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The release of Honor Smart Screen indicates that the future development of TV will evolve towards mobile phones.

As expected by the market, Huawei’s entry has activated the TV industry. Since Honor released its first smart screen, in just one week, a number of manufacturers have followed suit. Not only traditional TV manufacturers such as TCL and Hisense, but also e-commerce platform Pinduoduo have joined forces with JVC to join this "smart screen" competition. According to the latest news, Redmi will launch this type of product at the end of this month, which will clearly "match" Honor.

Judging from the several smart screens that have been released so far, configurations such as lifting cameras + AI + IoT have become their common selling points.

Several manufacturers have “gathered together” to develop smart screens

Over the past week or so, smart screens on the market have suddenly “exploded.” Not long after the Honor Smart Screen was released, traditional TV manufacturer TCL announced its entry into the smart screen market. It is understood that this 55-inch smart screen model adopts a full-screen design with a screen-to-body ratio of 95.9%. It is equipped with a front-facing AI camera to support remote video calls, a built-in voice assistant, and supports IoT functions. The smartphone can be connected to the screen with just a touch, and there are no ads when it is turned on... Judging from the above hardware and functions, TCL's "smart screen" product has many similarities with the Honor smart screen.

What’s more interesting is that the manufacturer said that in view of the fact that short videos on mobile phones are usually viewed in vertical screen, this screen can be rotated under the control of the mobile phone to display the video on the mobile phone in full screen, also known as the “giant screen mobile phone”. Obviously, the "big brother" of television has challenged newcomers to the game. In addition to TCL, Hisense has also caught up with the "trend" of smart screens. It is reported that the manufacturer has launched the "Hi Table System". The color TV S7 equipped with this system supports full-scenario voice, AIoT, and chatting while watching.

Reporters from all media have noticed that both Huawei and traditional TV manufacturers have launched smart large screens that are equipped with lifting cameras, video calls, voice interaction, home control centers and other functions. In other words, they turn traditional TVs into "enlarged versions" of smartphones.

Some manufacturer leaders said that we judge that large screens have entered the social era. According to the latest news, Redmi will launch a smart screen product this month with a size of 70 inches.

An inescapable “price war”?

Just when traditional TV manufacturers and Huawei, a new entrant, were just beginning to compete, the emergence of Pinduoduo seemed to make the market full of more possibilities. Recently, Pinduoduo and JVC TV released the first batch of customized smart large-screen TVs since the strategic cooperation between the two parties. And log in to multiple areas with high daily active users on the Pinduoduo platform.

As Pinduoduo has always been known for its cost-effectiveness in the e-commerce industry, this wave of operations is also in line with its own consistent "characteristics". It is understood that the first batch of customized smart large-screen TVs include 4 products including 32-inch, 39-inch, 55-inch and 65-inch, with prices starting from 499 yuan and going up to 1,999 yuan. In terms of hardware, the 65-inch model is equipped with a 4K ultra-clear screen, 8G memory, backlight module and screen integrated design, and is equipped with MOP diaphragm energy-saving technology and Local Dimming regional dimming technology.

Compared with other smart screen terminals, the price of 55-inch is in the range of 4,000 yuan to 5,000 yuan. An electrical appliance manufacturer said that currently, smart screens are taking a high-end route. Regardless of the comparison with the above-mentioned customized large screens, the price of this new type of terminal is higher even when compared with the 55-inch TVs on the market today.

Although the customized models jointly launched by e-commerce platforms and TV manufacturers cater to the low-end consumer market, the fact that there is a "price war" in the color TV market has always been unavoidable. The Internet TV that emerged at that time used cost-effectiveness to reshuffle the original market structure. In recent years, the color TV market has been affected by factors such as slowing growth and overcapacity of panels. "Price war" is still the main means for major brands to seize the market.

According to Aowei Cloud data, in the first half of 2019, the retail volume of China's color TV market was 22 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 2.7%, and the retail sales were 64 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 11.8%. How to activate the market is an urgent problem that the entire industry needs to solve.

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Inject new functions to improve the "turn-on rate"

Ms. Wang, a consumer born in the 1980s, told all media reporters that now she turns on the TV at home mainly to watch the news. At other times, her family uses their mobile phones and tablets, and the content played on the TV is more of a "background sound". For some "post-90s" users, there are fewer opportunities to turn on TV at home. Ms. Liao, a consumer born in the 1990s, said that she was still considering whether to buy a TV when she moved into her new home. After all, she rarely turned on it before.

This is why in this industry product innovation, more emphasis is placed on video calls, voice interaction, mobile content projection, home IoT control center, multi-party social functions and other directions. From another perspective, users are expected to put down their smartphones after returning home and use this large screen to complete more tasks such as entertainment, social networking, and home appliance control. What manufacturers are now more interested in is hoping that large screens can keep up with the trend of young people.

Honor President Zhao Ming said in an interview with the media that in the future, TV will be an interactive center for multiple devices, and smart screens are the trend.The products will play the role of interconnection and home IoT hub. It is also predicted that in the future, smart screens will not only be limited to homes, but will even extend to more scenarios such as work.

What can be seen is that with the stimulation brought by smart terminal manufacturers to traditional TVs. Traditional manufacturers have begun to adjust their strategies. For example, they no longer emphasize screen and other configurations when launching products, but instead focus on processors, content ecology, and interactive functions.

It is worth looking forward to whether this wave of smart screen innovation will stir up the market and bring about new changes in the market like Internet TV did back then.