Wen|She Kaiwen
Source | Intelligent Relativity (aixdlun)
On August 11th, Xiaomi’s tenth anniversary, after Lei Jun’s three-hour "One Going Forward" speech, "Go ahead and do it!" fully embodied the "spirit" of Xiaomi.
Xiaomi, which adheres to the principle of "do it if you refuse to accept", has indeed "never been afraid". From the "doing" of the smart phone business to the full-scene AIoT of home appliances, Xiaomi can set off a big storm wherever it goes.
At the end of Lei Jun’s speech last night, he also did not forget to bring some surprises to the market. The “world’s first mass-produced transparent OLED TV” really attracted attention, especially when the current TV product prices collectively “diving”, the market size was further compressed At that time, the price was 49,999 yuan, which also set the record for the most expensive item in Xiaomi's history.
Fortunately, the market is also pretty face-saving. According to the official website, the new product was sold out that night. This is in sharp contrast with the overall TV industry in the first half of this year. TV products have already entered the "stock era". Especially this year, the overall environment is not good. Xiaomi does represent many similar players, and is constantly adopting technological innovation or The way to open up market segments quickly go out.
In short, the TV industry has entered a new stage of "internal heat".
The "OQ" dispute is no longer the only one, MiniLED breaks through
Judging from the competition in the television industry over the past two years, the "OQ battle" has always been the main theme. Even with the intervention of Internet brands in the middle, it still has not been able to greatly shake the market dominance of the "OQ" brands.
However, there have been some changes in the situation this year. A third or even fourth party has emerged in addition to the traditional "OQ", such as "Mini LED". Mini LED, also known as "sub-millimeter light-emitting diode", refers to an LED with a grain size of about 50-200μm, and its grain size and dot pitch are between the traditional small-pitch LEDs and Micro LEDs. It has the advantages of high dynamic range, high color saturation, long life and power saving brought by backlight display.
Beginning last year, giants such as Apple, TCL, Hisense, Innolux, AUO, BOE and other giants have launched Mini LED backlight or similar technology TVs, monitors, VR and vehicle displays and other terminal products.
This also makes some original "OQ" players ready to move. The fastest action is TCL, which launched 65-inch and 75-inch Mini LED backlight TVs last year.
In recent years, Samsung has also switched from the LCD panel business to quantum dots, Mini LED and other technologies. It is expected to launch Mini LED TVs as soon as next year and seek to ship 3 million units.
Of course, the traditional "OQ" battlefield is not idle. In the OLED field, in the first half of the year, Huawei first launched the flagship new Huawei Smart Screen X65 equipped with OLED screens. Not long ago, Xiaomi also launched a new high-end OLED TV master series, and The transparent OLED TV just launched. The OLED camp has added "two heroes", and the number of players in the OLED camp has risen to 19.
It is obvious that Huawei and Xiaomi can bring OLED "traffic" and strengthen the market's direct recognition of OLED products. However, due to the influence of the black swan in the first half of this year, this performance is not outstanding.
According to AVC data, the size of the OLED TV market in the first half of this year has declined compared with the same period last year, accounting for only 0.3% of the market. After several years of development, the volume of OLED in the domestic market has not exploded, except for the general environmental factors this year. OLED products have been unable to get out of the high price range, which is the main problem.
For example, Xiaomi’s recently launched 4K OLED TV is priced at 12,999 yuan, the latest transparent TV is also priced at 49,999 yuan, the Huawei X65 also costs 24,999 yuan, and the same size LCD TV is only about 3,000 thousand yuan, even as a direct competition Rival QLED products such as TCL and Samsung’s 65-inch 4K are only priced at around 5,000-6,000 yuan. Obviously, the high-end OLED route is not easy to follow.
In terms of QLED, Samsung’s QDOLED technology is also waiting to be implemented. QDOLED combines quantum dot technology with OLED technology. It has better brightness and color performance and lower power consumption. At the same time, it solves the life problem of traditional OLED screens. Specific products It is also expected to achieve mass production next year.
At this stage, the overall home appliance market is in a period of adjustment. Although the TV industry seems to be "lively" at present, the actions of all parties have failed to bring substantial increases in product sales. New technologies and other related development directions are Trends also take time.
The industry re-enters the price war, laser TV becomes a bright spot
Under the pressure of the market, survival is still the biggest problem for TV companies. Price competition has existed in the industry for many years. Related issues were eased last year. For example, the intervention of related policies in TV advertising and the successive deployment of high-end brands by major brands seems to have made the color TV market emerge from the price war. The arrival of the black swan has disappeared, and the trend of industry price wars has become more obvious this year.
According to AVC data, in order to cope with the unprecedented survival war, brands without exception have started a new round of price wars. In the first half of 2020, the average prices of key sizes and major brands in China’s color TV market have increased significantly compared to the same period last year. Fell.
Year-on-year change in the average price of H1 key sizes in 2020
Data source: AVC
Year-on-year change in average price of major H1 brands in 2020
Data source: AVC
It can be seen that the more high-end 70-inch and 75-inch products in the high-end area, the more intense the price drop, and major brands are undoubtedly trying to stimulate the purchase of existing users through the price reduction of high-end products.
