On March 17, Redmi officially released the Redmi MAX 100" giant screen TV. This is the first truly mass-produced 100-inch color TV product in the flat-screen TV era. Invisibly, the Redmi color TV has created another history. Especially since the second half of 2021, under the background of accelerating the market layout of 98-inch LCD TVs, Redmi has the advantage of 2 inches more and 4% larger, "leading into the 100-inch era", which will have industry benchmarking significance.
Color TVs are getting bigger and bigger, and the market has no end
One of the core advances in color TV display technology is the "big screen". From the history of color TV, the pursuit of large screens has always been the "common" direction of various display technologies.
For example, at the end of the last century, CRT back projection TV achieved a batch supply of 40-60 inch products, at the beginning of this century, from 2002 to 2005, digital back projection TV achieved a large supply of 50-70 inch color TV products, around 2005, LCD TV for the first time exceeded 45-inch mass production, in 2008 exceeded 60 inches mass production...
However, in the recent 20 years of color TV pursuit of a larger period, color TV products really broke through the 80 +/90+ size limit, but only in recent years. Although, as early as 2008-2009, the color TV market also appeared 102-inch, 103-inch LCD or plasma TV, in 2015 LeTV launched a 120-inch LCD TV... However, these products are all "customized products" and not "market-scale mass production" products.
The turning point in the oversized size of color TVs was 2014, when the industry launched a new category of laser TVs, achieving a comprehensive scale and market-oriented supply of products from 75 to 150 inches. Under the "giant screen atmosphere" driven by laser TVs, LCD TVs have also begun to accelerate their conquest of the market of more than 70 inches. From 2020 to 2021, the sales volume of more than 80+ LCD color TVs achieved explosive growth, and oversized color TVs really began to enter thousands of households.
The past few years when laser TVs and LCD TVs popularize more than 80+ products are memorable moments in the history of color TV! Industry experts said that as early as the beginning of this century, relying on back projection technology, 70 inches and below color TVs have appeared in large quantities; since then, the color TV industry has experienced a flat panel technology revolution, but for a long time, consumers can purchase a large number of large-screen color TVs are 60 or 70 inches to the top - according to some data, in the domestic color TV market in 2014, 70+ and above product sales were only about 30,000 units. This figure is significantly lower than the sales of 98-inch LCD in 2021, and it is almost one-tenth of the sales of large-screen laser TVs in 2021.
Therefore, from the perspective of the size line of the color TV display, it is now in a "peak period" of industry innovation. Redmi's latest 100-inch LCD TV will also become the first 100-inch flat-screen TV in "real mass production". This has "directional significance" for the development of the color TV consumer market!
Liquid crystal to large, four major difficulties how to overcome
Color TV has entered the era of giant screens, and consumers are more inclined to pursue the shocking experience of large-screen audio-visual. This is the general trend of the industry: however, around 2000, rear-projection TVs can achieve mass production of sixty-inch products, so why is the "large size" of the tablet era not fully launched until this year?
First of all, it is a question of market competition strategy. That is, when the liquid crystal display production capacity is "insufficient", the display panel cuts more small and medium-sized products, and the income of panel companies will be higher. Since the second half of 2021, one of the backgrounds for the increase in the proportion of large-size LCD displays such as 98 inches is the downturn in the global color TV market, the relative oversupply of LCD panels, and the continuous decline in the price of LCD display products - by cutting larger size products, the panel industry can achieve the capacity digestion of larger glass substrate area with the same single product sales volume.
Second, the large size of the liquid crystal display, although subject to the limitations of the glass substrate, is not absolute. For example, the current 98-inch LCD panel is cut from the 8.5 generation line, and the 100-inch is cut from the 8.6 generation line, and the utilization rate of the glass substrate of this cutting is more than 96%, which is a typical economic cutting. Previously, Sharp Tenth Generation Line has also done small batch customization of 120-inch two-cut products; in the past 5 years, a large number of 10.5/11 generation line panels can be cut in two 130-inch LCD panels. ——As the highest generation line at present, the 10.5/11 generation line, under all processes, it is theoretically possible to manufacture 150-inch LCD panels (non-economic cutting).
Therefore, at least in theory, the liquid crystal display can "make a difference" in the 100-inch display market. At least it is not affected by the technical proposition that 100-150 inch products can be manufactured on a large scale, and its cost is also extremely controllable.
