799999 yuan TV, who is buying it?
Most people probably didn't think that they could put a 163-inch super large TV at home, about 3.6 meters wide and 2 meters long. After all, even if the screen is bigger and the more cool it is, the floor height of ordinary commercial houses is generally only about 2.8 meters.
But recently, TCL released such a product known as "luxury house top", priced at 799999 yuan.
Yes, you are not wrong, it is only one dollar away from 800,000 yuan, no wonder some people call "At this price, you have to buy a good house with it". TCL product manager Zhen Jifa also suggested at the press conference, "If your mansion is particularly large, please choose the larger 163-inch Micro LED X11H Max." ”
Picture/Screenshot of TCL TV's new product launch conference
In fact, among the existing Micro LED TVs on the market,TCLThe pricing of this one is already very favorable,Significantly lower than Samsung110Inch TV1050000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 But such an amount is still difficult to call popular.
This makes people wonder, why are televisions still so expensive? Who is paying for such expensive televisions?
"Only" 799999 yuan
What is so special about 799999 yuan TV?
Judging from TCL's official introduction,The first selling point emphasized is naturally that the screen is particularly large,It's bigger than 4 80-inch TVs together。 For reference, on the e-commerce platform, it is also a 163-inch large conference screen, and the details page says that it is suitable for 80~100 people conference room. TCL also helped consumers think about the problem of entering the house, and there was no need to worry about removing the windows when assembling the four screens.
Second,This 163-inch TV has248800000InorganicRGB self-luminous chip,It can achieve higher brightness(peak brightness10000nits)、Stronger color reproduction(22Bit color depth), etc.,This also means stronger、More detailed picture performance ability。
In addition, TCL's giant screen TV also emphasizes the advantage of an ultra-long life of more than 100,000 hours, in other words, it can keep its display effect stable for a longer time.
At the just-concluded 2024 China Home Appliances and Consumer Electronics Expo (AWE 2024), this TV also attracted many people to check in. Judging from the pictures and videos of the scene on social media, no matter how tall a person walks in front of it, it will look small.
Liu Buchen, an analyst in the home appliance industry, summed up his on-site feelings with the word "amazing" after seeing the true face of this TV,"The picture is particularly good,Especially in contrast。 And you will feel that it is not a TV, like watching a movie on the big screen, with a strong sense of immersion. ”
TCL 163-inch Micro LED TV at AWE site. Photo/TCL
However, most of the hearts and minds quickly solidified the moment they saw the pricing. It's all TVs, why is it so expensive?
In fact,TCLThe aforementioned characteristics of this TV,They are all based onMicro LED(Micro light-emitting diode)This new display technology。
Micro LED is recognized as the next generation of display technology in the industry. "Judging from the current level of cognition, we have not seen a technology with more potential than it," Xi Kerui, vice president of Tianma Microelectronics Micro LED Research Institute, told China News Weekly, "Micro LED combines almost all the advantages of LCD (liquid crystal) and OLED (organic light-emitting diode), theoretically speaking, there are no shortcomings in terms of luminous efficiency, color gamut, life, flexibility, energy consumption, etc." ”
For example, the same self-luminous OLED,It is emitted by the stimulation of electronic transition by organic materials,The life of the display screen will be relatively short,It is also prone to the problem of screen burning,When making a TV, it is also necessary to increase the protection of waterproof;But Micro LED uses inorganic materials,It can ensure brightness、Color gamut、Contrast at the same time,Extend the life of the display screen,At the same time, theoretically speaking,The bezel can be infinitely small when it is made into a TV。
But at present, this display technology is far from mature.
In principle, Micro LED has great advantages and potential, but it is not yet able to exert 100% of its energy. "If LCD and OLED are already at the level of doctors and masters, then Micro LED is also at the level of elementary school students to middle school students. ”
The process of industrial manufacturing is also quite tricky, and the most important problem is low efficiency and yield, which leads to high repair difficulty.
"The mass transfer process of Micro LED is to peel off millions or even tens of millions of chips in a palm-sized area, and then put these chips one by one in the position where they are needed, and the signal electricity and driver substrate of each chip must be combined together, and the insufficient efficiency and accuracy of the transfer also leads to the problem of low yield, and there are always chips that will break in the bonding process. And restoration is a complex process. Sickley introduced.
The existence of these problems makes it difficult for Micro LED to achieve real large-scale production, and the cost is also high. According to the survey data of Omdia, a market research agency, last year, the manufacturing cost of 10~14-inch Micro LED display panels is about 6000~10000 US dollars (about 43000~720000 yuan) per piece, considering that panel manufacturers also need profits, the ex-factory price will be 10%~20% higher.