Even "new products" are hard to escape. For example, TCL launched 65-inch and 75-inch Mini LED backlight TVs last year, and adjusted its price strategy this year, reducing 65-inch products from US$1999 to US$999, and 75-inch products from US$2999. To 1799 dollars, hoping to sprint shipments.
In terms of brands, in addition to Sony's basically maintaining a consistent price strategy, the price reductions of other mainstream brands are basically close to 10%, and Changhong has reached 27.4%. The severe situation is clear at a glance. Of course, it is no longer new for the TV industry to enter "price wars". According to statistics, in the 30 years of rapid development of the TV industry, there have been no less than 20 large and small "price wars".
However, there are exceptions to this. In the first half of 2020, laser TVs will grow by 80.3% against the trend. In the context of the overall decline in the industry, laser TVs have become the only TV category with positive growth.
Among them, Hisense, as one of the few well-known brands of laser TVs in the market, has also gained fruitful results. Relevant data shows that in the first half of 2020, Hisense brand TV overseas shipments have increased by 52%, and overseas markets have repeatedly set new highs.
Industry insiders believe that the reason why laser TVs can reverse growth is because they have just stepped on the steps of the transformation and upgrading of display technology and the explosive growth of the large-screen market under the epidemic.
It can be seen that the key to stabilizing the market lies in the technical level. The competition in the TV market has already become a competition on the technical level. This is the reason why major brands are tirelessly promoting product innovation. As before, Konka has said that only through the resonance of technology and talents can the siege of price war be broken.
Not long ago, the National Standards Committee officially released the newly revised mandatory national standards for "Limited Values and Energy Efficiency Ratings for Flat-panel TVs and Set-Top Boxes." This standard raises the energy efficiency evaluation indicators and energy efficiency rating requirements for 4K and below flat-panel TVs, and adds four or five energy efficiency indicators for 8K and OLED TVs. While further standardizing industry access, it is also a reminder for brands.
Obviously, the protagonist of the market will continue to revolve around "8K". As for whether 8K is going to "run blindly" again, it needs to undergo further testing by the market.
"Technical leverage", the next focus of the industry?
For most companies and industries, they will face a choice, that is, to choose "price" or "value", which is equivalent to choosing "now" or "future".
If you choose "price" there is not enough "value" to support "can't run far"; choose "value" lacks real hematopoietic ability and "can't run".
The TV industry also has this embarrassment, but there are not too many distresses in the choice. From the perspective of brand actions, "value" seems to be more concerned about them. The big market in the first half of this year turned out to be an opportunity to force corporate reforms. Since it's not easy to get through, then just move on.
In addition to Samsung’s entry into Mini LED and its gains on QDOLED, at the CES2020 exhibition at the beginning of this year, Samsung also revealed to the outside world that it plans to mass-produce Micro LED TVs this year, but there is no further news.
As the "boss" of the OLED camp, LG will certainly not sit still. According to foreign media reports, LG Display is also preparing to produce Mirco LED displays, and the first commercial Mirco LED TV is about to be launched. It is quite obvious to compete with Samsung. .
Of course, it is not only Korean brands that have made a difference in display technology. Konka, the "big brother" of domestic TVs, has also shown considerable ambitions. Not only has it successfully developed 8K TV image processing chips, but its embedded storage main control chip has already To achieve mass production, the self-developed Micro LED and Mini LED TVs appeared earlier than most rivals.
Konka has the fastest insight into the market among domestic brands. It was able to launch Micro LED and Mini LED products before Samsung, LG and other big names last year, and followed Huawei to launch the "Future Screen" products with a sense of technology. All show that Konka stands firmly in front of the new opportunities brought by technology.
And with the breakthrough and application of cutting-edge key technologies, Konka is already using "technical leverage" to leverage the market. Not long ago, Konka jumped to the 186th place on the Fortune China 500 list, and climbed 10 places year-on-year. The contribution of technical strength is not small.
Returning to the industry, it is obvious that Samsung, LG, or Konka are doing "value digging" in display technology, and they are also grabbing "the dominance of display technology in the future color TV market."
In the market, there is another type of players who are also concerned about "value expansion" as they advance in technology.
Like TCL, which has fully turned to commercial use since the beginning of the year, "commercial display" has become their main direction. They are deploying in education, business, smart city and other fields, all hoping to create more value for their products.
Hisense is also actively seeking expansion. At the second international display expo in Shanghai 2020 at the end of July, Hisense "leaped out" of the TV circle. In addition to successively releasing the industry’s first touch-sensitive education screen product and the first to support cloud gaming in Europe The customized version of the U7 TV is a high-profile entry into the e-sports display track, launching the first Hard-line e-sports display.
TV brands have deepened their efforts in education, commerce, games and other subdivisions. On the one hand, it represents that industry players have seen a broader consumer market through display technology. On the other hand, it is also a microcosm of the current background of the entire industry. After all, "If you can do well, who wants to get out of the comfort zone?"
The most important point is that "old guys" like TCL and Hisense can only see more young users by penetrating into new areas and making themselves more brilliant. So there is a new problem. The impact of Internet brands and the technological advantages of the "old guys" can still support their value?
to sum up
All in all, whether it is "blindfolded running" or not is known only when you ran out. The demand for TV product upgrades in the current market is becoming more and more obvious. Coupled with the maturity of AIoT, the "value space" of TV products is still expected.
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