Global touch screen market forecast and development trend analysis

Touch screen is the input device of computer. Unlike keyboard and mouse, which can realize input, it allows users to choose by touching screen. Computers with touch screens require little storage space, few mobile parts, and can be packaged. Touch screens are more intuitive to use than keyboards and mice, and training costs are low.

All touch screens have three main types of components. A sensor unit that handles user selection; a controller that senses touch and location; and a software device that transmits touch signals to a computer operating system. Touch screen sensors have five technologies: resistance technology, capacitance technology, infrared technology, acoustic technology or near-field imaging technology.

Three Trends of Global Touch Screen Industry

Global sales of touch panel will continue to expand. IHS research estimates that touch panel sales will reach 1.4 billion pieces in 2013, an increase of 20.2% over 2012; it is expected to climb further to 2.4 billion pieces by 2017, up 70% from this year. Among them, small and medium-sized touch panels under 10 inches will still be the largest sales force in the next few years, while large-sized products due to the low base period, sales growth will be the most significant in the next few years.

The tremendous demand of touch screen Market in the future has ignited the passion of enterprises. Terminal brands, touch panels and TFT panels have entered the touch screen market one after another. The scale of the touch screen market will continue to grow, and the future development of the touch screen industry will present three major trends.

1. Substitutive materials will continue to emerge in the touch screen industry.

As far as the touch screen industry chain is concerned, glass substrates, Petfilm and rubber are the main materials in the upstream of the industry, while the supply of glass substrates and Petfile is monopolized by American and Japanese enterprises. ITO glass, ITOfilm, sensor (including touch IC), coverlens are the upstream part, and the downstream part is a piece of touch module glass. From the research and development of touch materials in recent years, the research and development of alternative materials are mainly in the upper and middle reaches.

At present, touch sensor is experiencing the process of replacing glass with thin film. The thickness and weight brought by G/G touch technology still have great room for improvement for the terminal market and consumers. Film touch sensor is used instead of glass touch sensor in order to improve the thickness and weight at the same time.

CoverLens is also accelerating the development process of replacing glass with plastic. At present, some large factories have begun to evaluate the replacement of glass with plastics in order to overcome the problems of high weight and insufficient impact resistance. Generally speaking, the hardness and rigidity of glass material are higher than that of plastic material, and it can resist deformation and fracture caused by extrusion. In contrast, plastic materials are more impact-resistant and fall-resistant than glass materials. However, the transparency of plastic materials is not good, and in the process of fully bonding touch control module, if the curing temperature is too high, or after a long time of use, it is easy to produce yellowing and white atomization. However, these problems will soon be overcome, and the trend of replacing glass with plastics will be greatly accelerated.

At present, OPS (One Plastic Solution) touch solution is being evaluated by Taiwanese and Japanese factories to see if a new touch technology can be developed. OPS touch technology is to change the material of CoverLens into plastic, and then make ITO touch sensor on its CoverLens. This is the OPS touch solution. Compared with OGS touch panel technology, it is different from OGS in that ITO touch sensor is made on CoverLens using glass material, which is lighter and thinner. For example, if a 13-14 inch Laptop is equipped with an OGS touch panel module, the overall weight will increase by about 180 g, which is another additional weight burden for consumers. At present, nearly 95% of touch-control notebooks adopt OGS touch-control panel structure. As for double glass touch-control panel structure, it will not be used in notebooks or superbooks. Due to the strength, thickness and weight concerns of touch panel, brand manufacturers will continue to look for lighter, more impact-resistant materials and touch technology.

Glass and plastic are the two most commonly used materials for touch screens, both of which are monopolized by American and Japanese manufacturers. For example, in the overLens part of the touch panel, the strengthened glass is developed by Gorilla Glass of Corning and Dragontrail of Asahi Nitro, while the plastics are developed by Zhao Electric, Emperor, Mitsubishi Chemical Group, Big Japan Printing, Sumitomo Chemistry of Nippon Iron and Japan Synthetic Chemical Industry. At present, the two camps are in fierce competition. Japanese synthetic chemistry has developed ORGA plastics as early as 2011 to replace glass. ORGA itself has the same transparency as glass, and its heat resistance is above 200 C, and its pencil hardness is 3H-7H. Therefore, as a substitute material for reinforced glass for smartphones and flat panels, ORGA not only costs less than reinforced glass, but also weighs only one third. But whether the plastic camp wins or the glass camp exits, it is the competition between monopoly enterprises for touch screen market, which will become more intense in the future.

In recent years, new soft transparent conductive materials, such as conductive polymers, silver nanowires (metal meshes), carbon nanotubes and graphene, have been developed rapidly and commercialized rapidly. These materials have strong substitutability for ITO transparent conductive film, especially in the field of large and medium size touch screen.

