Apple'S Ipad Is The First To Use Mini LED Screen, Giant Demand Explodes To Speed Up The Commercial Application Of New Display Technology

In the display market in 2021, the large-scale commercial use of mini LED is a new trend, and more and more giants join the mini led camp.

In the early morning of April 21, Beijing time, Apple released a new generation of iPad pro. Among them, the 12.9-inch iPad Pro uses Mini LED material, which is the first product of apple to apply Mini LED screen.

Trendforce Jibang pointed out that the 12.9-inch iPad Pro had a stable demand performance in the niche market. Therefore, due to the overall upgrade of specifications and the price difference with the previous generation products of only $100, it is expected that the new 12.9-inch iPad Pro will be upgraded from the original estimated 4 million units to 5 million units in 2021. At the same time, the penetration rate of the new generation iPad pro in the global tablet computer market will also increase to 3.1% from the original forecast of 2.5%.

Looking forward to the second half of 2021, apple MacBook 14 and 16 inch products will also be equipped with mini LED backlight display technology. From the perspective of hardware specifications, mini LED will become the benchmark for shaping high-end products in tablet and pen market. With the advent of Apple Mini LED flat panel products, it will drive the upstream and downstream of mini led supply chain to grow against the trend.

At present, mini LED is mainly used in large screen scenes for business, including outdoor advertising, conference and exhibition, high-definition broadcasting, etc., as well as scenes for individual consumers, such as TV, notebook, tablet computer, vehicle mounted screen, etc. In addition to apple, TV manufacturers have also launched Mini led backlit LCD TVs. Previously, Samsung, LG, TCL, Konka, Hisense, Skyworth, etc. have announced Mini LED TV products. New Huawei and Xiaomi have also laid out relevant product lines. The boom of mini LED will continue.

Why do giants like mini led?

It is reported that mini led refers to the LED with light group size between 50 ~ 200 μ M. compared with traditional LED, the backlight module has smaller particle size, more delicate display effect, higher brightness, and supports accurate dimming, which will not cause the problem of uneven backlight of traditional LED. At the same time, mini LED has longer service life and lower power consumption ratio than OLED panel.

On the one hand, excellent display effect and power consumption ratio attract manufacturers to choose new display technology. According to trendforce, the 12.9-inch iPad pro, with 10384 Mini LEDs and 2596 zone partition control, can present high contrast and high color saturation. The display effect will surpass the 31.5-inch iMac, which only has 512 area backlight zone control and is the ancestor of XDR technology.

Chen Shuxun, a consultant analyst with trendforce, further analyzed that from the perspective of technical cost, the price difference between the traditional side light LED backlight used by the previous 12.9 inch iPad pro and the mini LED backlight was about $85. From the price point of view, the price of the 128 GB Mini led 12.9-inch iPad Pro is $1099, which is only $100 lower than that of the previous generation with the same specification of $999. This means that the new products generally only reflect the rising cost price, and are not completely oriented towards high profits. This shows Apple's intention to establish a market model by introducing Mini LED backlight technology.

In addition to tablet products, the industry predicts that mini LEDs will also be used in macbooks. "We expect Mini LED panels for both the two new MacBook Pro designs in 2021 and the lower priced new MacBook Air in 2022. Because the cost of Apple silicon (Apple's self-developed chip) is significantly lower than that of Intel CPU, apple silicon can offset the increased cost of using mini LED panel. "Previously, Tianfeng securities analyzed that" MacBook may be the main driver of mini LED panel shipment. Optimistic analysis shows that the annual MacBook shipment is due to apple Silicon and new designs are expected to grow significantly in three years, about 100% to 30-35 million units. "

On the other hand, mini LED has cost advantages, especially in the medium and high-end TV products. Therefore, mini LED is also considered as a sharp weapon against OLED in the high-end market. According to the consulting data of Jibang, currently, about 16000 Mini LEDs are used in high-end TV applications, combined with zone control in 2000 area. However, it is still 15% lower than that of high-order OLED TV panel widely recognized by the market, which has a cost advantage. If we consider the medium-sized products as the consideration, we should take the mini LED as an example The number of LED is reduced to 10000 ~ 12000. With the partition control of 500 area, the cost increase of LED and the direct down LCD backlight module can be controlled within 50%. This is another opportunity for mini LED TV to achieve a balance between price and image quality. Therefore, various brands have started the commodity specification war for mini LED TV applications this year.

