When the flexible screen of a foldable phone unfolds in the palm of your hand, when an 8K TV uses millions of pixels to reproduce the brilliance of the starry sky, and when the in-car display seamlessly integrates into the intelligent cockpit - every screen we gaze upon is engraved with humanity's ultimate pursuit of visual presentation. In 2025, with the investment of hundreds of billions in OLED production lines and the rapid penetration of MiniLED backlight technology, the argument that "the era of LCD displays is coming to an end" has once again gained momentum. This technological battle between light and shadow - is it the final chapter of the old era or the prelude to a new pattern? Looking back on the century-long evolution of displays, the answer lies in the technological iterations and industrial choices within the tiny screens.
Electron gun and glass ball: CRT initiates the era of visual enlightenment
The story of the display began with a glass bulb filled with vacuum. In 1897, German physicist Karl Braun invented the cathode ray tube (CRT). The high-speed electron beam emitted by the electron gun collided with the fluorescent powder, converting electrical signals into visible light dots for the first time. This technology, initially used in oscilloscopes, didn't truly reach the public until the 1939 New York World's Fair - the first electronic television exhibited by RCA Company, with its blurry yet vivid images, kicked off the revolution in visual communication.
For the following half century, CRT dominated the display field. In 1954, the color CRT was introduced, and the red, green, and blue fluorescent powders broke the shackles of black and white; in 1968, Sony's Trinitron cathode ray tube used vertical grid technology to increase brightness by 30%; in the 1990s, flat-angled CRTs appeared, gradually solving the problem of screen edge distortion. Despite its 30-kilogram bulky body, high power consumption of 300 watts per hour, and slight X-ray radiation, CRT became a collective memory for several generations due to its excellent color reproduction. However, as a more lightweight technological wave swept in, CRT was left behind.
The Magic of Liquid Crystal: The Optical Revolution Between Two Sheets of Glass
The birth of LCD originated from a scientific discovery spanning over a century. In 1888, an Austrian botanist discovered the polarization property of liquid crystals. It was not until 1968 that an American RCA engineer, George Heilmeier, manufactured the world's first liquid crystal screen - the liquid crystal molecules sandwiched between two polarizing plates, which, under voltage control, changed the rate of light transmission, ushering in a new era of "no guns, no cannons" in display technology.
In 1982, Epson launched its first LCD watch. With a 1.2-inch screen that could only display black numbers, it foreshadowed the possibility of portable displays. In 1992, the color LCD equipped in the IBM ThinkPad 700 series made the 3-kilogram laptop a milestone in mobile office work. And the breakthrough in thin-film transistor (TFT) technology further reduced the response time from 300 milliseconds to 25 milliseconds, directly leading to the popularity of laptops in the early 21st century.
During continuous iterations, LCD has continuously broken through the performance ceiling: In 2001, Hitachi IPS panels expanded the viewing angle to 178 degrees; in 2007, LED backlight technology increased the color gamut to 70% of NTSC; in 2015, Samsung QLED technology enabled the color gamut coverage to reach 93% of DCI-P3. Nowadays, TFT-LCD, with its mature industrial chain and stable performance, occupies over 95% of the global display market and has become the absolute mainstream.
Old vs New Clash: LCD "Production Control and Price Maintenance" vs OLED "Trillion-Dollar Battle"
In the display industry in 2025, there is a clear polarization: the mature LCD market is firmly holding on to the principle of "controlling production and maintaining prices", while the emerging OLED sector is witnessing a showdown of investments worth hundreds of billions.
Once upon a time, "full production and full sales" was the pride of the panel industry. However, this logic was completely overturned in 2025. To cope with the demand decline, most panel factories voluntarily adjusted their production capacity in October, and the operating rate of LCD production lines dropped below 80%. "It's easy to achieve full production, but it's very difficult to achieve full sales. Selling at a low price is completely detrimental to the industry." The statement made by Zhao Jun, the senior vice president of TCL Technology, reflects the consensus of the industry - panel factories no longer aim for 24-hour machine operation, but instead adjust the production rhythm dynamically according to orders.
This strategy has achieved remarkable results: In the fourth quarter of 2025, the prices of TV panels across the board stopped falling and stabilized. BOE's net profit for the first three quarters increased by 39.03%, while TCL Star's net profit rose by 53.5%, and Tianma Microelectronics turned losses into profits. What is more noteworthy is that the MiniLED backlight technology has injected new vitality into LCD - according to Omdia data, in 2025, the shipment of MiniLED backlight LCD TV panels will reach 13.5 million pieces, surpassing the 7.1 million pieces of OLED TV panels, posing a long-term threat in the high-end market.
Meanwhile, the OLED sector is experiencing a wave of investment. As of the end of November 2025, the three leading companies - BOE, TCL Technology, and Wintek - have collectively planned to invest over 140 billion yuan to build 8.6-generation OLED production lines. Interestingly, the three companies have chosen three different technological paths: BOE adheres to the mainstream evaporation process, Wintek focuses on photolithography pixel technology, and TCL Technology adopts the printing route to reduce costs, with its investment amount being only half that of its competitors. This technological route differentiation is destined to reshape the future landscape of high-end display.
Future scenario: Multiple technologies coexist, with no finality but continuous evolution.
The argument that "the LCD era is coming to an end" clearly overlooks the actual logic of the industry. Chen Yanshun, the chairman of BOE, clearly stated that LCD will remain the mainstream application technology in the display industry for the next decade. "Chinese mainland enterprises have already occupied the leading position in the global LCD industry. In medium and large-sized fields such as televisions and vehicles, the economic scale and cost advantages of LCD will persist for a long time."
The data supports this judgment: The global LCD TV panel shipments are expected to reach 239 million units in 2025, a slight decrease compared to 2024, but the shipment area has increased by more than 5%. The trend of larger sizes and higher-end features has become the core driving force. In the automotive display field, Tianma Microelectronics has consistently maintained the top position in shipment volume with its LCD technology. The 8.6-generation LCD production line with an investment of 33 billion yuan is accelerating its ramp-up. For leading enterprises, LCD remains a stable "cash cow", providing financial support for the research and development of cutting-edge technologies such as OLED and MicroLED.
Emerging technologies such as MicroLED are expanding their territory in the commercial display sector. By fabricating red, green, and blue LED chips to a size of 50 micrometers and precisely transferring them onto the substrate, MicroLED has the potential to achieve higher brightness and longer lifespan. However, the current 70% yield rate still hinders large-scale application. As industry experts point out, the evolution of display technology has never been a "either-or" substitution but rather an "iterative coexistence" - although the electron gun of CRT has fallen silent, LCD continues to thrive through MiniLED, OLED occupies 80% of the high-end mobile phone market, and MicroLED is exploring the possible future.
From the cathode ray tube in 1897 to the flexible OLED in 2025, from the cumbersome equipment weighing several kilograms to the thin and delicate foldable screens, the century-long history of display technology is a history of human breakthroughs in physical boundaries and pursuit of visual perfection. When we gaze at the screen, what we see is not only images, but also the technological relay of countless scientists and engineers spanning three centuries.
The era of liquid crystals will not come to an abrupt end; a new era of display technology has already begun. In this evolution of light, there is no finality; there is only ceaseless progress.
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