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Touch Technology Upgrades; G/G Status Faces Challenges!
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Apple's smartphone iPhone 5 implements the in-cell touch panel instead of the traditional G/G structure, reducing the phone thickness by 18 per cent and weight by 20 per cent.
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Monday, October 15, 2012:
According to WitsView, the research division of the market intelligence provider TrendForce, the dominance of G/G structure has begun to fall, driven by the new-generation products' lighter and thinner design, leading to a decline in the smartphone market share from 15.4 per cent in 2012 to 6.4 per cent in 2013, and a forecast of 30 per cent market share loss in the tablet market within one year.
As indicated by Eric Chiou, research director, WitsView, since the touch technologies multiply, in addition to the in-cell touch panel coming fiercely, film-type structure and OGS structure will also be commonly applied to mobile devices and notebooks, and the overall touch industry would develop towards the diversification of module structures.
Among existing smartphones, most products carry glass/film/film (G/F/F) structure except for Apple’s iPhone using the G/G touch module. The G/G structure enables better transparency compared to the film structure.
Besides, the more sensitive touch experience is also the main reason why Apple insists on G/G. However, the insistence is going through revolutionary changes in the new generation of iPhones. To trim the thickness, Apple applies in-cell panels, which is based on its own patent, to the new iPhone.
The in-cell technology is a shortcut to gain a bigger market share in the touch sector for major LCD makers, said Witsview. Integrating the touch function into panels would not only simplify the process, improve the weight and thickness, and make the supply chain easier, but also reduce material and logistic costs.
Of course, the in-cell solution is not a panacea, facing several challenges, including signal interferences from panels to touch signals, dropping yields due to increasing masks.
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Apple is believed to replace the G/G solution, its long-term practice, with the whole new GF2 solution (G Dito F) in the new generation of 19.9-cm (7.85-inch) iPad Mini. Films replacing glass sensors can improve thickness and weight issues at the same time.
To maintain the sensor sensitivity, Apple quits using film sensors of the traditional printing method but applies metal bridge film sensors, exclusively supplied by Japan’s Nissha Printing for the moment.
Following the obstacles are resolved, including poor yields at the initial stage and less competitive costs, GF2 structure would be possibly embedded to 24.6-cm (9.7-inch) iPad as suppliers increase.
In addition to Apple's iPads, Microsoft will soon unveil Surface, carrying G1F structure based on film sensors. With the major makers' solid push, the pressure that the G/G solution in the tablet touch module would be replaced is stronger than ever.
Compared with the previous versions of the Windows operating system, the touch-integrated function is Windows 8’s biggest breakthrough; as a result, an upsurge of touch function is rising among notebooks featuring mainly the Windows operating system.
On the condition of adding the touch function to the original notebook without increasing too much weight, most importantly, without increasing too much cost, the relatively simple structure of the OGS solution meets naturally clients’ requirements.
As notebooks mostly adopt clamshell industrial design, solving the touch modules’ strength concern, 95 per cent of the touch notebooks use OGS structure; G/G seems to appeal to no one in the touch notebook application market.
For the glass-type touch sensor suppliers, it will be hard to share the market of the above 25.6-cm (10.1-inch) applications in the future if they do not develop towards OGS shortly to diversify the risks.
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