Compared to the number of pixels of 4K panel, 8K panel is 4 times the number of pixels, 10K panel is 5.4 times the number of pixels, so the corresponding number of driver chips are to be correspondingly multiplied. And the more the number of chips, the higher the cost, the control difficulty is also correspondingly increased.
4K resolution has become a mainstream of the LCD TV panel market
According to the latest IHSLargeAreaDisplayMarketTracker large size shipment report, in July and August 2016, 4K LCD TV panel shipments all reached a single month of about 6 million pieces, accounting for 26% and 24% of LCD TV panel shipments in that month, respectively. And with the LCD TV market large size and 4K TV penetration of each other, the future of this proportion will be further enhanced.
For example, according to the latest IHS large size flat panel display product shipment forecast, in the fourth quarter of this year, this proportion is expected to exceed 30%, and by the second quarter of next year, is expected to further reach 35%. Therefore, following HD, FHD and other resolutions, 4K resolution has become a mainstream in the LCD TV panel market, is already an indisputable fact.
And with the evolution of the market, the flat panel display industry for higher specifications and higher resolution products in the pursuit of the footsteps of far from stop. In the recent various industry exhibitions such as the IFA exhibition in Germany, various manufacturers of 4K products, but more and more 8K products began to appear in various booths, began to enter everyone’s vision, and even some manufacturers such as the mainland panel factory exhibited 110-inch 10K panel products.
According to IHSLargeAreaDisplayProductRoadmapTracker shows that the current panel manufacturers in production or research and development of 8K panel products up to more than 40 models, size range from 65 inches to 110 inches, showing a very optimistic attitude towards the prospects of 8K panel products.
What is 8K, 10K panel?
Compared to 4K, with a resolution of 3840×2160, the 8K panel has four times the number of pixels of the 4K panel, with a resolution of 7680×4320 and an image aspect ratio of 16:9, which is also the most mainstream aspect ratio in the current TV market.
The 10K panel exhibited by BOE has a resolution of 10240×4320 and an aspect ratio of 21:9, which is the same as the aspect ratio of the video signal of movie theaters, aiming to bring consumers a more vivid and realistic home theater experience.
Compared to 4K panel, because 8K TV panel pixel density (PPI) is higher, is the same size 4K panel 2 times, so in the production, the manufacturing process, fine processing ability requirements are more demanding, 10K panel is required to go further.
Therefore, and 4K panel just started to enter the market, the panel manufacturers are facing slow yield improvement and even occasionally process problems resulting in poor yields, 8K/10K panel production is also particularly difficult.
8K, 10K panel and 4K panel differences
The 8K panel requires the source drive and door drive electrode must be copper, so the process is more difficult than the 4K panel general aluminum electrode. Currently only LGD in this area of technology is more mature, while Samsung is in 2016 began a comprehensive technical improvement, the copper electrode process into the whole line, other panel manufacturers are in the 8K panel copper electrode process are more or less encountered a small problem.
In addition, due to the 8K panel pixel amount, pixel density is high, so if you choose a smaller panel size, by too high pixel density will bring additional process difficulties. Therefore we can see that the current 8K panel minimum size that is 65 inches, pixel density of 136PPI; and the vast majority of 8K panel products are selected 75 inches, 85 inches or even like 98 inches / 110 inches and other large size panel.
And oversized panel manufacturing process itself is a complex process, the manufacturing capacity has high technical requirements. And large size, high pixel density, how to control the display image quality, such as brightness, contrast, consistency, etc., are on the production enterprises is a considerable challenge.
But therefore 8K/10K is the “ultimate technology” or “resolution peak” of the panel, seems a bit premature. Although the current flat panel display industry has been huge, but the pace of technological progress has never stopped, especially with domestic enterprises BOE as the representative of the panel manufacturers, has been in the pursuit of higher resolution products tirelessly. With the future domestic BOE and Huaxing photoelectric 10.5 generation / 11 generation production line mass production, in the larger size LCD TV panel production capacity, the pursuit of higher resolution products on the basis of the possibility is still very high.
8K panels will enter the fast growth channel in 2019
However, although panel manufacturers and TV brand manufacturers are very active in 8K products, 8K products really enter the market mainstream still need a very long-term industrial development and accumulation. For example, although 4K products have become the mainstream of the market, the majority of TV broadcasting network systems cannot support the broadcasting of 4K content.
As for the production and trial broadcast of 8K content, only NHK in Japan has cooperated with BOE to make some active attempts in the Japanese market since 2015, and some trial recordings and broadcasts were made for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio.
Therefore, although we are still very optimistic about the prospects of 8K products, we expect that it will take at least 2~3 years before 8K products really start to take off in the market. In the current situation, 8K products are costly and priced at a premium, so we must wait for the technology to mature further and the products to be priced more affordably before they can take a place in the market.
Based on this and the fact that the sales volume of 8K products in 2016 was less than a thousand units, we expect that in 2018, 8K TV sales will reach more than 300,000 units and break through one million units in 2019, and thereafter enter a rapid growth channel.
