After so many years of talking about large-screen OLED, are they all safe now?

The competition in China's television display technology is no less intense than that in the Internet, and has reached a white-hot stage. The rising OLED, with its self-luminous advantage, has attracted a large number of domestic and foreign color TV manufacturers and is hailed as the inevitable trend of future display technology.

However, due to the impact of the yield rate, the development is still not satisfactory. In order to break this deadlock, Hisense launched ULED TV in a high-profile manner, proposed the picture quality goals of "high dynamic range, high color gamut, high definition, and high motion smoothness", and laid out laser TV to break the constraints of large-size display.

It sparked a war of words, with some people standing in support, while others thought it was "throwing an egg against a rock."

It has to be admitted that ULED TV has greatly improved its high contrast, high color gamut, high definition and faster speed through system software and hardware optimization, but can it stand the test of the market? Is ULED a gimmick, or will it finally overtake others and become the dominant display technology?

OLED makes a lot of noise, but makes little splash

Whether there is any material depends directly on the market reaction. If the technology that is boasted to be of great quality cannot stand the test of the market and is not recognized by consumers, it is doomed to be eliminated by the market.

The golden promotional season of September and October is inevitably filled with competition among major brand manufacturers, and behind it is precisely the competition between OLED and ULED.

According to data from iiMedia Research, during the National Day holiday, ULED accounted for a high proportion of sales, especially in the high-end market. There are many brand manufacturers in the OLED camp, and they all launched large-scale promotions. The momentum has been achieved, but the sales are not satisfactory and there is still a gap compared with ULED.

During the Golden Week, Hisense ULED TV sales reached 17,035 units, up 71.5% year-on-year, while the overall sales of OLED camp was 4,967 units, which was a growth of more than 200%, but less than 1/3 of Hisense ULED sales.

Currently, 55 inches is the best-selling size segment in the market in recent years. The performance in the 55-inch and above large-size market reflects the current strength of color TV brands and also largely determines the future trend of the competitive landscape.

In terms of 55-inch color TV sales, Hisense has a market share of 19.8%, far ahead of other manufacturers. In the 55-inch market, OLED TV sales account for only 2.18%, while ULED TV sales account for 6.06%.

In other words, ULED TVs have firmly grasped the share of the mainstream market. Hisense has once again defended its position as the dominant domestic color TV manufacturer with its sales volume and sales revenue, firmly establishing itself as the top domestic color TV manufacturer.

OLED large screen has obvious weaknesses

OLED is the abbreviation of Organic Light-Emitting Diode, a self-luminous television technology with pixels that does not rely on a backlight. OLED is an organic material that actively emits light under electrical stimulation, producing the three primary colors of RGB, which are combined into colors. Due to the self-luminous characteristics, the color is theoretically better than that of ordinary LCD TVs.

In fact, the OLED TVs on the market are mass-produced by preparing white light OLEDs, rather than actively emitting light from the three primary colors. There are problems such as reduced color, increased energy consumption, and high prices. The complex process leads to extremely low yield rates, which is also a point that current OLED manufacturers are reluctant to mention.

Although OLED has not been satisfactory on large screens, it is very eye-catching on small screens. In the past two years, fields such as mobile phones, notebooks and smart watches have begun to scramble for OLED resources.

Since these consumer electronic products have a high update rate and small screen size, lifespan, yield rate and stability are not a problem. OLED with bright colors and curved screen has become one of the biggest selling points of these products.

High cost and low production capacity have become the pain points of OLED

Insufficient production capacity has always been the core reason why OLED TVs cannot be quickly popularized in the market, although the supply of small-screen OLED screens such as mobile phones and tablets is already very mature.

However, the supply of large-screen OLEDs has been hovering around the million level. For example, LGD, a major supplier of OLED TV panels, had a production capacity of 1.5 million to 1.8 million pieces in 2017, and is expected to expand to 3 million pieces in 2018. However, this production capacity is only more than 200 million units, a tiny fraction of the global color TV market size.

At the same time, the global large-screen OLED panel manufacturing and supply rely on LG Display. Other companies have not yet formed large-scale actual production capabilities, forming a certain technological monopoly.

Domestic panel giant BOE has also teamed up with Skyworth to launch safe and independent OLED TVs, but has not mass-produced its OLED large-screen panels. If OLED is the future of display technology, it is still a long way to go to completely replace traditional LCD large-screen panels. Price, production capacity, and service life are all obstacles to the development of OLED TVs.

On the other hand, "ULED" came out of nowhere. Although ULED and OLED only differ by one letter, they are two different things.

The U here stands for Ultra. This display quality technology launched by Hisense is mainly aimed at LCD TVs and electronic medical devices. It uses multi-zone independent backlight control and Hiview picture engine technology, which has greatly improved the color gamut, contrast, response speed and other aspects of the picture compared to traditional LED displays.

A research report from Southeast University shows that ULED is significantly better than OLED in five key indicators, including peak brightness, dynamic contrast, color gamut coverage, and power consumption. Its performance in black field brightness, horizontal and vertical pixel numbers is comparable to that of OLED.

It can be said that the innovation of ULED backlight technology and image algorithms, coupled with the application of new LCD display technologies such as quantum dots and 4K, have eliminated the advantages of OLED in dynamic contrast and color performance, which it is best at.

High-definition LCD display technology represented by ULED still has room for development. Under limited power, the maximum peak brightness of ULED can reach more than 1000nits, which can achieve a larger HDR range, higher dynamic contrast of the image, and more realistic and clear reproduction of display content.

Aiming at OLED and planning laser TV

After ten years of development, laser TV has been hailed as the fourth generation of display technology that surpasses CRT, LCD, and LED TVs.

With its ultra-large screen, it may become the best choice for consumers in large living rooms in the future. Laser TV consists of three parts: screen, host, and speakers. The screen acts like a curtain and does not require power.

Compared with ordinary projection TVs, Hisense laser TVs can also provide clear images in bright environments. The ultra-short-throw 4K laser TV using the DLP solution has a similar imaging principle to that of a cinema, so the viewing effect will be more shocking when paired with a large screen.

Compared with LCD TVs, laser TVs have a greater cost advantage in the large-screen market. For laser TVs, the change in screen size is just the increase or decrease of the screen, and in terms of raw materials, this has little impact on costs.

But if the screen of an LCD TV is increased by one inch, the manufacturer will have to develop a new production line, and the investment cost will be calculated in billions.

It's not just Hisense. Traditional domestic color TV brands such as Changhong, Konka, and TCL have either already joined or are interested in entering the laser TV field.

Relying on the design of the core technology of the optical engine of laser TV, Hisense has attracted many domestic manufacturers to cooperate with it. Hisense laser TV has gone from being a lone standout to a new generation of display technology camp that many brands have joined.

For consumers who want to choose a large-screen TV of 65 inches or above, Hisense Laser TV has an irresistible temptation.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.