Global and Chinese Touch Screen (Panel) Industry Report 2014

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Apr 16, 2014, 05:15 ET

DUBLIN, April 16, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/8vp3qs/global_and) have announced the addition of the "Global and Chinese Touch Screen (Panel) Industry Report 2014" report to their offering.

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In 2013, the touch screen market was featured with fierce price war and far lower demand for touch screen laptops than expected.

In the GFF field, many vendors, especially the ones in Mainland China, conducted expansion aggressively in 2012, but had to trigger a price war to seize customers in 2013. As a result, some vendors witnessed a significant decline in revenue, even the winners also paid a heavy price. The high-profit era of touch screens was gone for ever. The Mainland Chinese vendor SHENZHEN O-FILM TECH won the crown of laurels in the GFF field, but its gross margin fell by about 4%. The revenue of South Korean company MELFAS violently surged by 322% year on year, while its operating margin plummeted from 8.6% to 0.04% in 2013. MELFAS has expressly claimed its exit from some low-margin areas in 2014, which means that its revenue is expected to drop sharply.

The vendors who focused on laptop touch screens felt frustrated because the demand for touch screen laptops was severely lower than expected. TPK is the most typical example. Owing to the insufficient demand, F-TPK turned to invest in Cando in order to save costs and expenses; on November 4, 2013, it announced the halt of Hsinchu Plant's 3.5-generation line and 4.5-generation line; in late November, F-TPK also stopped the production of its subsidiary G&P Optical Solutions(Xiamen) Inc.

As for the technical aspect, GFF occupies the mainstream market by virtue of low prices, but threatened by the fast-growing OGS. Truly's revenue soared by 328% year on year in 2013 with the core product -- OGS, so that the company dominated the domestic high-end mobile phone market.

Metal Mesh has the merits below:

Ultra low impedance, support for the touch screen with the maximum size of 24 inches.
Competitive price, much lower than the ITO Film price
Foldable and bendable, especially suitable for smart wearable products like iwatch
Support ultra-narrow border design

For 13.3-inch laptops, Metal Mesh can control the border at 4 mm or less; for 15-inch laptops, it can do the border at 5 mm or less.

The upstream metal mesh industry chain is grasped by minority vendors including Fujifilm and Mitsubishi; moreover, it requires new equipment, so the initial cost is quite high. YOUNG FAST, SHENZHEN O-FILM TECH and J-Touch prefer Metal Mesh, and J-Touch targeting medium and large-sized fields makes the quickest progress.

Key Topics Covered:

1. Introduction to Touch Screen

2. Touch Screen Downstream Market

3. Touch Screen Industry

4. Small and Medium-sized Display Companies

5. Touch Screen Vendors

Companies Mentioned: