"A must-have for the family, but left out in the cold", this is the awkward position of TV.
Recently, Huawei, which regards smart screens as one of the future strategic layout points, released its first airscreen TV. This time, Huawei aims at the most common essential part of TV - remote control, and launched the world's first absolute pointing remote control, which realizes the control experience only available on mobile phones such as swiping, dragging, and circle on the large TV screen, allowing consumers to control the TV like playing with a mobile phone with the help of a small remote control. The emergence of this new way of human-computer interaction quickly made waves in the long-dormant television industry. Can a small "remote control" become a breakthrough to break the deadlock in industrial development?
"Abandon" the remote control?
In 1950, the American company Zenith launched the world's first batch of TV wireless remote controls called "Lazy Bones", which kicked off the TV operation revolution. As a link between people and TVs, remote controls are still one of the main components of TV products. From the early direct button control, to the traditional remote control 20 years ago, to the touch and voice control that appeared 10 years ago, every innovation in TV control will take a step forward in human-computer interaction.
"Although the control method is constantly improving, it is still not separated from the essence of television... Today we will bring innovative new interactive experiences that will usher in a new era of giant screen mobile phones. At the autumn all-scenario new product launch conference held on September 25, He Gang, chief operating officer of Huawei Device BG, said when introducing the newly released Huawei Smart Screen V5 Pro.
Huawei has launched an absolute pointing remote control
He Gang's "new interactive experience" for TVs refers to Huawei's world-first absolute pointing remote control. Although it is called the "remote control" category, it is different from the remote control currently equipped in TV products. With the help of UWB technology (a wireless carrier communication technology with high data rate, low latency, strong penetration ability, anti-multipath interference, etc.), as long as you gently slide your finger on the "confirmation key" of the remote control, you can control the large TV screen, realize the interaction methods only available to mobile phones, such as sliding, dragging, and circle, and truly achieve the air touch effect of "what you point is what you get". With this new TV interaction method, users can control the large screen as easily as if they were playing with a mobile phone. Huawei said that this has brought the TV industry into a new era of "giant screen mobile phones".
For home consumer-grade smart products, the change of human-computer interaction has a very important potential impact on consumers. Taking mobile phones as an example, innovation from traditional button to screen touch has opened the era of smartphones represented by Apple's iPhone. So, what does Huawei's launch of a new interactive remote control mean for the TV industry?
Liu Fei, research director of the consumer electronics division of AVC, told reporters that from the previous consumer research data, one of the biggest dissatisfaction points of users with TV products is the inconvenience of remote control, and Huawei's new TV remote control innovation has changed the traditional remote control button operation mode, giving the remote control more use scenarios.
"Under the background of product application scenarios and function integration trends, the essence of this innovation of TV control mode is to empower and add value to TV remote controls." Ma Kui, an analyst at GfK's China Home Appliance Business Unit, told the "China Electronics News" reporter that by providing diversified control experience and scene design concepts, the human-computer intelligent interaction is enhanced, which provides greater imagination for the development of the entire TV industry.
Look for "new" breakthroughs
At present, China's TV industry has entered the stock period after several ups and downs, and the market is ushering in a key change node. In terms of market size, incremental space is limited. According to data from RUNTO, in the first half of 2023, the shipment of complete machines of brands in the Chinese TV market reached 17.115 million units, a slight decrease of 0.5% compared with the same period in 2022. On the other hand, there is a "Matthew effect" in the brand competition landscape. According to Sigmaintell's research data, it is expected that the market share of the Top4 brand Chinese TV market will exceed 75% in 2023, showing a scissor gap with the share of other brands.
It is worth noting that under the competition in the Red Sea, TV manufacturers have gradually got rid of the "low-price competition" model of previous years, and paid more attention to the key role of "innovation" in breaking through the growth dilemma of the industry.
"We hope that Huawei's smart screen is not only a TV, but also a large-screen mobile phone placed at home." This is a point that He Gang specifically mentioned at this year's Huawei autumn new product conference. In fact, Huawei's hard work in TV remote control is just one of the cases in which the TV industry strives to break through the market bottleneck period through innovation and usher in a new stage of development.
In terms of the most concerned display technology, Xiaomi launched a transparent OLED TV priced at nearly 50,000 yuan in 2020, and Skyworth and BOE developed the world's first active glass-based Mini LED TV in 2021. Artificial intelligence empowers TV, in June this year, Changhong launched the world's first application of artificial intelligence large model in the field of TV - Changhong Super Brain, realizing the world's first wake-free ability of TV interaction, and TV and users can have a natural and continuous conversation. In terms of form innovation, in September this year, Hisense officially released the world's first 120-inch foldable laser TV, its screen frame is foldable, the screen diaphragm is flexible and rollable, and it can be divided into the house, solving the problem of difficulty in entering the home and going on the wall.
Ma Kui said that the TV industry has been focusing on the development of hardware features and functional applications, product innovation iteration is mainly reflected in display technology, screen size, design, intelligent interaction, platform content, integration and integration of several aspects, with the integration of artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things, I believe that TV product forms and application scenarios will continue to expand and enrich.
Return to the family "C position"?
Among the many smart products, the TV has been firmly at the center of the home for a long time. However, according to statistics, in recent years, the boot rate and boot time of TV have both declined.
"The home entertainment status of TV is being replaced by mobile phones, tablets, projectors and other products, but the advantage of large-screen TV display is still there." Liu Fei believes that with the continuous development of intelligent technology, there is still a lot of room for TV intelligent innovation.
"TV is no longer just an entertainment attribute, the concept of smart large screen gives TV office, games, education and other rich attributes." Liu Fei told reporters that with the upgrading of TV display technology and intelligent technology, the future form and function innovation of TV will continue to upgrade, and home beauty, intelligent scenes, and display upgrades have become many breakthroughs in the industry.
In the future, with the popularization of the new concept of "smart big screen", can TV regain its former glory?
In Ma Kui's view, the breakthrough direction of TV may be in terms of intelligent interaction, and improving convenience functions can effectively improve consumer demand. TV/smart screen may play the role of "housekeeper" central control in the future family, with one screen to achieve whole-house control and interaction, not only home audio and video entertainment center, but also information sharing center, control management center and multi-device interaction center.
With the blessing of the concept of "wisdom", this "TV" will not be another TV in the future. In Huawei's all-scenario smart strategy, smart screens will become smart interaction centers, cross-screen experience centers, IoT control centers, and audio-visual entertainment centers for homes, and will be a new species and category of smart homes in the future. For Xiaomi, the TV is the center of the future home and a window to the entire digital life. "In the future, Xiaomi will promote the software and hardware collaboration between AI large models and display technology." Pan Jun, general manager of the TV department of Xiaomi Group, previously mentioned in a public speech. In addition, after witnessing the evolution of the TV industry, TCL, Hisense, Skyworth, Changhong and other established TV companies that started with TV are also exploring the unique value of TV in future scenarios and returning TV to the center of the family.
"The main problem now is how to make it easier for users to watch TV." Zhang Yi, CEO and chief analyst of iMedia Consulting, told the "China Electronics News" reporter bluntly that compared with products such as smartphones that are convenient to use, "complex" TVs have been left out in the cold. Ditching the tiny remote control may just be a small step in the TV industry.
Author丨Yang Pengyue
Editor丨Qiu Jiang Yongmei Editor丨Maria Executive Producer丨Lian Xiaodong