Reporters Visit BOE (BOE) Mianyang 6th Generation Flexible AMOLED Production Line

Now in the Mianyang factory of BOE, Mr. Ji have seen the prototype of folding screen mobile phones, smart watches and laptops with flexible AMOLED screens. However, those new products that are being jointly developed with partners are strictly confidential.
Looking at the mobile phone innovation trend from the BoE flexible screen production line. Mr. Ji came to the BOE (BOE) Mianyang 6th generation flexible AMOLED production line located in the high-tech Industrial Development Zone of Mianyang city, Sichuan province. After dustproof disposal, Mr. Ji walked in the corridor of visit, observing everything in the factory through thick glass. In fact, what can be seen from the outside is very limited. This is because a complete 6-generation flexible AMOLED production line is very complex, including BP (back panel), EVEN (evaporation & Packaging), TSP (touch panel), EAC (Unit display panel), MDL (module) five processes, each process is divided into more detailed processes.
According to Mr. Ji, the flexible production line of BoE Mianyang started in December 28, 2016, and mass production and shipment were carried out in July 15, 2019. So, what is the capacity of this production line?
Mianyang production line is the second flexible AMOLED production line of BoE mass production. 2015, Tokyo to build China's first strip flexible AMOLED production line -- BOE Chengdu 6th generation flexible AMOLED production line. Chengdu production line was mass-produced in October 2017 and has provided flexible screens for many famous brands around the world. The planned production capacity of Chengdu production line is to invest 48 thousand pieces of glass substrates per month, and each piece of glass substrate can cut about 190 6.47 inch mobile phone screens. At present, the first phase of Chengdu production line has been fully produced, and the comprehensive yield rate has reached more than 70%. BoE Mianyang production line has been mass-produced in July this year, and began to provide customers with high-performance flexible display products gradually. The planned production capacity is also 48 thousand pieces of glass substrates per month, but now some equipments are still in the running-in stage, the production capacity is in the rising stage. From the surveillance video, Mr. Ji found that there were still some staff of Equipment Manufacturers doing maintenance and debugging work on site. Different from the process of Chengdu production line, Mianyang production line directly integrates the touch circuit on the surface of the packaging layer of the display panel, which can better reduce the thickness of the module, make the flexible display screen lighter and lighter, and save the process time at the same time.
2018, Tokyo also to build Chongqing 6th generation flexible AMOLED production line, currently is still under construction. Now, BoE, the "King of liquid crystal", is accelerating its entry into OLED. Of course, other Chinese manufacturers are not idle. Nowadays, the flexible AMOLED production lines of Huaxing Optoelectronics, shentianma and vishino are also under intensive construction, and some production lines have already achieved mass production.
With the mass production of a large number of small-size flexible AMOLED production lines from Chinese manufacturers, Samsung Display's monopoly in this field is expected to be broken. It is understood that BoE's flexible screen is being sent to Apple for testing. Whether it can be equipped with iPhone is expected to be known by the end of this year.
On the other hand, the shipments and market share of Chinese mobile phone manufacturers such as Huawei, OPPO, vivo and Xiaomi are growing rapidly, and they will adopt more and more flexible AMOLED screens from domestic display device manufacturers in the future.
In current smart phones, screens are the most important and valuable components, especially smart phones equipped with flexible AMOLED screens. According to the dismantling data of IHS Markit, in 2017, Apple launched the first iPhone X with a flexible AMOLED screen, with a total cost of $370.25, while the cost of the screen was as high as $110, it accounts for 29.7% of the total cost.
The innovation of upstream display device manufacturers will inevitably bring new impetus to the innovation of mobile phone manufacturers; in fact, the development history of smart phones has proved this point: it is because Corning company has developed gold steel glass, apple was able to smoothly launch the first generation of iPhone; it was also because of the blessing of Samsung Display's large-size screen and full-view curved screen that Samsung mobile phones stood out in the era of smart phones.
Now in the Mianyang factory of BOE, Mr. Ji have seen the prototype of folding screen mobile phones, smart watches and laptops with flexible AMOLED screens. However, those new products that are being jointly developed with partners are strictly confidential.
Even so, Mr. Ji still see some clues of mobile phone innovation:
I. Waterfall screen. The screen has a huge bending angle, and the "waterfall screen" with the screen edge replacing the middle frame will be launched in this year. It is said that one of the Mate30 series released by Huawei in September this year will use waterfall screen. OPPO may release the second generation of Find X this year, and may also use waterfall screen.
II. Punching screen. Before that, mobile phone manufacturers such as Samsung and Huawei had already launched several types of punching screen products, but due to the location and quantity of the holes, the reputation was mixed. This year, a hole of smaller size may be introduced, and the hole will be punched in the display area, which is almost invisible during standby, for the sake of function and beauty.
III. Folding screen. This year, Samsung and Huawei will definitely launch mass production of folding screen phones, using internal folding and external folding schemes respectively. Next year, more mobile phone manufacturers will launch folding screen mobile phones, and the folded R angle will be smoother, and even there will be folding mobile phones.
IV. Supporting technology. The screen accounts for a higher proportion and can be folded. The original front camera, receiver, switch button and volume button need to find a new position or a new solution. It can be predicted that technologies such as off-screen camera, on-screen sound production, full-screen fingerprint, and touch integration will also become mature and be combined with customized flexible screens, give consumers a smart phone with a cooler appearance but still excellent experience.
In a word, the innovation of display technology will drive the innovation of mobile phone industry and bring us more cool mobile phones. Let's wait and see their arrival.