A brief discussion on the innovation path of small-pitch LEDs

Small spacing, in Gu Si’s name, means small spacing between dots. With the advancement of technology, the definition of small spacing in the industry is also constantly changing. In the early years, we felt that the P6 was small enough and clear enough. Now, only those with a pixel pitch within 2.5mm (including 2.5mm) can be called a small-pitch LED display.

As a new product derived from conventional LED displays, small spacing has the characteristics of seamless splicing, long life, and excellent display effects. Therefore, from the day it was born, it has quickly become popular in the LED display industry at a "rocket" speed.

Today, with the global economic downturn and industry market demand declining, the LED display industry is entering a cold winter. Small spacing is the new "blue ocean" of the LED display industry. It is a front for companies to expand the market, break through technical barriers and product price wars, and it is also another shortcut for companies to quickly increase profits. Therefore, companies are flocking to the market, and market competition is intensifying. In order to win the market initiative and maintain their leading position, a group of screen companies represented by listed companies have been working hard towards "smaller pitch, smaller pitch", "clearer picture quality, clearer" and "broader field of view, wider". At the same time, they have also promoted the innovation of small-pitch products in terms of packaging form, structure, appearance, application scenarios and marketing concepts.

There is no minimum dot spacing, only smaller dot spacing

The first is the innovation of dot spacing. After all, the main and most prominent feature of small spacing is that it keeps getting smaller. At present, the trend of miniaturization of small-pitch packaging devices is obvious. 1010 and 0808 packaging devices are constantly emerging, 0707 has been put into production, and 0606 and 0505 are also on the road of research and development. Therefore, small-pitch products on the market such as P 2.5, P2.0, P1.6, P1.5, and P1.2 are emerging one after another, and even smaller pitch products such as P0.9 and P0.8 have begun to enter the mass production stage. Small pitch has embarked on the road of "there is no minimum, only smaller".

On September 10, 2015, Leyard announced that the world's smallest pitch of 0.7mm ultra-fine pitch LED panels has been mass-produced, making my country's small-pitch products lead the world. There is no doubt that from the initial P2.5 to today's P0.7, the point pitch of small pitch products has made a huge breakthrough. However, due to the high cost of fine pitch and the complicated technical process, and there are more mature display technologies in the field of fine pitch than small pitch, the breakthrough of dot pitch has been slowed down.

SMD and COB packaging forms coexist

In the early days of the birth of small spacing, SMD packaging was outstanding, and all small spacing products on the market were dominated by SMD packaging. In recent years, the COB packaging form, known for its low cost, high reliability, and ease of achieving smaller dot pitches, has emerged. The small pitch packaging form has changed from the early SMD packaging to the current coexistence of SMD packaging and COB packaging.

The screen body is thinner and lighter, and maintenance is simplified

Compared with packaged devices, the size of the LED display box and the entire screen is simply a "monster." Taking the P1.6 small-pitch product as an example, to achieve full HD resolution (1920×1080), the screen size will also reach 144 inches, which is extremely inconvenient for transportation, installation and maintenance. In recent years, small spacing and thinness have become an important indicator for many consumers to purchase. Therefore, many domestic companies have tried their best to launch various carbon fiber box display products. This is not only conducive to the installation and maintenance of the product, but also reduces the load borne by the supporting building structure, making it safe and beautiful.

As we all know, early small-pitch products were mainly maintenance-oriented, with high maintenance costs and technical requirements, complicated installation and disassembly, and a large maintenance space needed to be reserved behind the screen, which troubled manufacturers and users. In order to solve this problem, LED display companies continued to innovate and finally developed small-pitch products that can be maintained at the front. This front-maintenance small-pitch product can remove the LED display module structure from the LED display box directly in front. Compared with the maintenance method that requires removing screws, disassembly is simpler and more convenient, and minimizes damage to module components, ensuring the integrity of the module structure. At the same time, the maintenance space on the back of the LED display is saved, making the overall display thinner.

Currently, many LED display companies have successively released front-protection small-pitch products, such as Chip Optoelectronics Leopard front-protection wall-mounted small-pitch LED display, Absen wall-mounted front-protection flat-panel small-pitch LED display, Unilumin fixed-mounted fully front-protection LED display, etc.

Standardized single box ratio

Some studies believe that the field of view of human eyes is a rectangle with a width-to-height ratio of about 16:9. This ratio of field of view is most in line with the viewing habits of the human eye. Therefore, as far as you can see, monitors on desktops and LCD TVs on the wall all use 16:9 product ratios, and many TV programs and video signal collection and production are also produced according to the "golden ratio" standard of 16:9.

As a leader competing with LCD splicing and DLP splicing for the indoor application market, small spacing certainly cannot lag behind others, but the dilemma of being unable to achieve point-to-point matching with video signals from 16:9 sources makes it difficult to achieve small spacing. In order to clear the obstacles for small spacing to enter indoor applications, some manufacturers began to focus their research and development on how to better connect LED displays with signal sources. As a result, 16:9 standard resolution small spacing LED displays came into being.

