Last month, both OPPO and vivo released the first flagship machine in 2018. The former released R15. The latter released the X21. Both of them have selected the four-curved 3D glass back cover for the back cover material of the mobile phone, while the OPPOR15 also The use of a four-surface ceramic back cover, in addition, MIX2S Xiaomi released the same four-curved ceramic back cover, with the application of new materials in the mobile phone back cover market, prompting relevant suppliers to benefit greatly.
In the ceramic back cover market, the biggest benefit is the Sanhuan Group. However, according to the author's understanding, in fact, both the OPPOR15 and the MIX2S of Xiaomi, although the former uses a four-curved ceramic back cover, the actual amount is not large. Said that it is still in the test stage, and millet MIX series had previously used a ceramic back cover, although today's MIX2S uses a four-curved ceramic back cover, but the millet MIX series has always been a small shipment, mainly millet to go High-end market gimmick. For the ceramic back cover, the current biggest bottleneck is still the yield and cost issues! From the perspective of ceramic back cover suppliers, A-share listed companies are also only one of Sanhuan Group. For smartphone terminal manufacturers, its selectivity is too narrow!
At the same time, in contrast to the ceramic back cover, there are too many A-share listed companies in the 3D glass back cover market, and some previously engaged glass cover manufacturers, such as Lance Technology, Star Technology, etc. Manufacturers of precision structural parts, such as BYD, Tongda Group, Shengli Precision, etc.! Obviously, for the competition of the 3D glass and ceramics in the mobile phone back cover market, the former has more advantages from the current point of view, and is also the main choice of the current flagship machine!
The birth of any new type of product will undoubtedly lead to major changes in the market. The adoption of the flagship machine for 3D glass will inevitably have a great impact on the precision structural parts mainly based on metal back covers. Many precision component manufacturers have accelerated the layout of the 3D glass back cover market, while independently developing metal middle frames. Undoubtedly, in the high-end market of smart phones in the future, the 3D glass back cover + metal middle frame will be the main one. The ceramic back cover currently appears to be mainly differentiated, but the market supply is insufficient. For the manufacturers of precision structural parts, they will pay more attention to the metal middle box market in the short term, and in the low-end market, the future may be mainly based on IMT!
3D Glass Warfare Ceramics: Impact on Precision Structural Parts Market
First of all, let's take a look at ceramic materials. Currently, the main applications of ceramic materials in smart phones are fingerprint covers and mobile phone back covers. For the fingerprint cover market, the market competition is too fierce. In addition to the Sanhuan Group and Sunlord Electronics, There are many small and medium-sized manufacturers, but in the ceramic back cover market, the main three-ring group mainly!
As early as the beginning of 2017, Changying Precision and Sanhuan Group planned to set up a joint venture to produce ceramic exterior parts and modules for intelligent terminals and smart wearable products. However, the joint venture between the two did not end smoothly and eventually ended in failure. ! Subsequently, Sunlord Electronics also acquired a 57.7% stake in its shareholding company Dongguan Xinbo in cash!
In spite of this, as far as ceramic materials are concerned, besides the fingerprint cover market, they are not widely used in the mobile phone back cover market. For the fingerprint cover market, such as Huawei's P and Mate for the past two years The ceramic covers are used in the series, but in the flagship market, fingerprints have already begun to be mass-produced. This is undoubtedly an impact on the fingerprint cover market. In the low-end market, the fingerprint cover is mainly based on glass. the Lord!
In other words, in fact, the application of ceramics in the smart phone market, the future will be mainly limited to the mobile phone back cover market, but the high cost of the ceramic back cover market has become a major obstacle to market applications! It is understood that the main reasons for the high cost of ceramics solutions are twofold. One is that the powder formulation of the previous process, the process of forming and sintering into embryos are difficult, and the second is the large investment in machining processes such as grinding and polishing at the rear stage. Low processing yield
Powder materials are particularly important, and industrialization is the core. Zirconia processing includes powder, casting, sintering, CNC, screen printing, coating and other processes. In terms of powder formulation, casting, sintering, etc., the zirconia ceramic equipment can already be self-manufactured. The core parts and components are also mainly dependent on the import; the material is an important cost, and the powder part is locally produced, but the quality product Still have a greater dependence on Japanese companies. After the processing of ceramics processing is difficult, can not be car, cut and other processing, can only be grinding, processing efficiency is low, capital expenditures and yields are the most industrialized appearance of ceramic parts.