Touch screen is the input device of computer. Unlike keyboard and mouse, which can realize input, it allows users to choose by touching screen. Computers with touch screens require little storage space, few mobile parts, and can be packaged. Touch screens are more intuitive to use than keyboards and mice, and training costs are low.

All touch screens have three main types of components. A sensor unit that handles user selection; a controller that senses touch and location; and a software device that transmits touch signals to a computer operating system. Touch screen sensors have five technologies: resistance technology, capacitance technology, infrared technology, acoustic technology or near-field imaging technology.

Three Trends of Global Touch Screen Industry

Global sales of touch panel will continue to expand. IHS research estimates that touch panel sales will reach 1.4 billion pieces in 2013, an increase of 20.2% over 2012; it is expected to climb further to 2.4 billion pieces by 2017, up 70% from this year. Among them, small and medium-sized touch panels under 10 inches will still be the largest sales force in the next few years, while large-sized products due to the low base period, sales growth will be the most significant in the next few years.

The tremendous demand of touch screen Market in the future has ignited the passion of enterprises. Terminal brands, touch panels and TFT panels have entered the touch screen market one after another. The scale of the touch screen market will continue to grow, and the future development of the touch screen industry will present three major trends.

1. Substitutive materials will continue to emerge in the touch screen industry.

As far as the touch screen industry chain is concerned, glass substrates, Petfilm and rubber are the main materials in the upstream of the industry, while the supply of glass substrates and Petfile is monopolized by American and Japanese enterprises. ITO glass, ITOfilm, sensor (including touch IC), coverlens are the upstream part, and the downstream part is a piece of touch module glass. From the research and development of touch materials in recent years, the research and development of alternative materials are mainly in the upper and middle reaches.

At present, touch sensor is experiencing the process of replacing glass with thin film. The thickness and weight brought by G/G touch technology still have great room for improvement for the terminal market and consumers. Film touch sensor is used instead of glass touch sensor in order to improve the thickness and weight at the same time.

CoverLens is also accelerating the development process of replacing glass with plastic. At present, some large factories have begun to evaluate the replacement of glass with plastics in order to overcome the problems of high weight and insufficient impact resistance. Generally speaking, the hardness and rigidity of glass material are higher than that of plastic material, and it can resist deformation and fracture caused by extrusion. In contrast, plastic materials are more impact-resistant and fall-resistant than glass materials. However, the transparency of plastic materials is not good, and in the process of fully bonding touch control module, if the curing temperature is too high, or after a long time of use, it is easy to produce yellowing and white atomization. However, these problems will soon be overcome, and the trend of replacing glass with plastics will be greatly accelerated.

At present, OPS (One Plastic Solution) touch solution is being evaluated by Taiwanese and Japanese factories to see if a new touch technology can be developed. OPS touch technology is to change the material of CoverLens into plastic, and then make ITO touch sensor on its CoverLens. This is the OPS touch solution. Compared with OGS touch panel technology, it is different from OGS in that ITO touch sensor is made on CoverLens using glass material, which is lighter and thinner. For example, if a 13-14 inch Laptop is equipped with an OGS touch panel module, the overall weight will increase by about 180 g, which is another additional weight burden for consumers. At present, nearly 95% of touch-control notebooks adopt OGS touch-control panel structure. As for double glass touch-control panel structure, it will not be used in notebooks or superbooks. Due to the strength, thickness and weight concerns of touch panel, brand manufacturers will continue to look for lighter, more impact-resistant materials and touch technology.

Glass and plastic are the two most commonly used materials for touch screens, both of which are monopolized by American and Japanese manufacturers. For example, in the overLens part of the touch panel, the strengthened glass is developed by Gorilla Glass of Corning and Dragontrail of Asahi Nitro, while the plastics are developed by Zhao Electric, Emperor, Mitsubishi Chemical Group, Big Japan Printing, Sumitomo Chemistry of Nippon Iron and Japan Synthetic Chemical Industry. At present, the two camps are in fierce competition. Japanese synthetic chemistry has developed ORGA plastics as early as 2011 to replace glass. ORGA itself has the same transparency as glass, and its heat resistance is above 200 C, and its pencil hardness is 3H-7H. Therefore, as a substitute material for reinforced glass for smartphones and flat panels, ORGA not only costs less than reinforced glass, but also weighs only one third. But whether the plastic camp wins or the glass camp exits, it is the competition between monopoly enterprises for touch screen market, which will become more intense in the future.

In recent years, new soft transparent conductive materials, such as conductive polymers, silver nanowires (metal meshes), carbon nanotubes and graphene, have been developed rapidly and commercialized rapidly. These materials have strong substitutability for ITO transparent conductive film, especially in the field of large and medium size touch screen.