OLED TV marketization is difficult to break through

China Electronics Chamber of Commerce and China Yikang recently released the "China's flat-panel TV consumer market demand situation in the first half of 2013 and the market trend in the second half of the year", showing that 52% of consumers have requirements for high definition, much higher than TV has 3D And the requirements of smart features. The report also predicts that the ultra-high definition (UHD) TV market will reach 800,000 to 1 million units in 2013, and the production and sales scale of 4K color TV will be further expanded to one million units, which will become the focus of competition in the second half of this year.

As a new generation of display technology, OLED screens that have advantages in large-size color TVs have also been highly anticipated by the Japanese and Korean industries. However, some insiders pointed out to the reporter that due to the delay in the technical problems of mass production of panels, the existing OLED TV products are expensive, and the marketization of OLED TVs is difficult to achieve in the short term. At present, in addition to Korean manufacturers continue to invest, other TV brands in China and Japan are holding a wait-and-see attitude.

In order to improve the current color TV market, 4K products with relatively low technical difficulty have become the new growth point of the industry. The upstream and downstream manufacturers have also collectively turned to 4K, which is accelerating the industrial layout and expanding market influence, and wants to lead the industry standards in the future. Get the most discourse power.

The so-called 4K TV means that the horizontal and vertical pixels of the TV are twice as high as the current mainstream full HD 1080P TV, that is, the resolution reaches 4 times that of the full HD TV. OLED panels provide faster response times and higher contrast ratios, and are sharper in quality, and are seen as a new generation of screens for consumer electronics devices.

Lu Jianbo, deputy secretary-general of the China Electronics Chamber of Commerce, said that the 4K color TV industry has entered a mature stage and will definitely become the main trend this year. Although the market situation in the second half of 2013 is relatively severe, overall, flat-panel TVs have entered a period of diversified and rapid development.

In addition, there are industry views that 4K is only a temporary winner in the current market context, and in the long run, OLED is the general direction of the TV industry.

Accelerate the popularity of 4K products

Compared with OLED TVs, the ultra-high definition (UHD) LCD screens used in 4K color TVs have relatively low mass production thresholds, and the possibility of rapid expansion of production capacity is large. This also makes TV machine manufacturers aim at the ultra-high-definition screen market, and 4K LCD TV as its main promotion target.

Since the advent of 4K TV products in August last year, it has been in a state of high-profile appearance and frequent new products in the color TV industry. According to Zhongyikang's forecast, the sales volume of 4K TVs in 2013 will account for 2.33% of the color TV market share, and the sales scale will be about 1 million units. In 2014, it will be 3 million units, and in 2015, it will reach 6.5 million units.

Lu Jianbo said that China, as the world's largest flat-panel TV market and the largest color TV manufacturing base, will become the largest consumer market for 4K TVs. Industry insiders expect that 4K TV will enter the fast lane of development this summer.

The decline in the price of 4K TV is a major reason for its accelerated popularity. When visiting a number of home appliance chain stores in Shanghai, the reporter found that 4K TVs with prices falling below 10,000 yuan have flooded the market. TCL, Changhong, Hisense and other brands of 50-inch 4K TV prices are below 10,000 yuan. A number of color TV manufacturers said that they will promote the first round of popularization of 4K TVs in China in the second half of the year. Zhong Yikang predicts that the domestic 4K TV will usher in the first wave of price cuts in the second half of the year, with a drop of 20%.

The active promotion of upstream and downstream manufacturers in the TV industry chain is the main reason for the decline in 4K TV prices. At present, many large TV brands in China and Japan are rapidly following up on 4K TV products and actively launching advertising and promotion activities.

The enthusiasm of panel makers is reflected in the shipment plan for 4Kx2K panels. NPD Display Search said that in 2013, 4K × 2K panel shipments will reach 2.6 million, compared with 63,000 last year. In 2013, the annual growth rate of 4K panels was 40 times.

According to industry insiders, under the same characteristics, the price of 4K×2K panels is generally twice the price of full HD panels. However, the survey report of the survey organization NPD Display Search on large-size panel shipments pointed out that the price of 4K×2K panels is falling faster than predicted.

However, although the price barrier has been broken, the 4K content problem is still a constraint bottleneck. From a global perspective, countries with 4K TV signals are still a small part, and Japan and South Korea are only small-scale tests, and there is still no timetable in China.

Recently, Sony announced that it will begin to provide 4K movie download service through Video Unlimited platform this fall, so Sony will become the first manufacturer in the world to provide native 4K download service. In addition, many foreign TV networks are also testing live broadcasts at 4K resolution. However, sources said that there is still a period of time for the live broadcast and streaming of 4K content from major TV networks.

For the development of domestic 4K TV, Lu Renbo believes that the source and signal are still a roadblock. It is understood that domestic manufacturers mostly provide 4K sources for users through the "2K to 4K technology" that 4K TV has.

What is it?

Even with its drawbacks, 4K TVs have a long life cycle. Some analysts pointed out that it is still too early for OLED to replace LCD screens in large-size display fields. Because OLED screens also face many bottlenecks with low yield, high power consumption and short life, people in the industry believe that its development is related to flat panel display. Upgrade of technology.

For the current situation of 4K in the domestic market, Liu Buchen, an analyst in the home appliance industry, pointed out that 4K is only a sub-direction of TV development, and OLED is the general direction. "OLED is the TV of the next era, like LCD for CRT a decade ago. This can be used to explain why Korean and Japanese color TV companies have made OLEDs in the early days."

Compared to traditional LCD screens, OLEDs have faster response, higher contrast, and sharper image quality, making them a new generation of screens for consumer electronics. At present, Samsung and LG are the two main players in providing OLED screens, both of which have invested heavily in research and development.

On June 27th, Samsung began selling 55-inch curved OLED TVs in South Korea and plans to introduce the products to the international market. At the same time, LG also launched a curved OLED HDTV in the US Best Buy flagship store Magnolia. Both screen sizes are 55 inches and the price is set at $15,000 (about 92,000 yuan). Recently, LG also announced that it will launch a new OLED screen production line. The project has already made substantial progress and will be officially put into production in the second half of 2014. This measure may effectively reduce the production cost of curved screens and thus reduce The price of related TV products.

Although the time for the OLED market is good, it will take time, but industry insiders remind that 4K and 3D are facing bottlenecks in the shortage of film sources. It is unrealistic to hope that 4K TV will improve performance.

OLED will eventually replace LCD (LED) liquid crystal, which has become the industry consensus. US market research company Display Search predicts that in 2013, global OLED TV sales will be 50,000 units, 600,000 units in 2014, and 7 million units in 2016, and will increase at a rate of 10 times in the next five years.

Liu Buchen pointed out that the international giants contracted the LCD panel business in order to lay out the OLED industry in advance. "As Samsung and LG and other companies promote OLEDs more and more, the LCD industry will turn down in the next five years."

Faced with the problem of 4K and OLED, more industry experts said that they should look at the future of flat panel display from a global perspective. In response to the current market dilemma, it is necessary to plan ahead and not relax the layout of OLED.