Third, the real restriction on the "large size" of liquid crystal display products lies in four main marginal difficulties: 1. Product transportation and household problems - at present, 98-inch TVs entering ordinary residents' homes have faced the limitations of the limit size of elevators and stairs, and most manufacturers have adopted "customized transportation, bare machine (that is, removing all packaging) into the elevator" and other ways to achieve the limit of "entering the home". For larger size color TV products, I am afraid that if the product cannot be folded (such as a flexible screen laser TV) or cannot use a splicing display scheme (such as mini/micro LED direct display technology), it will be difficult to enter the homes of ordinary residents.
2. For large-size LCD TVs, comfortable viewing distance is also an important obstacle restricting product applications, especially residential applications. For example, 98-100-inch LCD TV, the peak brightness may be as high as 700nit, almost double the brightness of OLED TV or laser TV products. At first glance, higher brightness is a good thing, but in fact, in the limited space of the living room, higher brightness, larger display area, means a health and comfort viewing distance is greater. A 98-inch LCD TV may require a viewing distance of 5-7 meters – a distance that exceeds the size of the living room of most ordinary residents' homes. Even in some large living room units, the extra 5-7 meters of blank distance between the TV and the sofa is also a major waste of space, and it has become a major drawback in the design of home aesthetics and comfort. In this regard, laser TV and OLED display technology is much better, such as 120-100 inch laser TV healthy and comfortable viewing distance of three meters to three and a half meters, which is equivalent to the traditional sixty or seventy inch LCD TV.
3. For oversized TVs, especially LCD TVs themselves, the installation of LCD TVs themselves will also be limited. For example, a Redmi 100-inch TV weighing up to 63 kg (without a base) requires the product to be installed on a "load-bearing wall" or an additionally reinforced secondary structural wall, which limits the application scenario of the product. At this point, laser TV is the most obvious display technology, and the weight of the product will be less than half that of the LCD TV under the size of 100 inches.
4. Another problem with products such as oversized LCD TVs is "power consumption"! Although the Redmi 100-inch product achieves the Level 2 energy consumption standard and has a good level of energy saving, it still has a power consumption of 550W. In terms of energy savings in large-size displays, the future potential of laser display technology is relatively large. The dynamic power compression potential of Micro LED and OLED TVs in actual operating conditions is superior to that of liquid crystal displays. This aspect will affect the competitiveness of large-size flat panel display devices under the concept of low-carbon consumption and green economy in the future.
However, the "difficulty" of large-size liquid crystal display devices in the above four aspects is mainly used in home "color TV" applications. For business application scenarios, these problems will be "greatly reduced" or even become unworthy - perhaps this is the Reason why the Redmi 100-inch LCD TV emphasizes the "built-in MIUI TV Enterprise Edition": The target market of Redmi may be more commercial than home. This is a clear choice, and it also shows from the side that the obstacle to the popularity of oversized LCD flat-screen TVs in the home is real.
How to choose the giant screen color TV, now is the time to test the "self-demand analysis"
For traditional large-screen TVs, consumers often have the first question on the price: Will a 100-inch giant screen be expensive? This problem did exist before the birth of laser TVs! Before the advent of laser TVs in 2014, the price of 100-inch home TVs was generally in the hundreds of thousands, or even millions, and it was a customized model, which needed to wait for supply.
However, at present, the price of Redmi 100-inch LCD TV is 19999 yuan, and the lowest price of 98-inch products is 16999 yuan, which is really not expensive. At the same time, the lowest price of laser TV sets has broken through the threshold of 10,000 yuan - the price of unit display area is even lower than that of mainstream high-end 55/65-inch LCD TVs.
However, in the context of really affordable prices, how to choose large-size TV consumers has not become as easy as supermarket shopping. On the contrary, in the era of large-size TV, consumers need to examine product characteristics more "comprehensively" in terms of installation, transportation, household access, energy saving, eye protection, etc., and analyze their own needs. Industry experts pointed out that liquid crystals, laser displays, OLED displays and other technologies have realized the freedom of choice of consumers in the technology of 75-100-inch products, and even realized the supply of 120-150-inch color TV products, but consumers need to "fully enjoy the freedom of choice" at the same time, but need to "really do it, understand their own needs and choose the most suitable products for themselves". In this regard, different display technologies have their own characteristics and advantages in different application scenarios.
In summary, the significance of the Redmi 100-inch LCD TV as a product is not necessarily subversive. More than that, this is a benchmark for the size line to cross, and is a sign of industry trends and directions. Redmi 100-inch giant screen LCD, as a "product", the application of super large TV must be closely combined with demand to achieve "accurate purchase"; as a "sign", the future color TV will inevitably have a larger picture and more immersive - more eye-protecting, more energy-saving, flexible foldable and curlable, more weight, volume and transportation advantages of new technologies, new species, will continue to expand the new boundaries of color TV form and supply.