In recent years, the folding screen mobile phone has been gradually recognized by users, and the sales volume has been rising. According to IDC's statistics, in the third quarter of 2023, the shipment of China folding screen mobile phone market reached 1.96 million units, up 90.4% year-on-year. In addition, according to IDC's White Paper on Market Trend Insight of Folding Screen, the market size of folding screen mobile phones in China will be close to 15 million in 2027, with a compound annual growth rate of 37.8%.
At present, UTG flexible glass is mainly used in folding mobile phones. The advantage of the product is that it can be thinned to be bendable, and at the same time, it has the properties of ordinary glass, good light transmission and high hardness, which can effectively isolate the external gas. After thinning, the elastic modulus and hardness remain unchanged, and the crease is also slight.
The manufacturing method of UTG glass can be divided into primary molding and secondary processing molding, which depends on the ability to make thin raw glass. Recently, domestic manufacturer Zhaohong Jingmi has launched a once-molded transparent glass-ceramics, and the thinnest product can reach 30um. The first once-molded ultra-thin flexible electronics glass (UTG) production line of Tengyu Optoelectronics in Xinjiang of Dongxu Group has recently started production.
Among the suppliers of UTG's secondary processing and molding scheme, Changxin Technology and Kaisheng Technology both have quite perfect mass production scale, and they have entered the core suppliers of Huawei and Glory Folding Screen UTG.
TrendForce Jibang Consulting believes that in the medium and long-term development of flexible cover, CPI still has price advantage due to mature mass production technology, and it is still the possible first choice for medium-sized folding products in the future. The subsequent UTG glass still needs to overcome the plastic feeling caused by the anti-cracking coating and the challenge of special-shaped cutting hole yield, and also needs to break through the state that the raw materials below Schott are only supplied. In the case that the thin glass raw material formed once is still in the hands of a few manufacturers, the process and yield of secondary thinning processing will still affect the overall cost of UTG.