This is the case with the cost pressure in the midstream of the display panel alone. Coupled with the cost of other links, it will eventually be transmitted to consumer-level terminals such as TV, which naturally causes "sky-high prices". Even if TCL has lowered the price of Micro LED TVs partially,Especially relative to Samsung,But TVs manufactured under this technology,Obviously, it does not have the premise of popularization。
According to Tian Pengfei, an associate professor at the Institute of Electric Light Source at Fudan University, the industry is now using different mass transfer technology routes to try to overcome these problems, and has not yet formed a very unified technical route; However, in his view, China has a greater advantage in industrialization and the market, and China's display companies have made important breakthroughs in the field of Micro LED, including technology research and development and industrial chain integration, market promotion, etc., and there are greater opportunities in this emerging market.
"Once the three major issues of efficiency, yield, and repair are solved, the cost of micro LEDs will be significantly reduced, at least within the acceptable range," said Sickley.
Not for sales, for showing muscles
The question is,The technology is immature、It is not yet possible to mass-produce the "sky-high" TV,Who is paying?
The answer given by many respondents is yes, but not much.
Some industry insiders told China News Weekly that in their research, Samsung's 89-inch Micro LED TVs priced at 750,000 are expected to sell less than 100 units worldwide, and about half of the buyers are purchased to study its technology. At the same time, he said,Placing an order on the e-commerce platform for this Samsung TV is also out of stock,"Because it has no after-sales service,There is a lot of trouble。 This thing hasn't been fully rolled out yet. ”
TCL's latest 163-inch Micro LED TV is also not yet available on online channels, including its own e-commerce channels. According to the reply from its official mall customer service,At present, we have not received a notice about the launch time of this TV。
In the opinion of many respondents, TV manufacturers with difficulties in mass production may not care about such sales. As far as the current stage is concerned, they are more concerned about showing their hard power through Micro LED TV, that is, not for profit for the brand, so that the brand can enter the field of vision of high-end user groups.
"Doing cutting-edge research, layout in patents and other aspects is very important for the long-term development of an enterprise, so most of the display companies are doing Micro LED-related research and development, which is not only the embodiment of the industry trend for enterprises, but also a necessary means to maintain competitiveness. Tian Pengfei said.
"For enterprises, Micro LED TV is positioned as a high-end concept product, after all, it represents the trend of technological development. Liu Buchen told China News Weekly, "Enterprises can pass on their technical capabilities and manufacturing capabilities to the outside world through such high-end products, so as to promote the sales of their other TV products, such as vigorously entering the rising Mini LED TV This is the high-end market of their sales." ”
In addition,TV manufacturers are betting on the future with this kind of product,That is, when key technology and cost problems are overcome,Micro LED truly realizes industrialization、When marketization,You can take the lead in market awareness and share。 Even in the present, it is still far from the public.
In this field,Samsung, as the world's No. 1 TV sales company, went earlier,As early as 2018yearCES(International Consumer Electronics Show)Released the world's first Micro LED TV,Domestic TV giants such as TCL、Hisense and other TV giants are naturally not far behind,In recent years, they have also scrambled to make up for the new display technology and the homework of its marketization。 Even a semiconductor display leader like BOE,While making Micro LED display panels,It has also announced that it will launch a 99-inch TV terminal product。
The current situation of TV giants and upstream manufacturers piling up new display technologies is also inseparable from the current malaise of the global TV market.
According to the latest research report of Lotu Technology, in 2023, the shipments of brand units in the global TV market will reach 201 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 1.6%, reaching a new low in the past ten years, and specifically for the Chinese market, the shipments of the whole year last year also fell below 37 million units, also hitting a new low in the past decade.
The reason is,On the one hand, with the continuous popularization of TV,Consumer demand is already close to saturation,The market has almost peaked;On the other hand, with other entertainment equipment,Such as projection、Girlfriend machine、Tablet, etc., the popularity,And fragmented entertainment swept life,TV has lost its original advantage,It is no longer people's rigid needs。
In this context,TV manufacturers naturally need to iterate through products,Launch larger size、Better experience of picture and interaction,To provide consumers with the motivation to change to a new machine,Or re-impress the hearts of those consumers who have abandoned TV,In the process, improve performance through higher-profit products,Therefore, the upgrade of display technology has become an important direction for them to explore。
However, in Liu Buchen's view,Whether it is the coming Mini LED TV era,Or the upcoming Micro LED TV era,It can't replace LCD TV in the short term,But "technological development will bring changes in the structure of TV products,For example, in the past, the Chinese market sold 38 million TVs a year,More than 90% are ordinary LCD TVs,If you continue to sell 38 million units a year in the future,Of these, twenty or thirty percent may becomeMini LED TV and Micro LED TV. Liu Buchen said.
In order not to miss the era that may come, TV manufacturers can only continue to meet these new challenges.
Author: Shi Hanxu
Editor: Yu Yuan