In recent years stretch LCD screens are becoming very popular in applications like retail, signage and public transportation. Stretch LCD screens are often seen in subways, buses, supermarkets and banks.
There are 2 ways to manufacture stretch LCD screens: using factory original LCD panels or cutting from regular 16:9 LCD panels. The former is how LCD panels are typically made, from creating photolithography masks to making liquid crystal open-cells to bonding ICs. The latter is cutting original LCD panels into a smaller size and spect ratio using cut-and-seal equipment and procedures.
The market demand in China for stretch LCDs is about 250k units in 2021, over 60% of which are factory original LCD panels. In 2022, the market grew to 300k units, with 87% being factory original LCDs. Over 70% of those panels are used for public transportation systems. 36.6″ is currently a mainstream size, while 43.1″ showing highest growth.
Why cutting panels are losing the market share in recent years? As LCD panel manufacturing consolidates into a small number of companies, LCD panel supply becomes challenging for cutting workshops. The price difference between factory original LCD panels and cutting LCD panels becomes negligible. Secondly, cutting LCD panels suffer from performance issues like non-uniformity, light leakage and reliability failure. For applications in public transportation systems, those issues significantly affect the total cost of ownership in the field. The operational environment of buses, trains and subways also poses challenges from temperature, humidity and vibrational perspectives. The typical LCD cutting process that involves freezing, cutting and sealing, is more prone to issues and even failures.
As EU’s EN50155 standards have gradually been adopted, which requires all electronic devices in public transit systems to meet certain temperature, impact/vibration and electrical performance criteria, factory original LCD panels become the de-facto choice for all new display projects. BOE now have a series of factory original LCD panels for customers to choose.
