Smartphone Cover Lens Market Expands Nearly 14 Percent In 2019

Posted by IHS Markit

Global shipments of touch panel cover lenses, including front- and rear-cover lenses for mobile phones, are expected to reach 2.4 billion units in 2019, up 13.9 percent from 2.1 billion in 2018. The solid growth will continue during the next two years, with an annual increase of 11.4 percent in 2020 and 7.3 percent in 2021, according to the latest Touch Panel Cover Lens & CPI Report by IHS Markit.

Glass still dominates mobile phone market

Glass, including soda lime and aluminosilicate glass, still dominates the mobile phone cover market. In order to support wireless charging and 5G networks, smartphone brands since late 2017 have returned to using glass for rear covers as the material avoids signal shielding. While the 2.5D and 3D types of cover glass now represent the mainstream for smartphone front- and rear-covers in mobile phones, 3.5D cover glass remains under development.

The 3.5D cover glass, an advanced form of the 3D glass, has a smaller radius of curvature than 3D and/or has a right-angle side on the inner side. The 3.5D cover glass will likely be used for specific curved active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) displays, foldable AMOLED displays or flat liquid crystal display (LCD) panels. The 3.5D cover glass is expected to enter the market as early as the second half of 2019.

Composite board emerges as a serious challenger in rear-cover market

Another rising material for touch-panel cover lenses is composite board, which is essentially made of plastic–usually the combination of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) and polycarbonate (PC). While the surface hardness of the composite board can achieve the level of PMMA through a hardening treatment, it can be as tough as PC, allowing it to withstand strong impacts. The 3D composite-board rear-cover costs just one-third as much as 3D cover glass, making it a strong challenger in the rear-cover market for smartphones. Composite board currently is mainly positioned in the middle and low-end market.

CPI, a potential material for foldable AMOLED displays

Cover lenses for foldable AMOLED panels must be transparent and thin. They also need to be able to bend countless times and must have sufficient hardness. While colorless polyimide (CPI) and ultra-thin glass are good candidates, most foldable AMOLED panel makers opt for CPI because of its good performance in bending. However, CPI is not hard enough, and thus it must be hard-coated. The Samsung Galaxy Fold and the Huawei Mate X adopted CPI as foldable cover lenses. Currently, there are a limited number of CPI suppliers. Japan’s Sumitomo Chemical and South Korea’s Kolon Industries are two major suppliers.―CT Bureau