Consumer electronics Market Analysis 2016: What are the trends and opportunities?

The end of 2015 is that the consumer electronics market continues to grow steadily in the context of weak global economic growth. In the segment, smartphones continue to dominate this year, becoming an important engine for the growth of the consumer electronics market; PCs and notebooks, though large in size, have failed to reverse sales and have continued to slump; ultra-high-definition TVs and wearable devices have maintained high growth this year, becoming the highlight of the consumer electronics market , virtual reality is a critical point, an outbreak trend ... The 2016 bell is about to ring, so the new year, the consumer electronics market development trend? What are some of the technologies and issues that deserve attention?

　　Smart phone industry chain mature virtual reality into the general consumer market

There is no doubt that smartphones are a major contributor to the rapid growth of the consumer electronics market in the past two years, and that the smartphone will continue to sit steadily in 2016. According to emarketer, global smartphone users have surpassed 1.9 billion by the end of 2015, and this figure is expected to reach 2.2 billion in 2016. 2015 of mobile phone technology is lackluster, with the smart phone industry chain maturing and market competition is increasingly fierce, 2016, the smart phone will be moving into the high-end market, Force Touch, AMOLED, glasses and curved screen and other touch and display technology is expected to bring surprises.

Virtual Reality (VR) has become the hottest concept of consumer electronics this year, when innovation in smartphones is weak. With the consumer market for the hardware and content of the mass listing, 2016 VR will usher in a small outbreak, is expected to 2020, the world's first VR equipment sales will reach 40 million units, the market size of about 40 billion yuan, plus content services and enterprise-class applications, market capacity of more than hundred billion yuan, in the long run, trillion can be period.

As for wearable devices that are of concern, according to IDC (International Data Corporation), the latest report shows that the global number of wearable devices shipped in 2015, about 80 million, compared with last year, a significant increase. But the 2015 wearable device market is still in the exploration period, the size of all kinds of products are limited, the consumer market has not been launched on a large scale. Since 2016 the wearable device market will enter the start-up period, the market will continue to expand, the global wearable shipments will increase by 44.4% to 111.1 million pieces.

Overall, the consumer electronics market in 2016 will continue the overall trend of 2015 years, mainly smart phones, ultra-high-definition television, wearable devices and virtual reality to drive the market growth. In this trend, what are the opportunities for the display and touch screen sectors?

　　Small and medium size panel technology multi-point flowering upstream materials and equipment benefits

Through the analysis of consumer demand end of 2016, it is not difficult to find that smartphones and tablets continue to pull the biggest demand for small and medium-sized panels, global penetration is high, but the future high growth is unsustainable. Future small and medium size panel growth highlights in the wearable device, virtual display and car display, demand will appear differentiated, more flowering. Small and medium-sized panels are the technical route to the world, the consumer market is more willing to pay a higher premium to the obvious technical advantages of the screen. The current mainstream of four technical routes include: A-si (amorphous silicon), LTPS (Low-temperature polycrystalline silicon), IGZO (oxide), OLED (organic light emitting bipolar body). LTPS and OLED prospects in 2016 is undoubtedly more optimistic, especially the OLED low power, wide color gamut, flexible design features more suitable for the future development of a wide range of wearable devices, virtual display, and small and medium-sized OLED and LCD between the expected reduction in the next three years to less than 10%.

In addition, in the demand-driven consumer electronics, the touch-screen industry chain upstream base material is still high margin. With the rapid development of modern science and technology, touch screen has become the first choice for many consumer electronic display products, touch technology has also completed the transition from resistive touch to capacitive touch control. As one of the key materials of capacitive touch screen, the cover glass has irreplaceable status, especially high aluminum cover glass, high growth rate and excellent market prospect in 2016. In addition, color filter, polarizer, ITO, liquid crystal materials, such as basic material technology threshold high, high concentration of the industry, there will still be a lot of business opportunities. Another special concern is that Sapphire still has a growth momentum in the 2016. The sapphire industry has been noticeably less hot since the Apple iphone 6 missed the sapphire screen, and Gtat's failure has deepened the image of the sapphire industry as an apple and a loser. But domestic handset makers and smart watch makers still have strong demand for sapphire. The penetration rate of sapphire in consumer electronics will increase sharply in 2016 if capacity constraints are to be broken.

Whether it is the cover glass or the sapphire, need to carry on the cutting and so on processing, how to reduce the process and the process variation to increase the manufacturer's cost competitiveness in 2016 appears particularly important. Our laser cutting (m-cut modified cutting) has special advantages and breakthroughs, which can save cost for manufacturers and bring more cost-effective end products to consumers. The M-cut laser cutting process cuts all the brittle materials needed to handle in the current electronics industry, such as ultra-high hardness scratch-resistant glass and sapphire, to make cover glass for displays or cameras needed for tablets, smartphones and wearable devices. Competition in the global consumer electronics manufacturing industry in the 2016 revolves around price, brand recognition, innovation and international competitiveness, in which price competition is a major competitive factor in the industry, and price competition is forcing manufacturers to increase their efficiency to maintain or reduce the decline in profit margins, and to rely on sales growth and market share to maintain profitability. This process can not only deal with the material and geometry of more yuan, will not cause the glass to collapse, no small rupture, and the anti-cracking degree of the glass can be increased four times times, the end product durability is high, production has been greatly improved.

All in all, the 2016 years of consumer electronics are well worth the wait, with traditional consumer electronics such as smartphones, PCs and TVs still on the scale, and new markets such as virtual reality and wearables can grow in space. With the growth of the consumer electronics market, the display and touch screen industry chain will benefit significantly, the future of unlimited business opportunities. (Reproduced from Ofweek display net)

Consumer electronics Market Analysis 2016: What are the trends and opportunities?