In March 2015, Unilumin Technology took the lead in proposing the concept of "16:9 standard resolution" and accordingly launched the industry's first PL series small-pitch LED display that fully complies with this golden ratio specification. Since then, Leyard has launched the TW series 16:9 display cabinet, and Alto Electronics has also launched a 16:9 standard resolution cabinet CLD commercial LED display. At present, 16:9 standard resolution small-pitch LED displays have accumulated multiple successful application cases. Compared with the original single-box ratio of 1:1 or 4:3, the emergence of 16:9 small-pitch screens has brought disruptive changes to indoor LED displays and injected new blood into the field of large-screen splicing.

The application fields continue to expand

Li Jun, chairman of Leyard, once said: "The ultimate goal of small-pitch LED products is to enter the living rooms of ordinary consumers and replace flat-panel TV products." It is understood that at present, small spacing is mainly used in high-end indoor applications such as dispatching command and control centers, studios, and meteorological information centers. In addition, there are also public information display fields, such as information bulletin boards in hotels, airports, theaters, etc., as well as corporate image promotion, museum cultural relics display, stadium scoreboards and various commercial fields.

With the decline in product prices, the application scope of small-pitch products is becoming more and more extensive. Although there has been a trend of entering the civilian market in recent years, small-pitch products have not been able to truly enter the civilian market due to reasons such as relatively high prices, too large screens, and too low resolution. However, some companies in the industry have begun to work hard for it. For example, Leyard has publicly stated that the price of its domestic LED TVs launched in the second half of 2015 will be significantly reduced. We believe that as small-pitch technology matures and costs decline, it is still possible for small-pitch technology to enter the civilian market.

Transforming from "technical experts" to "service experts"

For companies in the industry, as long as they have the technology, they may not be able to "dominate the world", but it is indeed very possible to "dominate one area". But now, the point spacing of small pitches has exceeded P0.7, and the technology is relatively surplus. It makes little sense to pursue products with smaller pitches.

As a result, in order to carve out a "bloody road" in the fierce market competition, many screen companies began to transform from technology leadership to channel, service, brand, and cost advantages. At the same time, small-pitch screen companies are no longer constrained by technological breakthroughs, but are finding new ways to use the example value and application innovation of existing project cases, emphasizing the advantages of service systems and existing customer groups, promoting their industry leadership, and strengthening the value experience of products, services, and brands.

These changes and breakthroughs can be seen at the 2015 Shanghai International LED Exhibition. For example, the upanel series launched by Unilumin Technology meets the market needs of control rooms, conference rooms, and studios; Zhengzhou Zhongxian's 3D LED display creates cinema-level visual enjoyment for customers; Leyard not only provides customers with overall solutions, but also provides customers with lifelong free after-sales services and online software upgrades... Companies that previously focused on technology and products have transformed from "technical experts" to "service experts", and their brand image is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

The future of small-pitch LEDs is limitless

It is undeniable that as a star product, small-pitch LEDs have always been a favorite among enterprises. In order to pursue higher profits, entrepreneurs are "unscrupulous" and "show their special talents" on the road of small-pitch innovation. Regarding the future of small spacing, various companies have similar views, but they all say that the future development potential of small spacing is huge.

Yuan Zheng, marketing manager of Lianjian Optoelectronics, once said frankly to the reporter of "LED Screen World" that regardless of whether LED small-pitch LEDs can take the lead in the commercial field in the future or make breakthroughs in the civilian market, we are full of confidence in small-pitch LEDs and hope that all companies will use technology to open up the market and not just fight on price.

Cai Sanze, director of marketing department of Unilumin Technology, said bluntly that the core competitiveness of small-pitch LED displays in the future will be mainly reflected in stability, reliability, user-level maintenance, display and control solutions, interaction, intelligence, clustering, etc. With the advancement of technology, traditional display products will gradually be replaced by small-pitch LED products.

Lei Yu, deputy general manager of marketing at Chip Optoelectronics, boldly predicted: "The core competitiveness of small-pitch products lies not in technology, but in thinking. The development trend of small-pitch devices in the future must be customization and productization, and it must not be understood with engineering thinking."

The author believes that the development of science and technology is endless, and human beings' pursuit of technology is endless. Against the background of technological progress and the gradual growth of market size, small-pitch displays will inevitably develop in the direction of thinness, intelligence, and integration. Small-pitch displays may no longer be a simple display screen, but may take the express train of the Internet and the Internet of Things and become the carrier of the Internet. Therefore, whether it is small spacing or the entire LED display industry, we should not be complacent and complacent, but should continue to innovate and produce products that meet market demand. Only in this way can Xiaopian have a better tomorrow and infinite possibilities!