【Industry News】[industry information] (overseas industry news) the thinness of touch panel and

Apple's iPhone 5, which uses an in cell instead of the twin glass panel of the past, has reduced the thickness and weight of the iPhone 5 by 18% and 20% respectively. According to WitsView, the Panel Industry Research Department of trendforce, a global market research organization, driven by the demand for lighter and thinner design of the new generation of products, the dominance of dual glass will begin to collapse, and its proportion in smart phones will decline from 15.4% in 2012 to 2013 6.4%; the proportion of tablet computers will also drop by as much as 30% within one year, and it is estimated that 41% of the products will be used in 2013.

According to Mr. Qiu Yubin, associate director of WitsView, touch technology is diverse. In addition to in cell technology, film type architecture and OGS will be widely used in the field of smart mobile devices and notebook computers. The overall touch industry will develop towards a more modular architecture. Among the current smart phones, except for Apple's iPhone, which chooses the two-piece glass touch module, the vast majority of products adopt the dual film architecture. Compared with the film type, the glass style has better penetration, and the more sensitive touch experience is also the biggest reason why Apple insists on glass. However, such insistence is a revolutionary change in the new generation of iPhone products. In order to reduce the thickness of iPhone, apple carries its in cell panel based on its own patent to the new generation of iPhone.

WitsView said that in cell technology is a shortcut for large factories with the ability to produce LCD panels to grab the touch business opportunity pie. The integration of touch function into the panel can not only simplify the process, improve the weight and thickness of the supply chain, but also reduce the cost of materials and logistics. Of course, in cell is by no means a panacea, and there are many challenges to overcome, including the interference of the panel on the touch signal and the yield problem caused by the increase of the mask.

Apple is expected to abandon the long-standing double-layer glass structure in the new generation of 7.85 inch Mini iPad and adopt a new single-layer double-layer film structure (gdito f or GF2, referred to as GF2). Using film instead of glass sensor can improve the thickness and weight at the same time. However, in order to maintain the touch sensitivity, apple abandoned the traditional film sensor and introduced it into Nissha Although the initial yield of the metal wire inductor supplied by printing is not ideal and the cost competitiveness is not advantageous, once these obstacles are overcome and the number of suppliers increases, the single-chip double-layer film structure may be further introduced into Apple's 9.7-inch iPad in the future.

In addition to Apple's tablet, Microsoft's upcoming surface tablet device also uses a single-layer architecture (g1f) based on thin-film sensors. With the help of large factories, the pressure to replace the touch module with double glass structure in tablet computer field will only increase.

WitsView points out that compared with the previous windows operating system versions, Windows 8, which integrates touch functions, can be said to be the biggest breakthrough point. Therefore, notebook computers with windows as the main operation core have also started to set off a wave of craze for carrying touch functions. In addition to adding touch control to the original notebook computer, in addition to the weight can not be increased too much, of course, the more important thing is that the cost can not be increased too much. Under such conditions, the relatively simple single glass touch panel naturally meets the needs of brand customers.

Since most notebook computers use clamshell design to solve the concerns about the strength of touch panel, nearly 95% of the current touch based pens adopt OGS architecture, and the application of dual glass structure in notebook computers is almost ignored. WitsView said that for glass touch sensor suppliers, if they do not develop their technology risks towards OGS as soon as possible, it will be difficult to seize the market opportunities for applications larger than 10.1 inches in the future