The Global Award of ePaper Product Innovation

(Launched 2026) ePaper Color-Changing Nails

Mon, 27 Jul 2026 15:59:25 +0800

I. Over a Decade of Technology Development

According to TechCrunch, iPolish's core technology has been "in development for over a decade." The foundation is a novel material called "electrophoretic nanopolymers" — founder Troy Fohrman says the iPolish team invented a completely new variant of this material and built 23 patents around it.

Electrophoretic display technology is not a new concept — it is widely used in E Ink screens of e-readers like the Kindle. The principle is to control the arrangement of charged color particles through an electric field, thereby changing the display color. iPolish's innovation lies in transplanting this technology, originally applied to rigid flat screens, onto soft, curved, and small acrylic nail surfaces. According to multiple media reports, a layer of flexible film containing charged color particles is embedded inside the nail, and an external device applies an electric field to trigger particle rearrangement, achieving color switching.

A key feature of this technology is "bistability" — power is only needed briefly during color switching; once the color is set, the nail can maintain its current color indefinitely without any battery. According to Cosmetics Business, the nail itself contains no battery and is waterproof, with extremely low energy requirements, only triggered briefly during state switching.

II. From Personal Investment to Corporate Operations

In 2023, Troy Fohrman officially established iPolish. According to TechCrunch, the company was initially self-funded by Fohrman and later received seed funding. The team consists of seven people.

The company is headquartered in Florida, USA. According to business registry records, iPolish also registered "iPolish Technology Limited" in Hong Kong, China in February 2024 as a private company limited by shares, currently still in active registration status. This indicates the company is building its international business; its official FAQ lists the first sales markets including China, the United States, Japan, South Korea, the European Union, and over 20 other countries and regions.

III. CES 2026: From Lab to Public

In January 2026, iPolish made its first public appearance at CES 2026 in Las Vegas. This was a key milestone for the product's transition from lab to consumer. According to multiple media reports, Engadget conducted hands-on testing on-site, confirming the color-changing function works — the user charges the Magic Wand, connects it to a phone, selects a color in the App, inserts the nail tip into the wand's slot, and waits about five seconds to complete the color switch for a single nail.

According to Taiwanese media talkacemedia, the iPolish demo area at CES had long queues, with many testers saying "it's not just seeing colors change, it's like seeing the future of beauty." German tech media heise online compared the product to a scene from the 1990 sci-fi film "Total Recall," where a receptionist changes nail color by sweeping a pen over her nails.

According to TechCrunch, iPolish opened pre-orders during CES. The starter kit is priced at $95, containing 24 nails (12 standard sizes), Magic Wand, USB-C charging cable, Hyper Glue, Quick Dry Top Coat, nail file, cuticle tool, and a full set of accessories. Refills are $6.50 for two nails, and a full replacement set is $32.50. The product comes in two nail shapes: Ballerina (shorter) and Squoval (longer). Since the nails contain integrated electronic components, they cannot be filed or reshaped, as this would damage the circuitry.

IV. Technical Details and Product Features

According to the official FAQ and multiple media reports, the iPolish system consists of three core components:

First, digital press-on acrylic nails
Acrylic material with embedded electrophoretic nanopolymer film, used the same way as ordinary press-on nails but capable of repeated color changes during wear. The nails feature a "raised topcoat gloss" finish; according to Carsha, at arm's length it is nearly impossible to tell it is an electronic device, with an appearance close to high-end salon-quality acrylic nails.

Second, iPolish App
Available for iOS and Android, offering over 300 preset colors (some media reports say 400). Users can create "curated palettes" and sync nail colors by season, mood, or fashion trends. The company says future software updates may support simple patterns, gradients, or French manicures, but the launch version focuses on solid colors to ensure the best visual effect.

Third, Magic Wand
A pocket-sized device that receives color data from the phone App via Bluetooth. The user slides the nail tip into the wand's slot, and about five seconds of painless "charging" rearranges the particles to complete the color change. The wand itself needs to be charged via USB-C.

According to Cosmetics Business, iPolish nails are currently not reusable and typically last about 14 days of wear, requiring normal replacement as the nail grows. The manufacturer offers a 7-day continuous use warranty. The product is positioned as zero chemical solvents, zero acetone, no plasticizers, no preservatives, and cruelty-free.

V. A Bigger Vision

According to TechCrunch, Troy Fohrman says iPolish's goals extend beyond nails — "the company ultimately plans to extend this technology to other cosmetics fields." The official FAQ also states: "This is just the beginning; we have more coming soon."

As of July 2026, iPolish's products are expected to begin shipping in June 2026, with pre-orders open in over 20 countries and regions worldwide. From over a decade of technology development, to 23 patents, to the public debut at CES 2026, to the upcoming official shipment — iPolish is attempting to transform nail art from a chemical coating process into a phone-driven digital wearable experience. Whether this attempt will succeed remains to be tested by the market.

ePaper Calendar Photo Frame

Mon, 27 Jul 2026 15:44:44 +0800

In this era of screen overload and information excess, our lives are filled with countless sources of light.

