Four Major Panel Application Segments To Boom Along With 5G

Display devices for use in four major application areas will see great growth potential under 5G environments: AMOLED for smartphones, panels with higher refresh rates, large-size integrated automotive panels, and high resolution panels for AR/VR applications, according to industry observers.

The commercialization of 5G services will prompt handset brands to utilize high-end panels such as AMOLED to take the advantages of innovative technologies that 5G offers.

The growing availability of AMOLED panels will also encourage handset brands to adopting them, with prospects to see the ratio of AMOLED-based models to account for nearly 40% of total smartphone shipments in 2020.

In addition to Samsung Electronics and Apple, first-tier Chinese brands including Huawei, Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo are also keen on adopting AMOLED, pushing China-based panel makers to step up deployments in the segment.

While the coronavirus pandemic has weakened demand for handsets, 5G-enabled models with a price tag of about CNY2,000 (US$288) are likely to arrive in the market in the second half of 2020 spurring replacement demand.

Displays with higher refresh rates

Demand for monitors with higher refresh rates are poised for long-term growth along with the growing popularity of 5G networks that enable fast browsing, content streaming and playing games. In fact, gaming monitors with refresh rates of 144Hz, 180Hz and 240Hz are already available in the market.

According to market data, shipments of gaming monitors saw an annual growth of 57% to 8.5 million units in 2019, and are expected to reach 11-12 million units in 2020.

Meanwhile, smartphones that feature displays with higher refresh rates are also likely to become a mainstream spec in 2020.

Samsung’s newly released Galaxy S20 family products, which includes S20, S20 Plus and S20 Ultra, all feature an AMOLED display with a refresh rate of 120Hz. Meanwhile, displays of Xiaomi’s recently released Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro both come with a refresh rate of 90Hz.

The high transmission speed of 5G will also give a boost to the development of the gaming titles, including those for PCs and handsets. Therefore, many panel makers are developing notebook panels with a refresh rate ranging from 120Hz to 240Hz, and so far shipments of gaming notebooks having a refresh rate of over 120Hz have accounted for 30% of total gaming notebook shipments.

Integrated, large-size automotive panels

Prospects of automotive panels are bullish as the high-speed transmission and low latency of 5G will enable related applications from V2V, V2I (vehicle to infrastructure), V2P (vehicle to person) and V2X (vehicle to everything).

Sony has teamed up with Magna Steyr to unveil a concept prototype, dubbed Vision S, which features an integrated front display to replace traditional dashboards. The display is equipped with 33 sensors.

Byton highlighted a 48-inch integrated automotive panel at CES 2020, as it did at Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung (IAA) 2019. The display comes with a flexible OLED panel with a resolution of 3,840 by 720 pixels and a brightness of 1,000 nit.

Corning has its AutoGrade Gorilla Glass, a tempered glass designed for automotive environments and can be seamlessly fitted on curved automotive displays.

Leveraging on 5G technologies, VR/AR devices will make breakthroughs in terms of immersive display, rendering processing, content production, network transmission, and perceptual interaction, thereby enabling related device suppliers to enrich their product portfolios and applications.

For example, HTC has expanded its Vive Cosmos VR headset lineup with multiple new variants, including HTC Vive Cosmos Elite, Cosmos XR, and Cosmos Play, as well as new front-end modular faceplates for the headsets for performance and specification upgrades.

Oculus has also launched its next generation Rift S VR headset, featuring improved resolutions and widened view angles. Meanwhile, Finland-based Varjo has launched VR headsets featuring Retina-quality displays that the company has claimed to be able to reach a resolution higher than that generated through software rendering.

―Digitimes