[PConline roundup] As demand in the color TV market is becoming more saturated, and after intense competition within the industry in recent years, the situation in the color TV industry is serious. In the case of product homogenization, low price competition continues to unfold, and the price of LCD TVs continues to fall. Take the recent 618 promotion and the recent 88 shopping festival. The prices of many LCD TVs have frequently hit record lows. There are even 65-inch large-screen TVs that only cost 2,3,000 yuan. I have to say that the price of LCD TVs has reached the price of cabbage, which is very low.
I don't know if anyone has discovered it. Although the price of LCD TVs continues to fall, the selling price of high-end OLED TVs has remained high for a long time, still maintaining high sales prices, yet this unfriendly price has made many consumers stop. Recently, however, there have been some new changes in the market.
On the 10th of last month, Skyworth announced that the price of the 55-inch OLED S8A will drop from 11999 yuan to 7,999 yuan, while the 65-inch S8A will drop from 20,999 yuan to 15,999 yuan. Skyworth's high-profile price reduction strategy has made the “high-end” role of OLED TVs confusing. Many consumers speculate that the price war for high-end OLED TVs is about to begin?
In response, Skyworth said that the price reduction, which is almost like a dive, is actually aimed at promoting the popularization of OLED TVs. It hopes to use this to revive the high-end market where the industry has been sluggish for five years, effectively promote the decline in technological dividends, and use technology to reshape the industry. At the same time, Wang Zhiguo, chairman of Shenzhen Skyworth RGB Electronics Co., Ltd., also said that the current price reduction measures have caused some losses, but for Skyworth, such losses can be seen as a brand investment in the entire industry by popularizing OLED.
When it comes to the popularity of OLEDs, indeed, from 2007SonyWith the launch of the first OLED TV, 12 years of OLED TV history have passed. Almost every year, people say that this is the year of the OLED explosion. Especially after Sony returned to the OLED camp in 2017, people are more convinced that OLED is an irreversible trend in the future.
But year after year, the so-called OLED explosion year, we still don't seem to be able to see it. According to Panborui Consulting's offline monthly monitoring data, OLED TV retail volume and retail sales in the first half of 2019 accounted for 1.0% and 4.3% respectively. In other words, LCD TVs are still the mainstream products in the current color TV market.
We cannot help but be baffled by the disparity in market share between OLED and LCD TVs. After all, the demand for OLED has far overshadowed LCD TVs. Many people even think that the LCD era is about to pass, and OLED is about to become a new ecosystem in the industry. However, the truth is right in front of us. OLED still has not taken over the times of traditional LCD TVs. So, what are the reasons for the low penetration rate of the OLED market? The main reason is, of course, the price.
China is a major producer of LCD panels. Domestic panel manufacturers invest in high-generation production lines. Due to the large number of LCD panels, the price of large LCD TVs inside is very low. Compared with Europe and the US, it can be said that it is the “price of cabbage.” However, although OLED TV has been debuting for more than ten years, in comparison, it is still a new technology, and the Chinese market is unable to produce a large number of panels on its own. As a result, it is difficult to beat the price, and there is no way to compete with LCD TVs in terms of price.
However, with the changing times, the market trend has also begun to change greatly. As we have seen, current OLEDs have almost become the standard for high-end TVs and mobile phones. First, in the field of smart TVs, Skyworth, Konka, Changhong, Hisense, LG Electronics, Sony,PhilipsSeven major brands have launched OLED products one after another. In the smartphone field, Samsung,apples, Huawei, LG, OPPO, ViVo, etc. all use OLED screens in high-end products. To a certain extent, it can even be said that without an OLED screen, there is no ticket to the high-end market
Recently, major TV brands led by Skyworth (Changhong, Konka, Philips, etc.) have also begun to drastically reduce the price of their own OLED TVs one after another. Seen from this perspective, the official rise of OLEDs this year has no basis. Also, there is good news recently that LG Display's panel manufacturing plant in Guangzhou will achieve mass production in the third quarter of this year. This is undoubtedly a good thing for machine manufacturers such as Skyworth and Changhong in terms of supply capacity and price reduction space.
In addition to the “price reduction and popularization” measures of traditional TV manufacturers, there are also rumors recently that traditional mobile phone manufacturers such as Honor and OnePlus are also preparing to enter the television industry. One plus aspect has even hinted many times that it will point directly at the high-end market of the television industry, and OLEDs, as the “protagonist” of current high-end TV screens, must have images of leaving the country. The addition of new players adds new vitality to the color TV industry and has a certain effect on the “revival” of the entire color TV market.
Although OLED has been famous for many years and is rarely seen, starting this year, many companies and industries have begun to take action, which has also made people increasingly able to see the limitless potential of OLED in the future. Today, many companies are using drastic price reduction measures to popularize OLEDs. This is undoubtedly a good thing for consumers, but for the industry, it may not be very conducive to the future development of the industry.
According to data from a “shopping considerations” survey of consumers conducted by Panbori Consulting, product quality is the primary consideration for consumer shopping, and cost performance is in second place. Seen in this way, compared to TV manufacturers' simple price reduction promotions to popularize OLEDs, consumers actually pay more attention to the cost performance ratio of the products. However, you need to know that cost performance ratio does not equal low price. As a high-end player in the current color TV market, if OLED starts a price war with the traditional LCD TV market, it may make the entire industry even more chaotic. Therefore, enterprises should keep the high-end color TV market relatively stable out of long-term considerations, so that the color TV market in the future is not as “severe” as it is now.
As for the popularity of OLEDs, it should depend on the actual situation. The price campaign launched by major companies is indeed helping the high-end market to grow rapidly, but at present, it seems that if high-end products want to raise consumer awareness, this approach is not a long-term solution.
Summary: The market space for OLED is undoubtedly huge. As demand for OLEDs in various fields (mobile phones, smart wearables, automobiles, etc.) increases, it is not impossible for OLEDs to replace traditional LCD in the future and become the number one hegemon. Now that a new round of color TV price war has begun, it is only a matter of time before high-end OLED TVs enter the homes of ordinary people.