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China-made flexible screens rise to compete with industry giants
By Xu Xinchen - CGTN
From Huawei to Samsung, foldable phones are taking over.
A regular smartphone turns into a tablet doubling the size of the screen in a second. To be able to produce such a device, the key is to have a screen that can bend.
OLED or organic light emitting diode is the core technology behind flexible screens. OLED allows displays to be thin as paper, and it illuminates on its own without a backlight – much more power-efficient with better image quality than traditional LCD screens.
"We use smartphones often for entertainment – watching videos and browsing social media. The screen is usually around six inches – very small – it could tire our eyes easily. However, if we can unfold the screen making it into a much bigger tablet. Not just eye comfort will improve, the whole experience will also improve," said Qin Xiangdong, the Vice General Manager for Chengdu BOE Optoelectronics Technology.
BOE's Chengdu factory can now produce 70 million sheets of flexible phone screens a year. And that amount is expected to double when its factory in Mianyang, Sichuan starts production – bringing in an estimated 3 billion U.S. dollars.
According to industry reports, LCD screens made up two-thirds of the smartphone market in 2017, but that number is falling fast, and smartphones are expected to be primarily made with OLED screens by 2021 – an industry worth some 30 billion U.S. dollars globally. But still, today's flexible and foldable screens are basically all made by Samsung, which accounts for over 95 percent of the market share.
"Behind flexible screens is not just the screen itself. And the technology and raw materials are not just coming from one single country," associate professor Zeng Liaoyuan from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China told CGTN.
While Professor Zeng is excited about China's OLED technology capabilities, he says Samsung has its perks in terms of the design, management, and marketing of its products.
"As China's technology capability edges up with the government and industry spending huge money for research and development, Chinese firms can now compete globally. And the competition is really about how Chinese firms manage supply chain and skilled workers, and how they can learn from mistakes and improve," said Zeng.
https://news.cgtn.com/news/3d3d514d784d444f33457a6333566d54/index.html
By Xu Xinchen - CGTN
From Huawei to Samsung, foldable phones are taking over.
A regular smartphone turns into a tablet doubling the size of the screen in a second. To be able to produce such a device, the key is to have a screen that can bend.
OLED or organic light emitting diode is the core technology behind flexible screens. OLED allows displays to be thin as paper, and it illuminates on its own without a backlight – much more power-efficient with better image quality than traditional LCD screens.
"We use smartphones often for entertainment – watching videos and browsing social media. The screen is usually around six inches – very small – it could tire our eyes easily. However, if we can unfold the screen making it into a much bigger tablet. Not just eye comfort will improve, the whole experience will also improve," said Qin Xiangdong, the Vice General Manager for Chengdu BOE Optoelectronics Technology.
BOE's Chengdu factory can now produce 70 million sheets of flexible phone screens a year. And that amount is expected to double when its factory in Mianyang, Sichuan starts production – bringing in an estimated 3 billion U.S. dollars.
According to industry reports, LCD screens made up two-thirds of the smartphone market in 2017, but that number is falling fast, and smartphones are expected to be primarily made with OLED screens by 2021 – an industry worth some 30 billion U.S. dollars globally. But still, today's flexible and foldable screens are basically all made by Samsung, which accounts for over 95 percent of the market share.
"Behind flexible screens is not just the screen itself. And the technology and raw materials are not just coming from one single country," associate professor Zeng Liaoyuan from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China told CGTN.
While Professor Zeng is excited about China's OLED technology capabilities, he says Samsung has its perks in terms of the design, management, and marketing of its products.
"As China's technology capability edges up with the government and industry spending huge money for research and development, Chinese firms can now compete globally. And the competition is really about how Chinese firms manage supply chain and skilled workers, and how they can learn from mistakes and improve," said Zeng.
https://news.cgtn.com/news/3d3d514d784d444f33457a6333566d54/index.html
