Another giant enters the foldable mobile phone market! Still the biggest one.
A few days ago, some media reported that Apple, the world's most profitable mobile phone manufacturer, is testing the folding screen iPhone.
01
Apple advances to the "foldable" mobile phone track
There have been rumors about Apple's "foldable" phones for many years.
According to media reports, Apple filed a patent called "Electronic Device with Flexible Display" as early as June 8, 2016. The patent includes a transparent display with a "hinge" link in the middle similar to that used in most foldable phones today. Apple’s patent has taken into account the damage of the “hinge” to the screen and discussed “elastic materials, fluids and other materials”; Apple also filed another patent for a foldable screen mobile phone in June 2016. Similar to Samsung's already released "cosmetic box" flip-top folding screen mobile phone. In the patent, Apple mentioned that the phone uses nickel-titanium alloy as the frame, and described multiple application scenarios. One is the folded form of the device, the screen is wrapped, and the device size becomes half of the original. One is that the device can be displayed on the 12 screen after being folded.
In each subsequent year, there have been media reports that Apple will produce "foldable" mobile phones. In 2019, after Samsung, Huawei and other mobile phone brands successively launched foldable mobile phones, Japanese media reported that Apple had begun preparations for foldable mobile phone projects. According to reports, in addition to testing the foldable iPhone, Apple also tested the foldable iPad.
The latest report shows that Apple has asked its suppliers to send samples of the corresponding parts of the foldable iPhone for testing and hand them over to Foxconn to integrate them into a complete testing machine. According to reports, Apple has asked its long-term suppliers Foxconn and Nippon Nippon to send samples of foldable screens. In addition to the screen, Apple also requires the supplier to test the hinge, which has been tested and folded more than 1 million times during its life cycle. The report also pointed out that Apple's foldable screen may be provided by Samsung, and Nippon Nippon may manufacture hinges for the first foldable iPhone, and Foxconn will be responsible for assembly.
Judging from recent reports, the information that Apple is making foldable screen products should not go away, but the specific launch time of the product may not be determined yet.
02
Apple enters behind the "foldable" mobile phone track
After Huawei, Samsung, Rouyu, Motorola and other manufacturers have successively launched foldable screen products, Xi Ge was not surprised that Apple entered foldable phones.
On October 31, 2018, Royole Technology held the 2018 Global New Product Launch Conference at the Beijing National Convention Center and released the first foldable flexible screen mobile phone-FlexPai ("SoftPai") to the world. The first generation of FlexPai relies on Royole Technology's completely independent research and development and is the world's first fully flexible display-Royole "Cicada Wing" flexible screen 2nd generation + original multi-axis linkage precision hinge + customized WaterOS operating system.
Subsequently, Samsung, Moto and Huawei also released their own folding screen products, and folding screen phones entered the public's field of vision as a "new species". Whether it is Rouyu, the first foldable mobile phone, or the foldable mobile phones of Huawei and Samsung, they have received great attention after their release.
Take Huawei Mate X 5G as an example. It was sold out in less than a second after it was launched for the first time. After the sale was launched again, it was still popular-"second light", and consumer enthusiasm for the third and fourth sales continued. Brother Xi still remembers the grand occasion when Huawei Mate X 5G was first released. On the day of the sale on November 15th, many people on the Xianyu platform have already asked for the Huawei Mate X 5G with an "increased price of 20,000". And then on Taobao and other platforms, more sellers will get the Mate X for a high price of 60,000 or even 80,000 yuan.
