Low-end flat market in China is developing in chaos and slow growth

Since entering the tablet computer era, due to the industrial chain of technology, technology and market flaws, the domestic low-end flat market development chaos, slow growth. But with the main control chip, supporting technology and technology, operating system, application technology gradually mature, its market growth potential will be immeasurable.





Although the tablet computer market was not mature enough last year, the pattern of turbulence, there are constantly manufacturers to enter the company has continued to exit, but did not affect market research institutions on this year's flat-panel computer market optimistic forecasts. For example, Taiwan's research institute, Digitimes, says global tablet shipments are 85 million to 95 million this year, and IDC, the US market research firm, also raised the expected data for this year's tablet shipments in a report released in March, The company forecasts 2012 global flat-panel shipments of 106 million units, compared with the previous forecast of 88 million units. The latest forecast, compared with shipments of nearly 69 million units in 2011, means global tablet shipments will grow by 54% per cent year-on-year.


of course, the biggest winner of the tablet market right now is Apple, and the big one is hard to change in a short time, but the growth of the non-Apple tablet is still very strong, with the exception of Samsung, the burgeoning Amazon Kindle Fire and the Nook of Barnes, which can compete with Apple. Tablet and other high-profile, Low-cost low-end Tablet PC market is also bullish. A recent report by ABI Research, a market analyst, predicts the tablet market will be dominated by a growing number of low-cost products, which will reach 60% by 2016, with markets focused on emerging countries such as China and India, and a spurt of growth in the next five years, This will further develop the global tablet market.


Low-cost Flat product development mainly thanks to the development of middle and low-end main control chip, the current Low-cost main control manufacturers include local surplus side micro, medium star Micro, Rui Core, Canzhi, Crystal morning, Taiwan's Granville, MTK, and South Korea's telechips. Although the product price is low, but the stability has yet to be strengthened. A domestic brand manufacturers of flat-panel products have complained to the author of domestic control chip stability, power consumption can not get down, leading to the production of products even the company's standards are not past, let alone shipments.


Upstream vendors are often very helpless, because the main control before mostly based on ARM11, ARM9 and other cores, hardware processing capacity is difficult to support more than 7 inches large screen, plus the operating system for more than Android 3.0 version, and Android 3.0 before the version is mostly for mobile phones and other small screen applications developed, so use in the tablet computer and other large screen application effect is not good, these reasons have led to low and low-end products performance, poor user response. And in this market, there are too many competing manufacturers, the price becomes one of the most effective means to attract users. So many of the domestic main control, the program to more than in the brutal price war to kill as a group, this is obviously not conducive to the healthy development of the tablet industry.


Although the price war is inevitable in this year's market, it is gratifying to note that, beginning in 2012, the central and low-end tablet computer control has fully entered the single nuclear cortex-a8 or A9 level, and is expected to soon enter the dual-nuclear era, The improvement in kernel performance, combined with the technical buildup of master vendors and the launch of Android 4.0, is expected to enable low-end Tablet PCs to grow in a more stable direction, helping to expand the market. Canzhi: The development of SOC technology drives low-end flat market


currently the hottest chip in the domestic control market is the A10, since last September the company launched the Cortex-a8 processor based Chip A10, its increasing sales really let many people surprised. Now there are a lot of second-line brand manufacturers and white manufacturers in the follow-up, such as the Onda, Lan Chen, Taiwan Power, the general, Lans, Ling Yun, Dehong, Hongyu star, etc., I believe that there will be more manufacturers to join. Some people have disclosed that the current A10 chip shipments have been close to 1 million pieces, regardless of whether the number is exaggerated, it is certain that the chip shipments will be bullish.


why A10 Chip launch time is not long, can be in such a fast time, and before it launched the chip manufacturers have not so performance? The general view of the industry is the price-performance problem, overall, the A10 can be said to be the current market cost-effective a very high chip. Although the A10 in some so-called "nuclear technology", "Support 2160p 24FPS video decoding ability" and other gimmick full of parameters so that many people scoff, but also criticized its chip "A10" name is purely consumer, will let people mistakenly think is the cortex-a10 arm new architecture, But aside from these marketing means, in essence, the A10 can have so attractive cost-effective and quickly occupy the market in a short period of time, so that other competitors have to be wary of vigilance, which must have its extraordinary place.


