Application Watch: Greater sensitivity, gesture control technology in touch panels for smart living devices

With the ongoing deployment of 5G and digital transformation via the Internet of Things (IoT), ubiquitous home automation is not far behind. The pandemic is accelerating its development, as people spend time sheltering in place and increasingly rely on automation not only for convenience and safety but also for health.

Almost anything in a household can be connected and controlled wirelessly or via the internet, substituting traditional switches with interactive touchscreens such as those found on smartphones and smart displays.

To cash in on this growing market, suppliers of projected capacitive touch panels in China are boosting R&D efforts to improve product performance. Such screens support multitouch commands and, compared with the older resistive technology, have a low power dissipation. In addition, because of their high hardness and durability, they are easier to clean and can continue to function despite cracks.

Building on these advantages and eyeing future trends in smart TVs, appliances and furniture, such as coffee tables, Chinese touch panel companies are directing product initiatives toward boosting sensitivity and pursuing touchless gesture control. They are also driving up sizes of touchscreens to larger than 20in.

Suzhou iVTouch has presented a 32in model mainly intended for smart home and office applications, which has multitouch and gesture-based touch capabilities, and 6 to 10ms sensitivity.

CDTouch Technology Co. Ltd's CPT-15.6 capacitive touch panel, meanwhile, has gesture recognition and responds to drag, circular, slide, enlarge, reduce and rotate touch motion. It also has soft keys. Applications include devices used in the smart home, industrial, medical and financial sectors.

On the rise

The global smart home market, valued at $80.83 billion in 2019, will increase to $207.88 billion in 2027 at 13.52 percent CAGR from 2020 to 2027, according to a report published by Verified Market Research in October 2020.

In China, the homebound economy as a result of the pandemic has boosted the smart home sector, which was $22.5 billion in 2019 and is estimated at $26.76 billion in 2020, according to Qianzhan Research Institute.

IDC reportedChina shipped 208 million smart home devices in 2019, rising 33.5 percent YoY. Of these, 48 percent were with touchscreens, 25 percent voice-enabled and 23 percent with app control.

Touch panel suppliers contacted by Global Sources Electronic Components anticipate this trend, favoring touchscreen-based smart home devices, will continue in the coming years while interoperability issues exist among contactless systems.

Laibao, one of the leading capacitive touch panel manufacturers in China and the world, expects at least 12 percent YoY sales growth in 2021, maintaining its 2019 and 2020 performance. The company will focus on upgrading its 5G capacitive touch panel fab over the next two years to enhance productivity and touch panel quality. It will accelerate the development of types with a soft film metal mesh structure to realize mass production as soon as possible.

Hundreds of suppliers make up China's manufacturing pool for capacitive touch panels. Over 70 percent of them are homegrown companies. Major players include Laibao, Ofilm, Truly, Top Touch, Holitech, EELY and TPK.

Domestic and foreign suppliers in China also offer touchscreens for smartphones, tablet PCs, displays and TVs, with those for smart home devices accounting for 20 to 50 percent of shipments. Some are also producing TFT-LCD modules and OLED displays.

More than half of the companies are gathered in Guangdong province, specifically in Shenzhen, Dongguan, Huizhou and Zhongshan. Others are found in Suzhou in Jiangsu, Taizhou in Zhejiang and Nanchang in Jiangxi.

Typical touch panels

For smart home devices, widely available sizes of capacitive touch panels from Chinese suppliers range from 4.3 to 15in, with units between 7 and 10.1in dominating shipments. The lowest response time is less than 3ms. Operating temperature is -20 to 70 C.

These mainstream touchscreens have more than 80 percent transmittance and over 6H surface hardness. They can withstand in excess of 50 million touches. Specifications can be customized to match diverse requirements.

The main components and materials used in capacitive touch panel production include cover lenses, ITO electrodes, substrates and adhesives. These come from domestic sources, although customers' requests for imported inputs are also accepted.

The supply and cost of components and materials were stable in 2020, keeping prices of capacitive touch panels generally unchanged. This is also expected in 2021, but with some companies quoting slightly lower to win more orders.

The products in this gallery have been handpicked by our market analyst for representing current trends in capacitive touch panels from the Chinese mainland and Taiwan region.

GG, GF, GFF capacitive touch panel

This 3.5 to 55in capacitive touch panel from CDTouch Technology Co. Ltd, the CPT-15.6, supports two- to 10-point touch. It has a glass-glass, glass-film or glass-film-film structure and a tempered cover glass with an anti-fingerprint coating. Surface hardness is 7H and transmittance more than 85 percent. Life span exceeds 100 million touches.

An order of at least 100 units is delivered within 14 days.

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10.1in capacitive touch panel with IP65 rating

Dongguan CJTouch Electronic Co. Ltd's CPI101T00-3K-C00 model is a 10.1in capacitive touch panel with one-, five- or 10-point touch functionality, 7H hardness and more than 95 percent light transmittance. The IP65-rated unit with an anti-glare coating is vandal- and shock-resistant.

The negotiable order quantity has a four-day delivery lead time.

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0.7mm-thick capacitive touch panel

Model AT056TN53 V.1-001 capacitive touch panel from Hengcheng Electronics Technology (HK) Co. Ltd uses a GT910 controller and a 0.5mm-pitch FPC connector with six pins. It measures 128.2x79.7x0.7mm, with the active area in 107.95x64.8mm.

The negotiable minimum order quantity has a delivery lead time of 15 days.

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5 to 20in capacitive touch panel

In 5 to 20in variants, this capacitive touch panel from Suntai International Co. Ltd, the ST-CL116-8328, supports two-, five or 10-point touch commands.

The order quantity is negotiable. Delivery is within seven days.

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