At this year's CES exhibition, Samsung Electronics released the new qled TV new product Neo qled, focusing on mini LED backlight, intelligence and environmental protection; TCL released Mini LED backlight LCD TV 6 series, roku TV and LCD TV X10 series last year; Hisense launched Mini LED TV with smaller light control unit in 2021 to achieve more than 1000 level division; Skyworth released Q70 bright screen, using mini LED backlight technology, the LED backlight film, miniaturization, array, compared with the traditional LCD TV has higher contrast and brightness, but also thinner.

In addition, LG, Changhong, Konka, Huawei, etc. also make layout in mini LED TV and mini LED display products.

Demand burst, supply chain busy layout

In fact, in 2019, there will be significant progress in mini LED display, such as Sony's 780 inch 16K HD Mini LED display commercial large screen, and csot has exhibited a 17 inch QHD car mounted PM Mini LED display prototype with integrated touch technology. Now, with the participation of a number of leading enterprises and the acceleration of mass production of panel industry chain, the commercialization of mini LED display has also been promoted. In 2021, the demand will burst.

Zhang Hong, TV research director of sigmaitell, told 21st century economic report: "mini LED backlight TV has been the focus of attention in recent two years. Mini LED backlight itself has many bright spots. By matching with high-end LCD panel, it can greatly improve the display effect of LCD TV and extend the life cycle of LCD products. It is an effective solution to standard OLED display technology in the short term. At the same time, global head brands tend to be radical in the layout of mini LED backlight TV, including head manufacturers led by Samsung Electronics. This year, mini LED backlight will usher in explosive growth. "

Zhang Hong also told reporters that according to the prediction of group intelligence consulting, the global Mini LED backlight TV will reach 2 million sets in 2021, and the penetration rate will be close to 1%. In the next three to five years, it will maintain a very high growth trend. By 2024, it is expected to exceed 10 million sets, with a penetration rate of nearly 5% in the global market.

With the launch of mini LED backlight TV in succession this year, relevant supply chain manufacturers will also benefit from this, and many upstream companies have invested in expanding production.

On March 29, Huacan optoelectronics announced that Zhuhai HUAFA real industry Investment Co., Ltd. has completed the share transfer of 24.87% equity of Huacan optoelectronics, and Huashi Holdings has officially become the largest shareholder of Huacan optoelectronics. At the beginning of this year, fullman Electronics announced that it plans to raise no more than 1.05 billion yuan in non-public share issuance and invest in the construction of LED chips and mini / micro LED display chip, 5g RF chip and other projects.

Regarding the potential of the LED industry, Zhuhai HUAFA real industry Investment Co., Ltd. believes that the past two years are the adjustment period of the LED industry. Due to the release of new capacity, the overall capacity of the chip is overcapacity, and the price of LED chip has declined seriously. After two years of adjustment, the prosperity of the global LED industry has recovered. Mini / micro LED technology will lead the application upgrading in the next decade, and promote the LED industry to return to high growth.

According to the Jibang report, under the condition of gradually overcoming the technical bottleneck and reducing the overall cost, it is estimated that the output value of mini LED chips in backlight TV applications will be $270 million in 2021. Currently Mini LED products are mainly supplied by many manufacturers, such as Jingdian, Lunda, San'an, Huacan, Seoul semiconductor, etc.; detection and sorting include huite, SOTE and Jiuyuan, etc.; the printing factories include Londa, Hongli, Ruifeng, Lijing micro, etc.; the driving IC includes Jiji, Yilong electric, Purui, Qijing, Lianyong, Jichuang north, Ming microelectronics, Fuman electronics; the panel is Samsung display , LG display, Youda, Qun Chuang, BOE, csot, etc.

According to Jibang consulting, as the cost competitiveness of mini LED backlight display is 15% lower than that of OLED at the present stage, it is expected to continue to optimize the high cost part of mini LED backlight module, such as mini LED chip, mini LED light source back board, driving IC, etc., so as to create a long-term development niche.

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