In addition, ceramic exterior parts significantly increase the demand for subsequent CNC. At present, most of the zirconia products do not require high CNC machining. For example, the inner process of the ceramic ferrule is mainly the grinding and testing of the inner and outer diameters as well as the coaxial inspection. The demand for the CNC is small. The demand for PKG and fuel cell membranes is even lower. Appearance of mobile phone 2D/3D structure, chamfering, punching, etc., in addition to the need to increase the color, drawing and other surface treatment process, the difficulty of the road after the increase significantly. In addition to the special structure, there are significant shrinkage characteristics in the ceramic sintering process, and even if the injection molding, the remaining processing is still essential.
In the view of glass back cover manufacturers, ceramic materials have lower production costs than conventional materials such as glass and metal, due to their complex processing technology, high processing difficulty, and high cost. The cost of post-process processing is several times higher. In the future, even if ceramic powder raw materials gradually realize domestically-made alternative imports and the subsequent processing technology and level are further improved, the manufacturing cost of precision ceramics will still be much higher than that of glass, metal, etc., and it is unlikely to be like the current glass and metal back cover. As common as it is. However, due to its high surface hardness, impact resistance, electromagnetic signal penetration, bright luster and other fine features, it is still expected to be more used in high-end consumer electronics products.
Compared with a few players with a ceramic back cover, the competition in the glass back cover market is undoubtedly much more intense! According to incomplete statistics of the mobile phone newspaper online, in the middle of 2017, only the following 4 companies invested 21.3 billion yuan in 3D glass, and mainly focused on the smart phone market 3D glass back cover market (excluding the front cover). !
AAC Technologies smart phone 3D glass and other micro precision components projects started, a total investment of 128 Lansic South China factory will settle in Dongguan Tangxia, with an estimated total investment of 4.5 billion yuan, Shengli Precision built a smart terminal in Shucheng, Anhui 3D cover glass production line, project investment is expected to total 3.285 billion yuan, BYD will also plan to invest 600 million yuan to use existing plants to build 3D glass projects, the first phase of the plan to reach the production conditions by the end of this year, up to now, has accumulated investment 200 million yuan. And Ophelia also invested 100 million yuan in Nanchang engaged in 3D glass cover development!
As a large metal back cover manufacturer, BYD has become a supplier of vivoX21 this year. However, its 2017 revenue increased by 5.55% year-on-year to more than 38 billion yuan. Net profit increased by 109.56% year-on-year to 2.585 billion yuan. Mainly depends on the continuous increase in the penetration of metal parts.
According to BYD Electronics, “Although many mobile phone manufacturers have started to use 3D glass as a mobile phone case, they still need a metal middle frame for waterproofing, so the main trend of future mobile phones will be 3D glass plus metal middle frame. The processing time is longer than that of the metal case, so the unit price will be more expensive than the metal case."
In addition, according to Tongda Group, from the perspective of past product prices, the average cost of an all-plastic shell is about US$3, and that of all-metal is US$6 to US$10. Nowadays, three types of wireless charging, 5G mobile phone casing, IMT, The price of 2.5D glass + metal middle frame, 3D glass part + metal middle frame is approximately $6, $13, and $23, respectively, and you can see that the prices are upgrading.
The glass cover plate + metal middle frame will increase by 1-20 million in 2018. It is noteworthy that the 2017 glass cover plate + metal middle frame production capacity is in Samsung and Apple, not in mainland China. This demand will be in 2018. It will appear for the first time in mainland China. The ratio between 2.5D and 3D is about 8:2. The access to the sheet is a strength and has already been delivered in bulk. The price upgrade will drive Tongda's growth in 2018. Tongda's mobile phone for 2018 The structure is full of confidence. It emphasizes that 2.5D glass has risen from 50,000 this year to about 100,000 a day, and 3D has risen from 15,000 to 20,000 a day.
