At the 16th China International Optoelectronics Expo, which ended last Friday, sapphire became a hot spot among exhibition visitors. However, some manufacturers bluntly said that sapphire mobile phone screens have limited use and are just to make mobile phones appear more high-end.
In the fourth exhibition hall of the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center, many manufacturers displayed their sapphire products, including domestically listed Dongjing Electronics, Crystal Optoelectronics, Tiantong Co., Ltd., etc.
Ordinary people are familiar with sapphire, mainly because Apple's iPhone 6 may use a sapphire screen, and Huawei's P7, announced on August 25, is the industry's first 4G mobile phone equipped with a sapphire screen. This is how many viewers heard about sapphires.
At the exhibition site, sapphire products produced by many manufacturers are mainly used as LED substrate materials. It is understood that the main use of sapphire is still LED substrate material, but many manufacturers have begun to cut sapphire into the shape of mobile phone screens, with a view to applying it to mobile phone screens.
When a reporter asked about the benefits of sapphire screens, a staff member from an exhibitor gave an unexpected answer: "Sapphire has high hardness and is more resistant to scratches. However, since the current service life of smartphones is generally about 2 years, it has little practical value. Moreover, although sapphire has high hardness, it is not more resistant to falling than glass. Nowadays, mobile phone screens are getting larger and larger, and sapphire screens will still crack if they are dropped from a height. " However, he also admitted, "There is not much room for improvement in mobile phone software and hardware. Although sapphire is expensive, many manufacturers are turning to material breakthroughs to make consumers feel more high-end. "
Although the industry believes that sapphire has limited practical value, due to the demonstration effect of leading companies, there has been a wave of sapphire craze in China, and many listed companies have recently raised funds to expand sapphire production capacity.
Russian APEKS company also sent people to set up the exhibition. The company mainly sells sapphire crystal growth furnaces to China. Staff member Tang Jia said that orders from China have grown rapidly recently. According to her, APEKS has sold equipment to Crystal Optoelectronics and Dongjing Optoelectronics. Taiwan's Jiajing Technology is also an important customer of APEKS. Even Rubicon Technology of the United States and Japanese and Korean companies are also customers of APEKS. "The former Soviet Union invented sapphire for military purposes, and many companies imported technology from us," she said.
Tangia is very proud of its company's products. She said that many sapphire crystal growth furnaces produced by Chinese companies are modified based on their company's products, and American companies were the first to introduce their technology. "Our products are expensive, but of good quality," she said.
As for the news that Apple uses sapphire screens, Tangjia believes that it is obviously a good thing for APEKS.
Some media said that if all Apple screens use sapphire in the future, the market capacity will increase by 7 times. And the follow-up effect brought by Apple cannot be underestimated, and the market demand for sapphire crystal growth furnaces will increase significantly. In addition, the Russian sapphire production technology transfer fee is relatively cheap and is considered the first choice for Chinese companies.
ANNA