VR, AR headset sales to burst Micro led first to promote industrialization

LED spacing is reduced

In the consumer electronics industry, Apple is often described as the "wind vane" of the industry, not only because of its large shipments and its role in driving the industry chain, but also because of its strict quality requirements. Once a certain component is used in large quantities for a long time, it means that the related industry has reached a certain level of maturity. One of the reasons why Micro LED has attracted so much attention is that Apple has made early plans for it. In 2014, Apple invested in LuxVue, a company that develops Micro LED technology. In recent years, there have been many reports of Apple building test lines or trial production.

Consumer electronics manufacturers usually purchase LCD and OLED with more mature technology from panel manufacturers, and rarely get involved in the research and development of display technology. The difference is that Micro LED display solutions are in the early stages of technology development, and because key technologies are dispersed in multiple links, the industry chain is relatively scattered. Objectively, consumer electronics manufacturers have opportunities to participate in technology research and development and industry chain integration.

Micro LED display also has its own characteristics. Micro LED display also has its own characteristics. LED is a miniaturized and matrixed LED. The original backlight scheme of LCD will illuminate some areas that should be black, but when the LED lamp beads of the backlight are miniaturized and precisely controlled, the contrast between light and dark can be made more obvious. Self-illuminating OLED can also solve the problem of lighting up in dark places, but as an organic substance, its lifespan and stability have shortcomings. LED brightness, contrast, and color gamut performance are superior among several major display technology routes, and they have lower power consumption. Apple MR has a battery life of only 2 hours. This is partly due to the high energy consumption of Micro OLED. Head displays equipped with Micro LED are expected to have longer battery life.

In addition to terminal manufacturer Apple, which is interested in layout, the domestic display industry chain also has considerable expectations for Micro LED. Micro LED display solutions consist of Micro LED backlights and LCD screens, both of which have industrial foundations in China. China is the world's largest country in LCD production capacity. A research report released by Donghai Securities in May showed that domestic LCD production capacity accounts for more than 60% of the world. Li Mantie told reporters that the global LED display industry chain 80% is also located in China. The domestic led industry is developing to a small pitch. 20 years ago, the led pitch used outdoors was about 25 mm. Now the pitch can be shortened to 0.4 mm.

Micro LEDs have replaced LCD and OLED in some scenarios. Li Mantie said that LCD and OLED are limited by size, up to about 100 inches, and laser projection can reach more than 100 inches, but the display effect can be displayed in bright environments.The Micro led can make up for the fact that the LCD and OLED cannot be seamlessly spliced into a large screen, and the 8K display effect has been achieved in the case of the family viewing from a distance of two or three meters. Large-size displays require less led spacing than AR and VR, which is one of the reasons why Micro led is the first batch application in the large-size field. Another big scenario is smaller sizes, including head-mounted glasses for applications such as VR, where this near-eye display is more demanding for clarity. It is expected that more Micro LEDs will be used in head-mounted glasses such as VR in 2-3 years. < p style = 'box-sizing: border-box; image-rendering: -webkit-optimize-contrast; color: rgb (20, 20, 20); font-family: "PingFang SC", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, "Hiragino Sans GB", "Microsoft YaHei", "WenQuanYi Micro Hei", sans-serif; font-size: 18px; text-align: justify;'>Promote small screen applications

Not only does Apple MR not adopt the Micro LED display solution, but the time for Apple Watch to apply this display solution may also be delayed. The market had previously expected that Apple Watch would use Micro LED next year, but then, including Tianfeng Securities analyst Guo Ming???Analysts at several research institutions, including Apple Watch, have judged that the application of the technology may be delayed until 2025 or 2026.

Micro led technology encounters bottlenecks in small screen applications. The clarity of the small screen is high, and the number of LED lamp beads has shrunk and increased, so that the number of chips required has soared, resulting in a huge transfer of chips. In addition, reporters in the industry have learned that there are also challenges in chip performance and substrate technology.As chips shrink, the industry is exploring the use of glass substrates.

CINNO Research senior analyst Liu Yushi told reporters that glass-based Micro LED not only has higher brightness, but also has a lifespan that is much longer than OLED, but for a long time, cost and yield will plague its terminal applications. Glass-based Micro LED wearable products need to wait for further cost reductions. The glass substrate route includes AM (active) drive and PM (passive) drive. Industry insiders told reporters that some panel manufacturers that originally invested in a large amount of AM TFT glass-based equipment hope to continue to use these equipment, but currently encounter some problems, including power consumption, drive current, etc.

Silicon-based Micro applications also have challenges. "Small-size silicon-based Micro LED can achieve high brightness far beyond Micro OLED, can adapt to the needs of diffraction light waveguides, and the opto-mechanical module is smaller in size and simple in structure. Its AR consumer product form is closer to ordinary glasses. Silicon-based Micro LED has achieved small-scale AR products on the market." Liu Yushi said, but due to comprehensive considerations such as cost and yield in the early stage, the resolution of mainstream silicon-based Micro LED products is only 640×480, which is not as good as Micro OLED can easily reach 1080p resolution, it will be difficult to better support the image display function in the short term. Generally speaking, Micro LED has made slow progress in entering small-size consumer products, and the bottleneck mainly lies in the balance between cost and display effect.

As an investor, the reporter called the Securities Affairs Department of Nationstar Optoelectronics and learned that the company has laid out Mini LED and Micro LED production lines, but the output is not large. The demand for Micro LED is based on the market's small orders.Single-based production accounts for less than 1% of the total. Compared with the cost-effective Mini LED 1010 product, the cost of Micro LED may be hundreds of times higher. "Micro LED is mainly a leader in research and development. If market demand arises, we can start production quickly." said the relevant person in charge of the Securities Affairs Department of Nationstar Optoelectronics.

Potential application scenarios such as AR and VR are waiting for Micro LED technology to mature, while costs are falling, the Micro LED industry is also waiting for the market demand for such end products to rise, drive mass production, and reduce costs through economies of scale. According to data from market research firm IDC, global VR/AR headset sales fell 44.6% year-on-year in the second quarter of this year, with 8.5 million units expected to be shipped this year. Driven by new hardware such as Apple’s Vision Pro, AR/VR sales are expected to increase 46.8% year-on-year in 2024, and sales are expected to reach 30.3 million units by 2027.

Recently, the Micro led industry has been accelerating its layout. Deep Sky Horse revealed at the end of November that the company's Micro led production line is expected to officially light up next year and is expected to have a small-volume production climb in 2025 and 2026. Guoxing Optoelectronics previously developed a 0.39 -inch single-green Micro led microdisplay. On December 6, it was announced that the 1.84 -inch Micro led full-color display nStar Ⅲ in a glass-based package has also been lit, which is expected to be applied in the field of smart wear. On the same day, Xi 'an Safrax Semiconductor Technology Co., Ltd. also announced the first silicon-based Micro led microdisplay production line through which can be applied to AR glasses.