[wall view] Samsung betting on curved screen is a "heartache"

Tencent Digital (Su Yang) In the past few years, Samsung has gradually abandoned its opponents in the exploration and application of curved screens.

In this respect, South Korean manufacturers' practices are very conservative. The new flagship will be divided into two series, the normal screen version and the curved screen version. On the one hand, the traditional product line will not be impacted, and on the other hand, market feedback will be tested, but from Note. Starting from 7, this strategy will end.

More importantly, the next Galaxy S series flagship may also be fully curved screen.

According to reports from the Korean media, Gao Dongzheng, head of Samsung's mobile business, mentioned in an interview recently that “Samsung has considered taking the curved screen as a feature of the Galaxy S smartphone series,” which is in fact implying that Samsung is required to take full steps. Into the curved screen era.

The question is, will the curved screen of the Galaxy S become a reality and why will Samsung push the curved screen?

Note 7 If you don't sell well, don't fantasize about it

Early introduction of the curved screen, each of which is a conservative division of the branch, Samsung is Edge, LG is Flex.

To Note 7 here, Samsung directly abandon the regular version, this radical enough to explain Samsung's determination to push curved screen, but ultimately the Galaxy S product line can smoothly transition to the curved screen, but also see the market feedback, that is, see Note 7 It's good to sell.

If the Note 7 market performance is optimistic enough, then the Galaxy S series may be able to get rid of the regular version, if not optimistic, with Samsung's consistent sent, the next generation of Galaxy S product line, may still be SX + SX Edge product strategy.

As for why the knife will be played in Note 7, on the one hand is because the Galaxy S7 is released too early, waiting for the next generation to have six months, on the other hand is the Note series itself is declining, and needs new elements to boost confidence.

According to figures released by Strategy Analytics, total global Android handset shipments in the first half of 2016 totaled 57.73 million, up 5% year-on-year in 2015. For Samsung, the most valuable are the S7 Edge, J2, and S7. Three mobile phones swept the top three Android mobile phone sales charts, corresponding to shipments of 13.3 million, 13.3 million, and 11.8 million respectively. In this case, it was inevitable that the Note 7 passive knives were not listed.

However, rather than being a passive knife, it is better to use the new elements to pull the brand and sales of the Note series just by taking advantage of the comprehensive curved screen.

Mass production and yield have started to be guaranteed

In 2013, the world's first flexible curved screen mobile phone Galaxy Round appeared, but this is not the starting point of the curved screen. As early as 2011 CES Consumer Electronics Show, Samsung took out the concept screen and prototype of the flexible curved screen.

Regardless of the time of technology research and development, in the past five years, curved screens have evolved from concepts to products to concepts, and there have been a large number of hardware products at this stage, including Samsung’s Galaxy S6/7 Edge, and LG’s G Flex/Flex. BlackBerry BlackBerry Priv, etc.

The mass production of these products is to illustrate a problem, curved screen technology is quite mature, under this premise, it is possible for Samsung to fully implement the curved screen in the Note 7 product line.

From the perspective of the entire consumer electronics market, the use of curved screens in the mobile phone industry is just a microcosm of technological maturity. Actually, home appliances, monitors, and intelligent hardware have basically curved screen products. Samsung, LG and other rivals are also In this area, early battles began.

Last May, LG exhibited a curved screen product with a thickness of only 1mm. The outside world even called it a "wallpaper TV." At the SID2016 conference in May this year, Samsung displayed a 5.7-inch screen. Flexible curved screen, this curved screen is only 0.3mm thick and only 5.7 inches in size.

Beginning with Samsung Display

Samsung is using its curved screen on its own products. This is the key to pushing the entire industry to use new screens and at the same time consolidate its position in the display market. To put it plainly, it is for the Samsung Display Company.

In the past year, Samsung has been trying to supply curved screens on a small scale. Both the BlackBerry Priv and vivo Xplay5 have Super AMOLED curved screens. With Note 7's curved screen, the mobile phone industry is expected to collectively enter the curved screen. era.

From the perspective of the supply chain, Samsung actually has the strength to push curved screens.

IHS released the first quarter of 2016, the OLED panel market statistics report data show that the global shipments reached 90.81 million in the quarter, this data is more eye-catching, Samsung Display shipments accounted for 96.2%, reaching 83.35 million tablets.

Samsung, which stands on the upper reaches of the supply chain, can have the absolute right to speak. In the era of curved screens, this industrial advantage can be gradually transformed into its own product advantages.

In that year, HTC Chairman Wang Xuehong complained to the outside world that Samsung had cut off HTC's screen supply and gave priority to its own products, which led to HTC's inability to do so. Just recently, Taiwan’s “Electronic Times” reported that Samsung AMOLED was supplied Inadequate start, OPPO and other manufacturers will be subject to the impact of the supply chain.

Optimize the bloated product line

Samsung's mobile phone line is too bloated, especially after the flagship series, curved screen, each series will add an extra model.

For Samsung, after the surface screen gradually matures, the capacity gradually comes up, and is gradually accepted by consumers, the most direct way to solve the bloated is to cut off the extra product line and fully transition to the curved screen.

The product itself, past generations of products, curved screen version and regular version, in addition to the screen differences, the overall no difference, but the price difference is generally around 1,000 yuan, such as the S7 and S7 Edge of the country line released in March , The price is 4888 yuan and 5688 yuan respectively, Note 7 such a direct transition to the curved screen version of the practice, in fact, is to pass the original consumer to the difference, digest themselves.

At the consumer level, the user’s preference for curved screens is also apparently an incentive for Samsung to make such a decision. S7 Edge has won the championship title of Android mobile phone sales in the first half of this year and has already indicated the direction.

Another benefit derived from the transformation of the surface line of the existing product line is the creation of a new IP for Samsung products.

The past two generations of Samsung mobile phones have left the deepest impression on the outside world with the camera. After taking advantage of this advantage, the curved screen will become another benchmark for Samsung in the smartphone. On the one hand, Samsung’s mobile phones are curved screens. On the other hand, curved screen mobile phones on the market will use Samsung's screen.

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