We are awakened in the morning by the harsh glare of phone screens, occupied during work by the flickering of computer monitors, and consumed during rest by the scrolling of short videos. Every day we face dozens of glowing screens — blue light, flickering, pop-up notifications, and algorithmic feeds constantly competing for our attention, fracturing our focus, and disrupting our life rhythm.

Technology has made life faster, but also more restless and fragmented.

Without knowing when, we gradually lost our sense of "time."

We no longer tear calendar pages, no longer observe solar terms, no longer feel the changing of seasons. Our photos number in the tens of thousands but all sleep in cloud storage, never truly "displayed"; our schedules are packed, yet we are always rushing, passively busy; our desks grow more refined, yet always lack a quiet, gentle companion that can heal daily life.

This is why we created the E Ink electronic calendar photo frame.

We wanted to make a different kind of smart product.

It does not glow, does not disturb, does not clamor, does not push notifications, does not create anxiety.

It does not pursue flashy effects, does not pile on redundant features, does not manufacture useless technology.

It just wants to do one of the most simple, gentle things: help modern people reclaim the ritual of life, make time visible, and let beauty endure.

Part One: Why We Insist on a "Non-Glowing Screen"

The vast majority of smart desk ornaments, electronic photo frames, and smart calendars on the market all use glowing color screens.

They have vivid colors, glaring brightness, and flashy animations — impressive at first glance, but extremely draining on vision and energy over long-term use.

Modern people's eyes are already overburdened.

Students suffer from excessive eye strain; office workers experience chronic visual fatigue; adults suffer from insomnia and anxiety; children experience declining vision from prolonged blue light exposure. We live in light pollution every day, yet few realize: truly advanced technology is not about infinite brightness, but about ultimate quietness.

E Ink display technology is currently the only display technology that approaches paper reading — the most eye-friendly and most natural to human vision.

It replicates the diffuse reflection imaging principle of paper, relying on natural light for imaging, with no blue light, no flicker, no harsh glare. Clear and transparent in sunlight, gentle and elegant indoors — no matter how long you stare, it will not cause visual fatigue.

We firmly believe: good smart home products should blend into life, not interfere with it.

Ordinary screens "actively disturb you"; E Ink "quietly accompanies you."

We gave up brilliant dynamic effects, gave up high-brightness screens, gave up flashy interactions — all in exchange for lasting comfort, quietness, and healing.

In an era when all devices are desperately glowing, we choose quiet, white space, restraint.

I do not want to add another "sparkling device" to my home. Our lives are already saturated with iPads, phones, and laptops. I do not want the medium carrying my precious memories to emit harsh blue light or suddenly pop up distracting notifications.

Fundamentally Different from LCD:

We chose E Ink Spectra6 technology. This is currently the most advanced color ePaper, reflecting natural light rather than emitting it: once placed, it looks like a color photo fresh from the photo studio, with the distinctive texture and weight of real paper.

No backlight feature: when morning sunlight streams into the room, you will see colors gradually emerge like an oil painting. At night, as lights dim, it quietly fades into shadow, unlike a lightbulb that would disrupt the bedroom's cozy atmosphere.

Physical pigments: Spectra6 contains actual moving color microcapsules. When a photo changes, you can see colors flow and settle like real ink.

When designing the prototype, I realized one screen was not enough. A single screen showing photos is just a frame; a single screen showing a clock is just an alarm clock.

We decided to separate functions:

7.3-inch main screen (top): dedicated to your "memories," with no UI clutter, presenting only pure, matte-finish color masterpieces.

2.9-inch secondary screen (bottom): this is your "dashboard." Here it displays time, date, and memo information.

This design solves a real problem: you can check the time at a glance without picking up your phone. Normally, you pick up your phone just to check the time, and thirty minutes later, you are stuck in short videos unable to pull yourself out. The Nowmean E Ink electronic calendar photo frame cuts this chain of distraction.

The first integrated E Ink electronic calendar photo frame with a dual-screen design — the main screen uses a high-resolution E6 E Ink display (1024x600), and the secondary screen uses a 2.9-inch black-and-white E Ink display (supports partial refresh). The dual-screen approach solves a real problem — with a single-screen frame, checking the time, calendar, or memo means the entire screen has to refresh, wasting power and interrupting the image. With two screens, this problem disappears.

Part Two: From Paper Calendars to Smart Calendars — A Return to a Way of Life

Many people share this childhood memory.

A paper calendar hung on the wall at home, tearing off a page each day, turning a chapter each month. We watched the solar terms change, watched holidays approach, watched the four seasons cycle — with a clear, gentle, tangible sense of time.

The paper calendar is a ritual of life etched in the Chinese people's bones.

It reminds us of spring plowing and summer growth, autumn harvest and winter storage; reminds us of the waxing and waning of the moon, the changing of seasons; reminds us to cherish time and not waste our days.

