However, four years have passed, and "watching dramas on a 100-inch large screen" is still the choice of a few families. The main reason is that the price of 100-inch LCD TV is very expensive. Take the above-mentioned Sony TV as an example, and the price was as high as 499,000 yuan at that time.
Ancient screenshot
High price scares away consumers, but cannot persuade the home appliance industry to withdraw. Especially after the epidemic, the home economy has flourished, people's demand for home entertainment is increasing, and another "hot" small home appliance has been pushed to the market center. It is a smart projector with a user experience comparable to a 100-inch LCD TV (Table 1).
sales have skyrocketed, and the leader is on the market and is at the forefront?
As we all know, projectors are not a new species. They have been widely used in business, education and other scenarios, and are collectively called "commercial-grade" projection. With the improvement of projection equipment technology, projection products are gradually penetrating into "consumer-level" scenarios under the trend of upgrading demand consumption, younger consumption, larger display demand, and intelligent home demand.
market data shows that the rapid rise of the "consumer-grade" intelligent projection market is positively driving the overall shipment volume of the projection equipment industry. According to IDC's forecast, in the Chinese market, the shipments of "consumer-grade" projections have increased from 1.2 million units in 2017 to 3 million units in 2020, while "commercial-grade" projections have declined year by year since 2017, and the decline is the most severe in 2020 due to the epidemic. However, the entire projector market is growing positively, which shows that the surge in sales of "consumer-grade" smart projection has greatly made up for the decline in "commercial-grade". (Figure 1)
So, what is the difference between "commercial-grade" projection and "consumer-grade" intelligent projection?
From the scene, the former is used in 2B scenarios such as business and education. The projection equipment is placed in a fixed position and the overall size is large, which does not require high levels of intelligence and sound/image quality of the projection equipment. Most of the latter is used in home scenarios, facing the 2C consumer market, focusing on meeting consumers' leisure and entertainment needs, and has high requirements for projection effect and experience.
From the hardware technical level, the integrated light system designed for "commercial grade" projection uses metal halide lamps and LCD lighting solutions used for lighting display design. The optical machine has low light efficiency, low color contrast, low resolution, and poor sealing. In the past few years, it has solved more heat dissipation and life problems. "Consumer-level" intelligent projection uses LED light sources and laser light sources to replace LCDs, which has the advantages of rich colors and longer lifespan; and the current mainstream DLP lighting technology solution has greatly improved the projection image quality, laying the foundation for products to enter the consumer market.
software technology has also made great progress. More and more technical talents for developing system desktop and software adaptation are emerging in China. Android's Kaiyuan system also allows projectors to develop more app applications by themselves. Functions similar to education and fitness will greatly enhance the entertainment and interactivity of the large screen.
From the perspective of experience function, the main functions of the smart projectors sold are: picture correction and occlusion avoidance, automatic alignment of the screen, infrared screen protection, AI voice system, multimedia intelligent applications, etc. With the popularity of 5G networks, more and more projectors have added communication modules such as 5G and Wi-Fi, which are expected to be connected to smart home scenarios and assume more smart roles.
Finally, from the perspective of product price, the price of "commercial-grade" projection is mainly determined by the resolution of the image quality. For example, the 4K resolution projectors with the highest rate can be divided into jitter 4K (starting price 8,000 yuan) and true 4K (starting price over 10,000 yuan); while the lowest-level 480P resolution projectors are generally around 1,000-2,000 yuan. It can be said that it is a real "you get what you pay for".
As for "consumer-grade" smart projectors, the resolution of the equipment currently sold is generally 1080P. The price is more determined by the multi-dimensionality of equipment quality, comprehensive performance, functional experience, value-added services, etc. The concepts range from laser TV, screenless TV, projection TV, etc., with prices ranging from 1,000 yuan to nearly 50,000 yuan. In contrast, the latter is more affordable.
