Anna Zhao

    anna.whizh@yahoo.com

    CHINESE smartphone users are expected to be able to use smartphones with homegrown technology soon, as a domestic company unveiled its latest cutting-edge display screen yesterday during the 16th CHTF.

    Shanghai EverDisplay Optronics announced that it has been producing large volumes of AMOLED (Active Matrix/Organic Light Emitting Diode) screens since the beginning of the fourth quarter of this year, rivaling two other industry giants, South Korea’s Samsung and LG. The company is China’s first enterprise to venture into the high-end display industry.

    AMOLED screens excel in picture quality, energy consumption and the naturalness of their visuals. The technology is currently widely applied to high-end mobile devices, but so far, domestic manufacturers of high-end mobile devices have to rely on foreign suppliers for top-quality display panels.

    Zhu Ketai, the company’s general manager who has two decades of experience in the industry, said that lacking core technology with global competitiveness has been a key factor smothering Chinese companies’ share in the global display market. This lack of innovation hasn’t stopped Chinese manufacturers from churning out a huge number of display panels, though.

    Zhu said that over the past years, China’s mid- and low-end display screen market has become fully grown, but the country still lacks a stake in the high-end product market with flagship brands.

    Zhu said his company is currently producing 600,000 five-inch display panels per month and will raise that figure to 1 million by the end of next year. He is confident that his company, with concentrated young professionals, will bring its products strong global presence by emphasizing display quality.

    “As a display manufacturer in China, I think what we need to improve is building differentiated products that appeal to our users with good user experience and building our innovations rather than merely enlarging our productivity,” Zhu said.

    Zhu said his company will focus on small- to medium-sized displays and mainly target makers of smartphones, wearable devices, automotive and military applications in the future.

    The company was established two years ago. It not only specializes in the manufacturing of small- and medium-sized AMOLED screens but also in the next generation of display technologies.