At present, AMOLED panels are on the rise, and they seem to be the overlord of new display technologies. However, the production capacity of AMOLED panels is not directly proportional to the supply. Android mobile phone brand manufacturers cooperate with Taiwanese panel manufacturers to speed up the introduction of Mini LED with curved surface design into high-end smartphones in 2018. .
In view of the tight supply of AMOLED smartphone panels and the increased competition from mainland manufacturers in the field of LED backlighting, Taiwanese LED companies (including Epistar, Lextar, Rongchuang, Hongqi, etc.) plan to use mini LEDs for TV and smartphone backlighting fields and small-pitch displays.
Mini LED backlight adopts local dimming design, which can achieve HDR (high dynamic range) and better color rendering index than AMOLED. In addition, the thickness of mini LED panel is also consistent with that of AMOLED panel.
Industry insiders believe that Mini LED with a size of about 100 microns does not need to overcome the technical threshold of mass transfer, and mass production is feasible. It can be used as a large-size display, TV and mobile phone backlight applications, especially smartphones are expected to be introduced first. In the second half of 2017, it has entered the stage of product design and certification, and has driven the growth momentum of LED backlights to restart.
According to sources, LCD panel makers AU Optronics (AUO) and Innolux (Innolux) have cooperated with Android smartphone makers to develop mini LED backlight solutions. Sources indicate that either RGB or white mini LED chips can be used for backlighting, with the former up to 100% NTSC and the latter up to 80-90%.
Peng Shuanglang, chairman of AUO, said that AUO has been investing in the development of Mini LED for some time. As a backlight technology, Mini LED can improve the current LCD panel manufacturer ratio to a higher level, and the image quality is also very good. The company is discussing with customers and suppliers. How to apply Mini LED technology.
It is understood that the backlight of Epistar’s 5-inch smartphone panel requires 20-25 LED chips or 9,000 mini LEDs. Epistar is already preparing to produce mini LEDs for backlighting smartphones and TVs, as well as fine-pitch displays.
Lextar Electronics and Advanced Optoelectronic Technology are developing mini LED backlights for TVs through cooperation with AUO and Innolux, respectively, while Harvatek and Opto Tech are developing Mini LED for small pitch led display.
Although mainland panel makers are actively rushing to build AMOLED panel production capacity, the supply will continue to be tight in 2018. Samsung Display will control the market supply. In addition to Samsung Electronics and Apple, the Android mobile phone camp may miss the opportunity in the high-end mobile phone screen market. Regarding the differentiation of flagship models, both AUO and Innolux have received cooperative development projects from major mobile phone manufacturers, and regard Mini LED as a secret weapon to counter the OLED camp in 2018, especially the mainland mobile phone manufacturers.
The industry is optimistic that Mini LED can effectively solve the problem of reducing the overall LED production capacity. With the improvement of LED luminous efficiency, the demand for LED backlight and the output value will enter saturation or decline. Taking a 5-inch mobile phone panel as an example, the current number of LED backlights is about 20-25. If Mini LED is used in the future, the demand for a mobile phone will be about 9,000. Although the size of a single Mini LED is small, due to the direct-lit backlight, it will be able to achieve a high dynamic range (HDR) screen effect through the Local Dimming design, presenting a more detailed screen image, not only the same thickness as an OLED, but also a better color rendering OLED is good.
At present, Mini LED design schemes are divided into full-color RGB mixed light or white light. The former can achieve 100% NTSC high color gamut display, while the white light Mini LED through blue LED and phosphor powder can achieve 80-90% NTSC display effect. It is expected that in 2018 The CES exhibition in 2019 is expected to see the debut of terminal products.