Two years later, Royole, Samsung and other manufacturers launched more mature second-generation products. Compared with the first-generation product, the upgraded second-generation foldable mobile phone is more mature and more popular with consumers. Take Rouyu FlexPai 2 as an example. The third-generation cicada wing folding screen used in it has a minimum bending radius of 1mm and a mirror-like flatness. The brightness is 1.5 times higher than that of the second-generation, and the response speed reaches 0.4ms. The second generation is 1.2 times higher, and the contrast ratio is 5 times higher than the second generation. Low color shift is 1.5 times better than competing products, and brightness attenuation optimization is 3.5 times better than competing products. In terms of hinges, FlexPai 2 uses the original Royole3S™ fully closed linear shaft with 211 patents, which can support 0°-180° during bending It can hover freely at any angle and realize the perfect integration of the screen and the hinge, and the thickness is reduced by nearly 40% compared with the previous generation product.
After more than two years of iteration in the industry, foldable screen phones have become increasingly mature.
Xi Ge believes that this media report on Apple's test of a foldable screen phone is very credible information. The reason why Apple has not joined the foldable screen mobile phone track is that it has its own judgment on the technology, such as the maturity of the technology, its reliability, and its impact on the industry. With the hard work of manufacturers such as Rouyu, Huawei, and Samsung, the industry has matured in technology and supporting facilities for foldable screen phones. The market has gone through the initial education perspective, and it is time for Apple to enter at this time.
In a word, Apple has completed its observation of the foldable screen mobile phone market and is ready to enter the cake.
03
Apple's entry into the "foldable" mobile phone track is good for Samsung, Rouyu and other manufacturers
Xi Ge believes that Apple's entry into the foldable screen mobile phone track will greatly accelerate the popularization of foldable mobile phones and "flexible screen" devices. This is good for the electronics market.
Although Apple's mobile phone has appeared weak under the siege of mobile phone manufacturers such as Huawei, vivo, OPPO, and Xiaomi in recent years, it is only more obvious in the domestic market. In the European and American markets, Apple is still a well-deserved big name in the mobile phone digital industry, with a strong appeal.
Xi Ge believes that once Apple releases its own foldable screen mobile phone, it will detonate the flexible screen market and push flexible electronic devices to a new level. At that time, the fans will be able to update more cool equipment.
Obviously, the large-scale production of Apple's foldable screen mobile phones, PAD and other devices will certainly promote the large-scale development of many flexible electronic devices including flexible screens and flexible batteries. Under the leading effect of Apple, mainstream mobile phone manufacturers such as Huawei, Samsung, Motorola, vivo, OPPO, and Xiaomi will inevitably follow up. By then, the industry's demand for flexible electronic devices such as flexible screens will rise to a higher level.
Therefore, Apple's foldable screen mobile phone means welfare to consumers, which means that there are more cool equipment to update, but for Samsung, Rouyu, Shenzhen Tianma, Huaxing Optoelectronics, BOE, Visionox and other flexible screen production It is a big opportunity for manufacturers, especially Samsung and Rouyu, which master the core technology of flexible screens.
There are two main types of current flexible screen technology, one is the LTPS low-temperature polysilicon technology led by Samsung, and the other is the ULT-NSSP ultra-low temperature non-silicon process integration technology created by Rouyu. These two technologies are not the same in materials, production processes, device structures, circuit design, and product design systems.
The advantage of LTPS low-temperature polysilicon technology is that it can make the panel's response speed faster, the thin film circuit area is smaller, and the resolution is higher. It is a relatively mature technology. However, LTPS also has problems such as high bending reliability and manufacturing cost of the screen; Compared with LTPS, Rouyu's original ULT-NSSP ultra-low temperature non-silicon process integration technology avoids the short board of silicon flexible bending reliability and manufacturing cost. , Material selection is more flexible. In addition, Rouyu's ultra-low temperature non-silicon process integration technology (ULT-NSSP) makes the process temperature of the entire screen lower, the process flow is simplified, and it also brings the entire production line, the reduction of equipment costs, the improvement of yield and the reduction of screen costs.
Xi Ge believes that with the entry of Apple, the competition among flexible screen manufacturers will become more intense. In the future, more advanced technology, lower costs, and who can better adapt to large-scale applications will be the key factors for winning the competition.
But in any case, Apple's entry is a big plus for Samsung, Rouyu and other manufacturers.