2021 is expected to be the year that Mini LED will illuminate the display market. Apple is getting ready to launch the new iPad Pro featuring Mini LED backlight display and Samsung will probably debut new high end TV portfolio based on the technology. Recently a Korean media added that Samsung might produce about 2 million units of Mini LED backlit TV next year.
With all the upcoming Mini LED display applications, the supply chain in Taiwan covering LED manufacturers and panel makers who have been dedicating to improving the display technology based on miniaturized LEDs could be the one having an upper hand.
Panel maker AUO has supplied its Mini LED backlight displays for gaming monitors and notebooks launched earlier this year while Innolux is offering automotive display based on Mini LED backlight technology for leading automobile manufacturers. Innolux also focuses on direct emissive Mini LED display for large size applications.
(Image: Lextar)
As for LED producers, Lextar recently introduced the new generation Mini LED backlight products targeting TV and automotive display applications. The company integrated chips and driver IC on the backplane and deployed microlens array to enlarge the beam angle of Mini LED. These advanced technologies allow penal makers to optimize production cost, addressing the current issue of Mini LED backlight products.
Furthermore, Epistar, the rumored Mini LED supplier for Apple, is expanding capacity of back-end manufacture process via collaboration with FitTech, the LED testing and sorting equipment supplier, for the hiking demands for Mini LED in the coming years.
In addition to supplying Mini LED chips for Apple, Epistar was also named as a chip provider for Samsung’s Mini LED backlit TVs, as well as Lextar. As the two Taiwan-based LED makers merging with a new holding company ENNOSTAR, the further integration in LED technology and capacity may boost their advantage in the new era of Mini LED and Micro LED.
More ongoing trends for Mini LED and Micro LED display technologies are now streaming at 2020 Micro LED Forum. Register and watch now.