At the beginning of 2019. In the environment where the high-frequency term "capital winter" has not yet dissipated, the A-share market has ushered in a flexible screen "whirlwind".

All listed stocks involving flexible screens will be swept into the limit up trend by this strong "whirlwind".

In the OLED sector, the "miracle" of dozens of stocks hitting the limit up at the same time frequently appeared in the A-share market during the first week of the year.

The over 20% increase in six trading days has touched the nerves of every investor in the capital market.

The highly gimmicky term 'foldable screen' has clearly ignited the first flame in the capital market at the beginning of the Year of the Pig.

Billions of funds promote the concept of flexible screens for the Spring Festival Gala

In the first week of trading after the Spring Festival, the entire market was flooded with flexible screens.

Among them, Shentianma A (000050), as a direct beneficiary enterprise engaged in LCD displays and related materials, equipment, and products, has risen strongly by the limit up since the beginning of the year. From February 11th to February 15th, in five trading days, Shentianma A won three limit up boards with the help of the flexible screen trend, with a rise of 42.63% during the period.

Not only that, on February 11th, BOE A continued the concept of flexible screens with a bottom volume limit up the next day after the Shenzhen Tianma A closed higher. Subsequently, the frenzy of speculation spread throughout the OLED sector. On February 13th, the entire sector saw over 20 stocks hit the daily limit up.

On February 14th, the trading volume of only BOE A stock reached 14.12 billion yuan, accounting for 5% of the total trading volume of the Shenzhen Component Index.

Such a hot state is unprecedented in the OLED sector. Even if the timeline is extended to the beginning of the OLED concept in 2016, it took 12 trading days for the entire sector to rise by over 22%.

One of the reasons for the sharp rise in the OLED sector is that flexible screens are gradually moving towards mass production.

At the just passed Spring Festival Gala, flexible screens appeared at the Spring Festival Gala sub venue in Shenzhen. At the program "Youthful Imagination", dancers appeared nationwide wearing "soft clothes" composed of flexible screens.

It is reported that each set of "Soft Clothes" consists of 32 flexible screens with a size of about 8 inches, and the total weight of all screens is only equivalent to half a bottle of ordinary mineral water. Moreover, the multiple screens on each set of "Soft Clothes" can be remotely and wirelessly controlled through a mobile app to switch videos and images, and can also be played or paused synchronously. They can also continuously change colorful and high-definition images along with the rhythm of music.

Not only that, each flexible screen on the soft garment can be freely bent, folded, and curled, not only with the bright colors of AMOLED, but also with a large color gamut, strong contrast, wide viewing angle, and high-definition resolution.

Subsequently, flexible screens swept the local Spring Festival Gala.

On February 5th, 20 dancers dressed in flexible screens once again appeared on the 2019 Guangdong TV Spring Festival Gala broadcasted on the first day of the lunar new year. The Shenzhen Spring Festival Gala broadcasted on the evening of February 6th also featured flexible screen programs, achieving a "grand slam" of national, provincial and municipal Spring Festival Gala.

The large-scale appearance of flexible screens on the Spring Festival Gala undoubtedly provides a highly informative direction for the capital market after the Spring Festival. In fact, before the Spring Festival Gala, the battle of flexible screens had already been raging in the domestic smartphone industry.

A billion dollar battlefield with turbulent winds and clouds

In the context of global smartphone saturation, severe product homogenization, and low demand for user replacement, the shipment volume of domestically produced smartphones has frequently decreased.

According to public information, the annual shipment data of China's smartphone market in 2018 showed a declining trend, with a total shipment volume of only 396 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 14%, and the shipment scale falling back to 2014.

In fact, not only in the domestic market, but also in the global market, the shipment volume of smartphones is not optimistic. IDC shared the overall global smartphone shipment ranking in 2018, and the global smartphone shipment volume was only 1.456 billion units, a decline of 3%. Even the globally leading iPhone has started to lower prices and expand its market due to lower than expected sales.

Under the influence of the overall environment, domestic mobile phone manufacturers have to start seeking breakthroughs.

Flexible screens that are eye-catching enough have naturally become a new market targeted by smartphone manufacturers.

In January, after Xiaomi announced its dual foldable screens, Huawei Consumer CEO Yu Chengdong also announced on Weibo on February 1st that he would release a Huawei branded payment foldable screen phone at a press conference in Barcelona on February 24th at 14:00, which will also be Huawei's first 5G phone.

Subsequently, multiple companies announced that they will launch new flexible screen products at the Mobile World Congress (MWC), including Nubia and OPPO.

expert opinion

According to CITIC Securities, 2019 is the beginning of flexible and foldable applications, led by Samsung and followed by domestic OV Xiaomi. It is expected that the shipment volume in 2019 will be in the millions, which is the first year of application. Currently, the problems faced are high prices and insufficient lifespan of hinges. In 2019, the first year of flexible screen development, Android lineup manufacturers are expected to launch related concept phones to keep up with technological trends, and the IOS camp is also expected to follow suit in the future.

Research firm IHS Markit stated that by 2025, the shipment of foldable AMOLED panels will reach 50 million units, accounting for 8% of the total AMOLED panel shipment. With the outbreak of the flexible screen market, companies related to the industrial chain will usher in new opportunities.

However, Sun Yanbiao, the director of the First Mobile Industry Research Institute, believes that foldable phones will not bring a new wave of phone replacement. Apart from being expensive, there are still bottlenecks in the application layer, and consumers will not abandon products that can still be used due to the emergence of a new technology.

It is reported that the price range of the Roupai soft face screen phones under the Rouyu Technology brand that have been launched on the market is 8999-12999 yuan, while the price range of Samsung foldable screen phones, based on various sources, is between 12000 and 17000 yuan, which is much higher than the price of the most expensive iPhone in history.

It can be foreseen that the foldable screen phone that will be released this year will be a luxury item with a price close to the iPhone XS. Combined with the upcoming 5G concept, 2019 will be the most crucial year for the smartphone industry.