapidly. Technological innovations such as folding screens, transparent screens, and under-screen cameras have achieved fruitful results.

Ouyang Zhongcan, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said in his speech that the display industry in mainland China has formed an oligarchic competition pattern. The total TFT production capacity (LCD+AMOLED) in mainland China is expected to be approximately 180 million square meters in 2020 and approximately 320 million square meters in 2025.

In emerging technology fields such as Micro LED, Mini LED, Micro OLED, and electronic paper, domestic companies are actively carrying out preliminary research and development and industrialization exploration through cooperation, mergers, and acquisitions. Academician Zheng Youxun of the Chinese Academy of Sciences said that the application of Micro LED ultra-small size microdisplay in consumer products and the high-end and high-end applications of ultra-large size display are expected to reshape the new pattern of optoelectronic display technology. In the future, in the field of large screens, cost-competitive printed OLEDs will replace part of the market for high-end liquid crystal products, with breakthroughs in performance.

At present, a variety of technology routes are advancing side by side, and integrated innovation characterized by cross-integration will become an important direction. 5G+8K, Mini LED+LCD, and sensing+OLED are receiving more attention.

Guo Zhenming, general manager of AU Optronics (Suzhou) Co., Ltd., said that AIoT and 5G will lead the development of smart retail, smart transportation, smart entertainment, and education, and will promote outdoor display screens, electronic whiteboards, digital cockpit key display technologies, and art galleries. Showcasing the vigorous development of display technology in various fields.

Chen Yanshun, chairman of BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd., said that as the core port of information interaction, the display has played an important role in breaking the physical barriers caused by the epidemic and facilitating the digital transformation of various industries. Ultra-high-definition display has greatly improved people's information interaction experience, and promoted more IoT application scenarios, thereby creating more value.

The penetration rate of high-end displays accelerates

In the past two years, the penetration rate of high-end displays has increased rapidly, and young consumers have increasingly strong demand for e-sports and smooth movie viewing. High refresh rate products are a better solution that can greatly improve user experience. In addition, the diversified design of display products can not only bring a sense of vision but also a visually immersive experience. For example, a large-size borderless TV brings cinema-level viewing to the home. In the future, when the display achieves breakthroughs in transparency and flexibility, it will greatly expand the display application space. Transparent display products can be applied to commercial retail windows, theaters, hotels, etc.

Content presentation is flexible and diverse, and the demand for customized displays continues to rise. From the perspective of future content requirements and application scenarios, there are more and more flexible and diverse display applications such as games, short videos, in-vehicles, and medical care. Content requirements drive the demand for the whole machine, and the demand for the whole machine promotes the demand for display devices. Therefore, high contrast, high resolution, high refresh rate, low power consumption, flexibility and profile, 3D, etc., have all become future display requirements.

Jin Minzhi, senior vice president of TCL Technology Group and CEO of TCL Huaxing, said that currently most screens still transmit information in one direction, which cannot satisfy users' desire for more communication and interaction with the system behind the screen. But in the future, there will be more and more interactive screens, more convenient and smarter, from the space laser interaction displayed in the meeting, the touch of various office equipment, and the voice interaction of mobile phones to image fingerprints, screen interaction solutions The solutions are trying to solve the user's pain points from a more humane angle and make communication full of infinite possibilities.

New directions for next-generation display technologies continue to emerge. The direction of next-generation displays based on printed displays, laser displays, and Micro LED displays is gradually becoming clear. Transformative technologies such as light field displays and laser holographic displays will promote the development of three-dimensional displays. The world is in the industry. R&D stage before chemical application.