Modular TV: Honey or Bullet?

Split TV and modular TV were originally an exploration of the form of TV, but now they have become a widely discussed topic.

But in just three months, three powerful manufacturers, Pengbo, Changhong and Haier, successively released modular TVs. With the intervention of Alibaba, which owns YunOS, it seems that Internet TV has become a technological product inspired by the concept of modularity and is about to make a leap forward.

Sent out a piece of honey

With the development of global technology, the effect of "Moore's Law" in the television industry has become increasingly obvious. The replacement cycle of televisions has been shortened from 4 to 5 years to 1 to 6 months.

The living room entertainment industry generated by smart TVs is also heating up, with functions such as high-definition video, video games, shopping, and karaoke, giving birth to a huge industry chain. Software developers hope to make TVs into "performance monsters" like mobile phones and PCs to meet consumers' growing entertainment needs.

However, for users, the replacement cost of TV is relatively high, and it is impossible to replace the whole TV at any time, and software upgrades cannot meet users' demand for new functions. Traditional smart TVs have built-in and closed core hardware, which greatly increases the cost of users' experience with new technologies.

TV upgrades are difficult, and these software products can only be reduced to "paper talk", and users will always be separated from them by a processor. The emergence of the low-cost modular concept is undoubtedly a sweet treat for consumers and developers.

Taking the newly released Haier Ali II generation TV as an example, it directly drags the Amlogic T866 1.5GHz quad-core processor and Mail450 octa-core graphics processor, plus a 64G hard drive and the core system YunOS, directly into the module to achieve the separation of the TV's machine and screen.

Users can purchase modules with different performances according to their personal needs to achieve personal customization of the TV. According to Haier staff, Haier will always retain this upgrade interface for the same series of products in the future, making modular customization a long-term strategy.

Fired a bullet

Facing the increasingly popular modular concept, Duan Youqiao, senior vice president of iQiyi, once said, "TV manufacturers are currently facing a protracted Internet movement. Whether it is active innovation or passive revolution, it has created a very good market atmosphere for modular TVs. The time is almost ripe, and modular TVs will bring subversive opportunities to those manufacturers who are the first to try it."

In the Haier Ali II generation TV, according to "convention", Haier should be responsible for hardware development and Ali should provide software ecosystem support. However, it is understood that Ali undertook most of the development work of the TV upgrade module this time. At present, the outside world is more inclined to compare the upgrade module in the split TV to a TV box. If this concept is understood, then Ali, whose market share in the box market is gradually increasing, can be said to have fully utilized his expertise.

For Internet companies, it is impossible to develop TV hardware business on a large scale like traditional TV manufacturers, so after TV boxes, TV upgrade modules may be another shortcut for them to enter the user's living room. In this cooperation model, traditional manufacturers can give full play to their hardware advantages in screens, while Internet manufacturers provide more feverish configurations and gameplay with Internet genes.

But at present, modular TV is more like a strategic concept. Will all Internet companies follow the Alibaba Haier model in the future?

On the same day, Xiaomi also released a new generation of flagship TVs. Facing the trend of split TVs, Xiaomi co-founder Wang Chuan said meaningfully, "Everything is possible," indicating that Xiaomi does not rule out the possibility of modularizing TVs in the future.

Will the modular concept once again disrupt the TV industry in the future? It is too early to draw a conclusion, but the small upgrade module has already hit the pain point of users complaining about the difficulty of TV upgrades like a bullet.

In the near future, Skyworth, Hisense and LeTV will all release new TVs, and another Internet giant, Tencent, is also eager to try. The road to Internet-based television is still full of imagination.

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.