In fact, the popularity of smart projectors is closely related to the booming home economy. Currently, the number of smart projection brands on sale in the market has reached nearly 200, with nearly 50 new ones added in 2020 alone.(Figure 2) The earliest batch of smart projectors of
were released around 2018 and were once popular. However, due to the simple AI functions, rough imaging quality, low cost performance and other factors, intelligent projection quickly fell silent. This stage is represented by Epson, Sony, Panisham , NEC, BenQ. They try to explore the consumer market with their advantages in the professional commercial market.
From 2020, the sudden outbreak of the epidemic has greatly increased people's time at home, and users' demand for large-screen movies has increased, which has caused the home furnishing industry and Internet companies to restart the project of smart projectors. In particular, domestic manufacturers represented by Jimi, Nut, Xiaomi , Hisense and Changhong have risen rapidly, and have also greatly promoted the experience and application of projector products in the field of large-screen display in the field of home consumption.
projection products are getting hot, which will inevitably attract the attention of capital. On March 3, 2021, the "first smart projector stock" of Jimi Technology was listed on Science and Technology Innovation Board . The issuance price of 133.73 yuan per share broke through the 500 yuan per share mark at the opening of , with a total market value of about 24 billion yuan (as of the close of March 26), and its revenue in 2020 was 2.83 billion yuan.
"Projection is no longer restricted to the stereotyped home theater, private theater and other positioning, but is more like an entertainment device like Switch, drone, and Polaroid. Although it is not a necessity, it can better improve the quality of our lives." Jimi once said.
smart projector industry chain analysis
Next, let’s get to the topic, the industrial chain analysis of smart projector industry chain. (Figure 3)
(I) Underlying technology
It includes optical machine design, hardware circuit design, and overall machine structure design, which determines the brightness, heat dissipation, noise size, appearance, as well as the stability and yield of the projection equipment.
First, optical machine is the most core part of the projector and is the main place for projector image imaging, and its cost accounts for 40%-50% of the total machine cost. The projector's light source, display chip, radiator and optical path are mainly designed in a chassis, and the reflection and refraction of the lens to the polarizer to form the required color image. Specifically:
① The main suppliers of lenses include: Kodak and Corning in the United States, Ricoh in Japan, Ohara, Bogu, Olympus , Panasonic, etc., Carl Zeiss in Europe, Philips in , Phoenix Optical in China, Crystal Optical , Lida Optical , Sunny Optical, Daliguang , etc.
②Only this is the optical processing chip, and there is no branch, it is the DLP chip of Texas Instruments in the United States. Because it is based on the digital micromirror device developed by TI, DMD (Digital Micromirror Device) to complete the display of visual digital information, all core technologies and core patents are in the hands of TI. In the past, there were three paths: 3 LCD, LCOS and DLP, but now DLP is the only one that can dominate the world.
③ Light sources are divided into three types. The suppliers of traditional light sources include Netherlands Philips, OSRAM , Epson , Panasonic, etc.; KED light sources are concentrated in the United States radio and General Electric ; laser light sources include Japan's Nissan Chemistry, Mitsubishi Electric, Germany OSRAM, as well as Ruifeng Optoelectronics , Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Guoke Laser, Guoxing Optoelectronics , etc.
④ As for the whole machine manufacturing of optical machines, it can be divided into two categories according to the product: one is LED optical machines, and the whole machine manufacturers include Xunda , Guangjing, Anhua, etc.; laser optical machines include Shenzhen Huole, Guangfeng Optoelectronics, Hisense Electrical , Zhongqiang Optoelectronics, etc. In the secondary market, the complete machine suppliers include Hisense Electric, Crystal Optoelectronics, Zhongqiang Optoelectronics, etc.
Second, the core components include motherboard, DLP driver chip, main control chip, AI chip, storage, wireless Wi-Fi, sensors, audio, etc.
① In terms of main control CPU, the market is dominated by domestic Rockchip Micro and Taiwan Mstar (acquired by MediaTek in 2014), and both can provide turnkey solutions. In addition, the market share of Quanzhi Technology and Beijing Junzheng has also increased.Overseas chip manufacturers (such as Amlogic) also have many multimedia CPUs that can be used for projectors, but since they are not projector-specific CPUs, their overall cost-effectiveness is inferior to the top four.
