Cui Dongyuan, president of global promotion of LG Display (LGD), revealed to a reporter from China Business News yesterday that the yield rate of LGD's OLED TV panels has reached 70%, and the yield rate will be further improved by the end of this year. In addition to 55 and 65 inches, LGD will also launch 77-inch OLED TV panels by the end of this year and early next year.
With the support of its "ally" LGD, Skyworth announced yesterday that 55-inch OLED TVs will be launched in batches on May Day this year; at the same time, 50-inch "Coolka" OLED TVs will also be sold online on May Day, priced at 29,999 yuan, which is half the price of foreign brand OLED TVs currently on the market.
"This is about half a year ahead of the OLED TV launch schedule envisaged by Skyworth at the end of last year," Liu Tangzhi, president of Skyworth's Color TV Division, told this reporter. "OLED TV technology matures faster than imagined." In the fourth quarter of this year, Skyworth will also launch 65-inch OLED TVs in batches.
The tug-of-war between OLED and LCD
Previously, many color TV companies believed that although the application of OLED in mobile phones has been recognized by the market, the application of OLED in TVs is not yet mature because the yield rate of large-size OLED panels has always been low, resulting in high costs. LG and Samsung's 55-inch OLED TVs sell for US$10,000, about 60,000 yuan, which is about six times the price of a 55-inch 4K (ultra high-definition) TV. Therefore, this year, Hisense, TCL and others have launched 4K LCD TVs with optimized backlight technology, such as Hisense's ULED.
However, Liu Tangzhi believes that 4K LCD TV technology has reached its peak. On the one hand, panel manufacturers such as Innolux and CSOT have significantly lowered the price of 4K LCD panels, gradually approaching the price of FHD (Full High Definition) LCD panels; on the other hand, technologies to optimize backlight and increase color saturation are already being applied.
On the other hand, Liu Tangzhi said that the yield rate of LGD's OLED panels has improved faster than imagined. During the CES (U.S. Consumer Electronics Show) in January this year, LGD’s OLED TV panel yield rate was less than 5%. But by March this year, LGD’s OLED TV panel yield rate had exceeded 50%. Therefore, in April, LGD promoted OLED specially released the Chinese name of OLED "organic screen" and held a series of traveling exhibitions to promote OLED products.
Yang Dongwen, CEO of Skyworth Digital and President of Skyworth Group, believes that OLED TVs actively emit light and have better contrast, response speed, and color saturation than LCD TVs, so OLED TVs are the future trend. Moreover, since there is no need for backlight and liquid crystal, "the cost of OLED will definitely be cheaper than liquid crystal in the future."
"Small-sized OLED has been industrialized, and large-sized OLED is also rapidly industrialized." Yang Dongwen believes that this year is the first year of OLED TV promotion, and it is expected that the penetration rate will further increase next year and the next year. "Once the penetration rate reaches 20%, sales will double."
However, LCD TVs are also making efforts. Recently, LeTV’s 50-inch 4K LCD TV is priced at 2,999 yuan. Including content service fees, the price is close to 4,000 yuan. Yu Liangxing, president of Ovi Consulting, analyzed to this reporter that although the online shopping price of Skyworth's 50-inch Coukaa OLED TV has dropped significantly from previous similar products, it is still seven times that of a 4K LCD TV of the same size.
"OLED TV is still in the television[Translate Error]Therefore, Skyworth is still working hard to promote OLED TVs because it is the focus of Skyworth's efforts in the high-end market.
In the first quarter of this year, Skyworth’s domestic color TV sales have experienced negative growth for three consecutive months. Recently, Peng Jin succeeded Liu Yaoping and became the regional marketing general manager of Skyworth China. Yang Dongwen did not shy away. He admitted to the reporter of China Business News that Skyworth China's "coach change" was due to declining performance. Of course, this was against the background of the overall industry decline.
"The withdrawal of energy-saving policies to benefit the people last year means that the period of high growth in the domestic color TV market is over." Liu Tangzhi predicts that domestic color TV sales will drop slightly by 4% this year, with retail sales of color TVs in the domestic market reaching 45 million units, 1 million to 2 million units less than last year.
Liu Tangzhi believes that “opportunities lie in structural upgrades.” The penetration rate of 4K LCD TVs will reach 25% to 30%, and at the same time, it will develop towards large sizes of 50 inches or more. "Skyworth is focusing on 4K and large sizes this year, pursuing quality scale."
In addition to market contraction, the "new army" of the Internet has also brought pressure. They disrupted the original rules of the color TV industry and compressed the profit margins of hardware. Peng Jin, who has just taken up his new post, said that Skyworth will use KukaiBrand, accelerate the integration into the online shopping market; increase the promotion of new products such as OLED TVs; at the same time, "loosen" branches such as Beijing and Shanghai where operating pressure is high, and give full play to the enthusiasm of employees.
Yang Dongwen believes that Cookaa TV’s online price is lower and its channel costs are also low, which will not lower Skyworth’s overall gross profit margin.
ANNA