From the structure of the A10 can be seen, the SOC integrates HDMI, LVDS, LCD, Touch Driver, Ethernet MAC, Audio Codec, SATA, GPS and many other functions as well as DDR/DDR2/DDR3, NAND Flash, WiFi, video port, PMU and other interfaces, rely on its excellent digital module integration capabilities, the full log of the SOC integration is very high, the need for a lot of board-level processing of the design directly through the chip, to solve the hardware system design problems and simplify the PCB layout requirements, reducing the cost of the solution integrators and development difficulties.


in video decoding processing, A10 uses self-developed coding and decoding and dual-screen display technology, support full format 1080p and maximum support 2160p decoding capabilities, although with some gimmick of the composition but also means that its video processing capabilities have better compatibility and scalability, while in the low power design, Through the integration of its own PMU technology, including DVFS Dynamic FM voltage Regulation technology, switch-type large current charging, multi-channel programmable output, high-precision metering, and so on, its power control performance has been greatly improved, such as its machine standby time can be up to one week, video playback can reach about 8 hours, charging calorific value has also been greatly reduced.


in addition to chip packaging patch technology, the total Zhi bucking the line, will be the spacing from 0.6mm to 0.8mm, this change makes many of the previous production of MP4, PMP and other multimedia digital products manufacturers can achieve the level of the production of tablets, expanding the entire industrial chain of production capacity, Many of the PMP manufacturers peering into the tablet market have the potential to enter.


on the basis of stability to ensure that the PCB board to achieve a four-storey, compared to the traditional six to eight-layer wiring process, four-layer circuit board in reducing costs while also greatly shorten the delivery cycle of products, the original 15-30 days to shorten the cycle to 7 days, so that the supply of industrial chain pressure to reduce.


the above series of technical improvements have made the company's products a significant increase in the pass-through rate, from the previous 70% to the current 95%, repair also reduced from 15% to 1%.


of course the full ambition in a short time to achieve such results, in addition to the above technical improvements to improve the production base and relax the requirements of the industrial chain, supporting technology, process maturity and operating system improvements also contributed to the company's achievements today. Li, the company's product director, said: "We have also been very difficult in the early stage, but in the appropriate time to seize the opportunity to enter the tablet market, but also because of the current product matching processes are more mature, so can quickly start." ”


: New scheme accelerates double core slab popularization


Tablet main control market another mainstream popular chips when the RK2918, this chip is also based on the CORTEX-A8 core, the maximum frequency of up to 1.2GHz, with 3D acceleration. Its predecessor product RK2818 has been a common solution for many domestic flat panels, and new products have improved in performance compared to the previous generation. By virtue of the excellent performance of video and game, good compatibility and high frequency, RK2918 since the listing last May, by the Blue Devils, Taiwan Power, cool than Rubik's Cube, the original road, Owen, Pu resistance Many manufacturers of all ages.


Core project performance is relatively stable, but the SOC integration does not A10 high, and the pricing and positioning is relatively high, compared to the current market many of the CORTEX-A8/A9 chip does not have any price advantage, but the company from the domestic plate started when the active follow-up, At the same time, depending on the previous and many MP4 manufacturers have been close cooperation, they also have a lot of customer resources, these early accumulation of the Swiss core is very beneficial.

Although
has such advantages, but Rui Core in the technology research and development, product upgrades on the slightest can not relax. Not long ago the company unveiled the next generation Low-cost Android tablet solution--rk30xx platform, based on 40nm LP technology, which includes dual-core arm CORTEX-A9 processors with a maximum frequency of 1.4GHz; Integrated arm Mali-400 MP four core GPU , with stronger graphics processing performance. In addition to reducing costs, the platform also supports common DDR3 and DDR2 memory in addition to the common LPDDR2 that support mobile applications.


, like all previous solutions, the new generation of products rk30xx also belong to the "nanny-style" solution, the company has the processor, display chip, baseband, IO and other major components are packaged, any tablet manufacturers can buy and then built in their own products, The part of the design has only a few components, such as a shell. In the second half of this year, dual-core control is undoubtedly the trend, with the introduction of core dual nuclear program, there will be many dual-core and Low-cost tablet computers in the market this year; Other domestic control makers are also sharpening in the dual-core sector, and their competition will speed up the popularity of domestic dual-core tablets, and further promote the development of low-end flat market. Crystal Morning: The leader of the a8/a9 era


At the beginning of last year, in the domestic tablet computer market set off a big wave of the main control chip is the AML8726-M, which is leading the local mainstream tablet into the a8/a9 era of an important program, the industry generally believe that its emergence of the domestic tablet computer out of low performance, low quality hats. The chip is based on the 65nm process, using the ARMV7 architecture of the CORTEX-A9 core, the frequency 800mhz,12 the middle of the month and launched an upgraded version of AML8726-M3.


aml8726-m3 early on the launch of the Android 4.0.3 system, is still cortex-a9 single core, the main frequency to upgrade to 1GHz, two-level cache to keep 128KB unchanged, ARM Mali-400 graphics core specifications to keep the 25m/250m unchanged, That is, the GPU frequency is unchanged. The video subsystem supports 1080P decoding, and the supporting functions extend past. However, the integration of the new scheme is higher, including audio DAC, LVDS screen control and other chips can be omitted, while supporting DDR3 memory, the additional integrated HDMI controller standard slightly upgraded. Overall performance, efficiency, slightly increased, the price is also lower, but in essence, the change is not big.


because the crystal morning positioning is also relatively high-end, with the customer is generally like patriots, Blue Devils, such as domestic more famous brand manufacturers, and even Sony, Philips and other international well-known manufacturers, the company is not too keen to sell the price is very low Later also because Rui Core RK2918 scheme and the A10 scheme performance is quite strong, by the market hot, crystal morning plan slowly squeezed. At present, the domestic tablet computer uses the Crystal morning aml8726-m3 the product of this scheme has been less and fewer, only has the sound Yue sinks, the intelligence device, the name and so on the brand several representative products.