②In terms of wireless Wi-Fi, Broadcom , Realtek and others dominate Wi-Fi chips, while Murata and Masaki can provide Wi-Fi modules.
③ Since the smart projector has expanded functions such as AI control, intelligent recognition of on-screen, room temperature detection, etc., the addition of sensors is also indispensable. Among them, manufacturers such as sound sensor , environmental sensors, and biosensors have tried to enter the market.
Finally, software technologies mainly include intelligent perception algorithms, picture quality optimization algorithms, software system openness, etc., which are corresponding to the intelligence, ease of use and picture quality clarity of the product.
It is not difficult to see that mainland Chinese manufacturers have a large share in the manufacturing of the whole machine; but core devices such as lenses, light sources, and optical processing chips are still dominated by overseas manufacturers. Therefore, there is still a long way to go to replace the projector core components.
(II) Whole machine manufacturing
In terms of projector whole machine, some manufacturers will choose to produce independently, and some will outsource processing, so that the OEM factory will be responsible for the assembly of finished products.
The advantage of the former is that it has capacity autonomy and can flexibly adjust product strategies and capacity planning according to the needs of the consumer market. However, the company has invested a lot in the early stage, and once the technical route changes, historical investment will become a burden.
The latter uses the method of outsourced processing to reduce the company's overall investment, lightweight, and focus more on R&D, design, and service. However, production capacity cannot be controlled independently and there is a risk of supply and demand pressure. The suppliers of
projector complete machines include: Shenzhen Huole, Chengdu Jimi, Guangfeng Optoelectronics, Guangmi, Taiwan BenQ, Hisense Electric, Sichuan Changhong, Haier Electric, Diwei Video , Ailuowei, Zhongqiang Optoelectronics, Epson, Philips, etc.
(III) Product matrix product
Other accessories involve projection screen, projection bracket, remote control, handle, 3D glasses, etc.
curtain is the object that is directly viewed by the eyes. If you don’t care about it, you can ignore it and just use a white wall; if you care about it, you can configure the curtain/projection screen.
Internationally, European and American brands such as STEWART and HARKNESS in the United States are far ahead of the technology of optical coating on the surface of the screen, with decades of history; and screen weaving technology (representing the pixel size of the image) represented by Japanese OS and SCREEN RESEARCH in France also has a certain market share; Danish DNP optical rear projection screen occupies a large part of the rear projection market. It can be seen that high-end curtain products are almost dependent on imports.
Currently, the manufacturers of screen production in my country are white snow, red leaves, focus, etc. But the optical coating material of the curtain is the Big Japanese Printing Company.
The competitiveness of the five major terminal brands competes with
Finally, we analyze in detail, the five most popular smart projector terminal brands in the consumer market today. (Table 3)
1. Jimi XGIMI
intelligent projection products, projection-related accessories and Internet value-added services are the three major product services of Jimi Technology. The company's biggest potential advantage lies in the independentization of optical machine technology.
data shows that in 2019, Jimi achieved independent optical machine technology and gradually introduced mass production. In 2020, H1's self-developed optical machine quickly resumed work and production, and the proportion of self-developed H1 increased to 58.72%. This reduces the unit cost of for Jimi Technology's intelligent micro-investment product . At the same time, Jimi also cooperates closely with domestic suppliers in various optical machinery parts fields to promote the upgrading of the domestic optical machinery industry chain.
In 2020, Jimi's projector shipments were 757,000 units, ranking first in the Chinese market shipments.
2. Nut JmGo
The "nut" mentioned here has nothing to do with another "net celebrity" Luo Yonghao , and it is definitely not a mobile phone peripheral product released by Hammer Technology . JmGo's company's full name is " Shenzhen Huole Technology Development Co., Ltd. ". It is a Shenzhen entrepreneurial team specializing in projection TV.The business model of
JmGo is similar to Jimi. It focuses on making consumer-grade projection equipment. By purchasing raw materials such as optical machines, light sources, DMD chips from upstream suppliers, it will assemble, produce and sell the entire machine. It uses the terminal equipment operating system to deliver the content integrated through the platform to users, realizing the creation of "terminal + content + platform + software". In addition, JmGo once said that it will enter the film distribution market in the future.
