The wireless charging of front-loading vehicle mobile phones has "doubled" growth, and the battle for market share has become fierce

For optimizing and improving the smart cockpit experience, mobile phones are a link that cannot be bypassed.

From the wired (car machine, mobile phone interconnection) in the past, to wireless Carplay, to mobile phone wireless charging, automakers have been looking for the "best way to connect" to the smart cockpit for mobile phones.

In the past few years, various mobile phone brands have been developing wireless charging devices that support multi-device simultaneous charging, and have taken it as one of the selling points of new mobile phone releases. The data shows that the penetration rate of wireless charging in smartphones in 2016 was only 5%, and at the same time, on-board wireless mobile phone charging also began to start.

In September this year, Hubei Xingji Times Technology Co., Ltd., founded by Li Shufu, chairman of Geely Holding Group, signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone and officially announced its entry into the field of mobile phones. At the same time, there has been news that Tesla CEO Musk is also planning to enter the mobile phone industry.

In Li Shufu's view, mobile phones are rapid iterations of portable mobile terminals, application carriers for electronic product market verification and software innovation, and can transfer some of the results of safety and reliability to automobile applications, so as to realize the close interaction between car machines and mobile phone software technology.

According to the Wireless Charging Alliance (WPC), at least one out of every three smartphones shipped in 2021 has Qi (Wireless Charging Standard) function, and it is expected that more than 1 billion smartphones with wireless charging capabilities will be expected in 2022.

Recently, Tesla's official website has listed a new wireless charging treasure 2.0, priced at $70, which supports the charging of mobile phones, tablets, headphones and other devices, and supports the Qi protocol. Users only need to put the Qi-enabled device on the Tesla vehicle charging board to quickly and safely charge the device, or it can be wired through the Type-C interface.

At present, the wireless mass production solution of vehicle front-mounted mobile phones is mainly based on the premise of meeting the Qi standard, providing 5W, 10W and 15W charging solutions for smart phones. At the same time, each supplier continues to improve the conversion efficiency and charging area to meet the charging experience in various environments of the on-board terminal.

At the same time, some solution providers are also introducing more functional extensions based on wireless charging. For example, this year, Saiteng Microelectronics released a new generation of vehicle front-mounted wireless charging solutions, including wireless charging software and hardware architecture schemes with NFC/CAN functions, which realizes the communication between mobile phones and cars while wireless charging.

On December 26, 2021, on the basis of the previously launched front-loading ADAS and cockpit vehicle mass production database, the Gaogong Intelligent Vehicle Research Institute officially released the body electronic front-loading mass production database, and first released the wireless charging data and supplier share of the vehicle mobile phone.

The data shows that from January to November 2021, the amount of wireless charging of new domestic new car front-loading standard equipped with on-board mobile phones was 3.0659 million units, an increase of 119.04% over the same period of the previous year, and the front-loading rate was 16.86%, an increase of nearly 8 percentage points year-on-year.

However, this year, some automakers have begun to reduce the wireless charging function of mobile phones in new models due to the shortage of chip supply, which has a certain impact on market growth in the short term.

In terms of suppliers, Huayang Multimedia and Yousensy Technology ranked in the top two chinese local suppliers in terms of market share, with a combined market share of nearly 40%. The top ten suppliers have a combined market share of nearly 90% and a high degree of concentration (among them, Tesla is independently designed and manufactured, and LG does not include the Hitachi-LG joint venture).

According to the forecast data released by the Gaogong Intelligent Vehicle Research Institute, in 2022, the wireless charging rate of the standard on-board mobile phone in China will rise to about 25%-30%, and the overall market growth rate will still maintain the momentum of more than 100% this year. At the same time, the bicycle equipped with a wireless charging module is developing from the mainstream front row to the front and rear rows.

At the same time, domestic suppliers will also accelerate the competition for market share. Behind it is the opportunity for localization costs and the rate of independent brand loading to continue to rise rapidly (from January to November this year, the wireless charging frontload of independent brand models accounted for more than 50%).

For example, Xinwei Communication (300136. SZ) disclosed that in addition to having obtained the supply qualifications of Volkswagen, Dongfeng Honda, Guangqi Honda, FAW Hongqi, FAW Besturn, Mercedes-Benz and other automobile manufacturers, it is engaged in business and project contacts with more foreign manufacturers such as Toyota, Nissan, GM, Tesla and so on.

Other vendors are speeding up the introduction of high-power wireless charging solutions. For example, the high-power mobile phone wireless charging solution provided by Yousensense Technology for the Polar Fox Alpha S Huawei HI Edition can support Huawei mobile phone 50W fast charging, and the charging speed is comparable to conventional wired fast charging.

At the same time, in terms of additional functions, this solution also has its own heat dissipation system, with foreign object detection function, forgetting reminder function, and support OTA and so on. In addition, manufacturers including Yousensense Technology and Xinwei Communications are also stepping into the field of wireless charging solutions for electric vehicles (power batteries).

Just in June this year, the wireless charging business of Zhongmu Technology officially landed in Chongqing, and its self-developed 1-3kW wireless charging system and 11kW electric vehicle wireless charging system can be applied to unmanned cars, factory AGVs and other scenarios and new energy passenger cars, providing wireless charging services in the autonomous parking scenario.

And Wanan Technology (002590. SZ) said on the investor interactive platform this month that the company's first Faw-hongqi E-HS9 wireless charging product cooperated with FAW Hongqi has been successfully rolled off the production line, and the follow-up has entered the production preparation stage.