Crystal morning hope that with the introduction of dual-core chip can be a breakthrough. March 21 this year, the company also announced the development of a model AML8726-MX dual-core A9 chip, said its highest frequency can reach 1.5GHz, in the GPU, the use of two arm Mali-400 core. With the current focus on a higher than the core RK30XX series of dual core chips, in the end who can capture the hearts of users and other relevant applications of the listed products can be seen. To be sure, whether in the single nuclear age or dual-core era, Crystal morning to promote the development of domestic tablet computer has played a positive role.


 


June: With the help of MIPS structure of flat market


Relative to many of the domestic arm structure of the main control manufacturers, June is the practice of maverick feeling, it is one of the few in the use of MIPS architecture of the main control manufacturers. Because the domestic chip manufacturers are very difficult to obtain from ARM company Architecture Authorization, no architecture authorization, only the kernel authorization of Qualcomm, Apple, Nvidia and other manufacturers to develop a strong and excellent products, in addition, only the kernel authorization also led to the product homogeneity of serious, profit space is very small. It is for this reason, June is abandoning the ARM architecture to the MIPS architecture, and got the MIPS architecture authorization, through the combination of MIPS and their own instruction set, the use of innovative pipeline structure to produce the Xburst series of CPUs. From June positive data shows that under the same process conditions, xburst power consumption is the arm CPU 1/3 to 1/4, performance is arm CPU 1.2 times times to 1.5 times times, size is its 1/2.


last December, June and MIPS jointly released the world's first Android 4.0 tablet, the tablet is the use of June is based on the Xburst series of CPU chip JZ4770, the chip with low power consumption and strong video decoding capabilities, To meet the many low-end smartphone and tablet computer CPU technology requirements. In the introduction of JZ4770 CPU chip, June is the latest generation of the main control chip JZ4780 also began research and development. According to the company's relevant responsible person, JZ4780 products or will adopt 40nm technology, is a dual-core CPU, the frequency is expected to reach 1.2~1.5ghz, is expected in June 2012, the introduction of the MIPS based JZ4780 dual-core samples, and will be in 9, October to the market. JZ4780 will be able to meet the demand for more mobile terminals, and June is hoping to use it to further open up the mobile product market.


but MIPS ecosystem and arm there is a certain gap, and MIPS and Android compatibility also become downstream manufacturers and consumers of concern, to the mobile market in the field of the user's affirmation and trust, or catch up with arm,mips still a long way to go, And June is a natural is also a long way. It is reported that the company has been active and domestic software developers to communicate, in the application has been with Tencent, Baidu, Sina, Sohu, Taobao and other domestic well-known Internet manufacturers to obtain cooperation in the application of the market also with Android, Android, Jifeng, application sinks, such as four major application market to obtain cooperation. The largest domestic download of the mainstream applications are compatible, including network video, translation, finance, social, photography, SNS, music, security and other applications of the download amount of the top 10 have been compatible with MIPS.


This year's low-end tablet computer market competition will be more and more intense, June is hoping to use the MIPS structure to find a way out of the road of differentiation. Compared with only the manufacturer authorized by the ARM kernel, MIPS ' architecture authorization gives you more opportunities to play and innovate, expecting the company's development to inject more vigor into the Chinese tablet industry.


 


Summary


China tablet computer after two years of industrial exploration, through the constant competition and improvement of many manufacturers as well as the continuous upgrading of the industrial chain and running-in, domestic control, supporting the strength of the manufacturers are increasing. Some people in the industry pointed out that the domestic plate market short board lies in the production chain low level, the technology immature and the supply chain matching flaw and so on, but he thinks that takes the A10 to represent the product the appearance to break through the SOC technology, the supporting technology, the production technology and so on the bottleneck, has laid the low-end product foundation, simultaneously also has Let the Chinese tablet have the possibility of take-off.


A10 can let the Chinese tablet market take off of course still has to be verified, but it is certain that with the main control chip, supporting technology and technology, operating system, the mature application technology, China's tablet market growth potential will be immeasurable. "When the user chooses the product, no longer too much attention to the hardware platform or to consider who is the main control (because the main control can be quite stable), is the Chinese flat market blowout period of the day." "said one programme integrator.