In 2020, JmGo firmly ranked second in the Chinese market with a shipment volume of 422,000 units.
3.Epson Epson
Friends who have been in contact with "commercial-grade" projectors must be very familiar with Epson. As early as 1989, Epson built the world's first LCD projector, which set off a wave of digital projectors and led companies such as Toshiba , BenQ , Barco and other companies to join the projection market.
With the advent of the intelligent era, Epson has also laid out the smart projector market early on with its long-standing advantages of "commercial-grade" products, and its product positioning is relatively "high-end". For example, Epson launched a new EpiqVision series laser projector product in October last year, supports 4K HDR content and built-in speakers. The recommended price starts at US$4,999 (equivalent to RMB 33,800).
Epson's projector shipments in the Chinese market in 2020 were 332,000 units.
4.BenQ BenQ
BenQ Dentsu product services span the 3C field. In the past, it was one of the companies under the Acer Group . In 1999, it became the BenQ Dentsu Group and launched its own brand BenQ in 2001. BenQ is also an old player who is deeply engaged in "commercial-grade" projectors, but it has also made many new attempts in the new field of intelligent projection.
In March 2021, BenQ launched two portable projectors, namely GS50, which focuses on IPX2 waterproof, fall-proof 50 meters, and outdoor use in camping. It supports 1080p resolution and built-in support for Android TV system.
BenQ's projector shipments in the Chinese market in 2020 were 156,000 units, and the gap with the TOP3 was significantly widened.
5. Xiaomi MI
is different from the above four companies. Xiaomi is "the most unique" in the smart projection track. It did not make too much layout in the projection market earlier, but due to the rapid expansion of the MI ecosystem chain, it has entered the projection track in recent years and has achieved a rapid market layout from scratch - in 2020, the Chinese market shipments accounted for 3%, ranking fifth.
According to analysis, Xiaomi uses its own algorithm advantages to build projection products, and at the same time, it quickly deploys the market with the brand's existing channels and the brand effect accumulated in the past. From its changes in market share from scratch, it can be seen that Internet-type companies also have certain market competitiveness.
Summary: Opportunities and challenges coexist
Of course, with the rapid development of the industry, new players are constantly pouring in, and the challenges faced by the smart projection industry are becoming clearer.
Challenge 1: Although the technology has made breakthrough progress, most mainstream home appliance companies have not yet entered the market, and this product is still a "niche" consumer product. For example, laser TV was born before 2000, but it has not been recognized by mainstream color TV companies. One of the big reasons is that the projection must be used as a medium. The picture is greatly affected by ambient light, which is easy to cause signal attenuation and is only suitable for viewing in dim environments. If the company artificially increases the brightness of the picture, it will lead to a rapid attenuation of the life of the laser transmitter and a high maintenance cost.
Challenge 2: The projection market has not yet been truly cultivated, but the price war has begun. This is a very dangerous act of self-harm. Some companies have taken the extremely low-price route, and the quality of product picture has dropped significantly, which has consumed consumers' interest.
Challenge 3: has problems with unclear industry standards and poor supervision. Some companies lack technical accumulation and rely too much on OEM factories, and cross the line for sales benefits. For example, the threshold for professional brightness testing is high, and it is difficult for users to complete self-testing, and there is no way to protect their rights, so they can only leave it alone.
can be seen, and the opportunities and challenges left to Chinese smart projection players coexist.This requires manufacturers to increase R&D investment, continuously iterate and promote new products, rely on their own strong appearance design capabilities and software and hardware design capabilities to cater to consumers' aesthetics and improve consumers' user experience; on the other hand, they make long-term layout, forward-looking access to the smart home ecosystem, and get close to and educate users as soon as possible through offline direct stores, because user experience and users' perception of the brand are the key to breaking through small home appliance products.
This article is an article in the May 2021 issue of "International Electronic Commerce Information", all rights reserved, and reproduction is prohibited. Free magazine subscription application click here
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