Under the active promotion of leading enterprises in industries such as Hisense, Changhong, Guangfeng, and Zhongke Aurora, China’s laser display technology and industry have developed rapidly, and the industrial chain has been rapidly improved. At the same time, in terms of overall machine manufacturing, Chinese enterprises have also explored mature technology and experience, and are in a global leading position, Dong Min, Deputy Secretary General of the China Television and Video Industry Association, stated at the “Laser Display Industry Summit”.
After more than ten years of investment and construction, China has developed into a major global electronic video industry and a cutting-edge consumer market. Among them, laser display, with its technological and product advantages, provides more support for the display and audio and video industries. At the international level, the laser display industry is also striving to seize opportunities and achieve a leap from catching up to partial leadership, and then to comprehensive overtaking.
At the same time, the new round of technological transformation and industrial transfer in display technology is being rapidly and deeply promoted. With the increasing range of applications of laser display, whether it is in the common household market, cinema, office, education, car shows, aviation medical, AR, VR, the application and products of laser display are becoming more and more diverse, which has also stimulated more new scenarios and provided a new track for the innovative application of laser display.
Laser display of counter trend growth
In the past two years, despite the overall decline in the display industry, laser displays have maintained a good growth trend. According to data from Lotu Technology, the global laser projector market’s shipment volume reached 1.45 million units in 2022, a year-on-year increase of 24%. It is expected that the global shipment volume of laser display equipment will exceed 2 million units by 2025.
From the perspective of the global market shipment volume of laser displays, it has grown rapidly from 690000 units in 2017 to 1.67 million units in 2023. Among them, China has now become the most important market in the world, accounting for 50% of the market share. North America and Europe have also shown strong growth power, and utilizing consumer demand for large screens, the position of laser displays in the world is becoming increasingly apparent Zhu Yuanyuan, General Manager of Beijing Luoshu Hetu Technology Co., Ltd.
In her opinion, China’s proactive industrial policies, complete industrial system, and vast consumer market provide a good environment for the development of laser displays. Over the past decade, the country has introduced more than ten policies to promote the development of the laser display industry, and the association is also working on industry related standard formulation. In the past five years, 17 standards have been formulated, and this year there will be 5 industry standards being formulated. “Zhu Yuanyuan believes that from a patent perspective, the number of technology patents applied for by key domestic brands has exceeded 7000, steadily accounting for more than half of the global total number of laser display technology patents.
More importantly, with the joint efforts of the entire market, the core components of laser display have also achieved breakthroughs in localization, especially in the field of light sources. Major display companies such as Hisense, Changhong, Guangfeng, Zhongke Aurora, etc. have the ability to research and develop and make breakthroughs. In terms of projection chips and other aspects, LCOS has achieved independent matching this year. In addition, China is in a leading position in areas such as chips, optical machinery, and overall connectivity, as well as in optical lenses, ultra short focus lenses, and screens.
At the “UDE2023 Fourth International Semiconductor Display Expo”, which opened on July 17th, a group of laser display players including Hisense, Vidda, Jimi, Dangbei, Nut, Zhongke Aurora, Ningxi, United Optoelectronics, Visionary, and others used the art of light and shadow to create a dream viewing journey for the on-site audience. Among them, Hisense has created a super large booth of over 1000 square meters, reproducing esports spaces, home furnishings, outdoor scenes, etc. within the exhibition area.
Many viewers on site showed great interest in laser displays. In this regard, Zhu Yuanyuan believes that from the consumer side, the awareness of laser displays has become increasingly high in recent years, especially among young consumer groups with a recognition rate of over 50%. Apart from the widespread recognition of new technologies, large screens, and good image quality, laser displays nowadays leave consumers with new impressions of protecting their eyesight, saving space, energy conservation, environmental protection, and ease of installation. At the same time, due to the energy-saving effect of Laser TV, more and more people understand the role of laser in the carbon neutral field.
But on the whole, China is in the Key Stage of transformation and upgrading, climbing over obstacles. The industrial structure of laser display is still biased towards the downstream, and the localization of the industrial chain still needs the joint efforts of the industry. We are relatively weak in laser display chips, lasers, and other aspects. We hope that domestic enterprises will continue to strengthen research on key laser display devices in the future and continue to work hard in the localization of core laser display devices, “said Dong Min.
The application scenarios are expanding day by day
According to data from Lotu Technology, since 2016, the compound annual growth rate of laser display in the Chinese market has reached 27.3%, and its application fields have become increasingly widespread, including household, business, education, engineering, and other fields. According to statistics, the sales of laser displays in the household market increased by 10% year-on-year in the first quarter of this year, and the engineering market also increased by 7% year-on-year in the first quarter. In addition, in business scenarios, the demand for intelligence and portability in office application scenarios is also increasing, and the education big screen market is also constantly opening up.
The rise of domestic laser display brands is also very fast. According to relevant data, domestic brands have accounted for 77% of the domestic laser display market share in 2022, becoming the backbone of laser displays. Among them, domestic brands have accounted for over 90% of the household market, and their leading position in the business education and engineering markets is also constantly highlighted.
The demand for laser technology varies among different scenarios. Zhu Yuanyuan told reporters that in household scenes, medium and long lenses are a category with a faster development rate. It is expected that this year, medium and long lenses and ultra short lenses will go hand in hand; From the perspective of configuration scale, the trend of 4K is becoming increasingly evident, showing a year-on-year growth of 7.5% compared to last year; Monochrome and tricolor, among which tricolor shows a rapid growth trend. Based on the current product and product layout, we believe that ‘4K+tricolor’ will become the most important product trend in the entire household market, “she concluded.
In business education scenarios, the trend towards intelligence and portability is more obvious. The reduction of front-end costs has increased the demand for laser displays in the business market. In the engineering market, the current development direction is still towards high brightness and lightweight products, including products and channels that are more portable and suitable for use in factories. These highlighted, high-definition, and high color product layouts also demonstrate the innovative vitality of domestic brand product technology and product applications, “said Zhu Yuanyuan.
“We hope to use three to five years to build Laser TV into the most suitable equipment for watching movies in the living room.” Jiang Long, general manager of the product management department of Qingdao Hisense Laser Display Co., Ltd., said that the average viewing time of Laser TV users is 1.6 times longer than LCD TV. According to Jiang Long’s prediction, Laser TV will become a trend in the high-end TV field in the future, In addition, tricolor lasers have injected strong vitality into the field of intelligent projection, and laserization is becoming a new trend in the intelligent projection industry.
The continuous development of laser display technology has also opened up new avenues for display enterprises. Especially when displays enter the automotive field, “said Yang Jiayi, R&D Director of Guangfeng Technology R&D Center.” In the trillion level automotive track, laser displays are gradually emerging and the future is promising.
Every surface can now become an interface for display and terminal interaction, “Zhu Yuanyuan believes. In the large display field, the layout of intelligent interactive terminal products is increasing, and display products are also ubiquitous in social fields such as home communities and urban transportation. She predicts that the global laser display market will exceed 3 million units in the next five years, showing a growth trend.