But as times changed, paper calendars slowly disappeared.

Paper calendars get old, dirty, and wrinkled easily; they need replacing every year; they cannot record life or preserve memories.

Phone calendars, while convenient, are hidden behind icons — needing to be opened, searched, and actively browsed. They are invisible and intangible, losing the warmth of life.

So we began to think:

Could we preserve the ritual of traditional calendars while combining it with the convenience of modern technology?

Could we make time visual, give daily life order, and give life beauty?

The E Ink electronic calendar photo frame was born from this.

It is a return to traditional time-keeping culture, and an upgrade of modern minimalist living.

It has the time logic of traditional calendars: Gregorian calendar, lunar calendar, days of the week — fully reproducing Eastern temporal aesthetics.

It has the convenience of modern smart technology: one-tap phone sync, remote updates, automatic time calibration, no manual adjustment needed, no annual replacement required.

It solves the pain points of old and cumbersome paper calendars, and also solves the shortcomings of cold and intangible electronic calendars.

Standing quietly on the desk, you can see at a glance the four seasons, the sun and moon, the passage of time.

Part Three: Both a Calendar and a Time Photo Frame for the Whole Family

The biggest regret of modern people: the best photos always lie in phone galleries.

We take tens of thousands of photos every year: children growing up, family reunions, travel landscapes, friends gathering, the trivial beauty of life.

We carefully record, yet never properly display.

Precious memories are folded into folders, drowned in massive short videos, sleeping in cloud storage.

Life needs recording, but even more, it needs displaying.

We gave this device its gentlest function — static high-definition photo persistent display.

Unlike ordinary electronic photo frames that stay constantly lit, drain power, have glaring brightness, and cheap-looking flickering images.

The E Ink photo frame, after refreshing the image, has zero power consumption, zero flicker, zero blue light.

A single photo can display quietly for a day, a week, a month — persistently staying, with quality rivaling paper-printed photo frames.

A child's lovely smile, a family's warm group photo, a healing travel landscape, a favorite art piece, motivational text, or life quotes — all can be uploaded with one tap, freely switched, and set to rotate.

On the office desk, it heals work fatigue;

In the bedroom, it gently soothes late nights;

In the living room, it decorates the family atmosphere;

In the study, it settles the inner mind.

The most romantic meaning of technology is not piling up specs, but making beauty visible, tangible, and a daily companion.

Part Four: Ultra-Low Power Technology — Truly "Imperceptible Companionship"

Most smart desk ornaments cannot escape one common flaw: frequent charging, poor battery life, cumbersome power cables.

Many smart photo frames and smart calendars essentially require continuous plugging in. Once power is cut, the screen goes dark instantly — not just inconvenient, but a burden on life.

And the biggest core advantage of E Ink is extreme power efficiency.

The physical properties of E Ink dictate: power is consumed only at the moment of image change; static persistent display has zero power consumption.

We deeply optimized the hardware circuit, main control system, and sleep logic to create an ultra-low-power operation solution.

One full charge enables ultra-long standby and ultra-long display — no daily charging, no continuous plugging in, no frequent maintenance.

Sitting on the desk, it runs quietly, works silently, accompanies imperceptibly.

It does not feel like an electronic product — more like a home art piece that never fades.

No need to manage, no need to maintain — it silently records time and quietly preserves beauty.

Part Five: Adapting to All Scenarios — Redefining Desktop Minimalist Aesthetics

From the very beginning of product design, we held one firm philosophy:

Products should adapt to spaces, not the other way around.

The entire device adopts minimalist symmetrical design, gentle rounded corners, elegant premium color palette — no extra buttons, no redundant ports, no flashy decorations.

Clean, pure, premium, versatile.

Whether it is modern minimalist style, natural wood healing style, Chinese Zen style, or business office style, it blends in perfectly.

Office Desk Scenario

The professional's desk no longer has only cold computers and messy files. An E Ink calendar photo frame displays date, schedule, and work memos in real time, enhancing work order and soothing high-pressure work emotions.

Family Living Room Scenario

Replacing old traditional photo frames and paper wall calendars, combining decorative and practical functions, elevating home aesthetic quality.

Study and Tea Room Scenario

Quiet and elegant, calming and settling — suited for reading, office work, and meditation atmospheres, away from light pollution and electronic interference.

Children's Desk Scenario

Zero blue light eye-friendly display — children check the time, view photos, and see study schedules without eye strain, distraction, or screen addiction.

Entryway Scenario

Clean and atmospheric, with clear time display, combining soft furnishing decoration and time display functions — understated and premium.

One product, adapting to whole-house scenarios — it is a tool, a decor piece, and a life attitude.

Part Six: The Life Changes We Want to Bring to Modern People

Modern life is too rushed, too fast, too chaotic.

We chase work, chase progress, chase goals, yet forget to stop and feel life, feel time, feel the present.

We created this E Ink calendar photo frame not just to make a smart hardware device, but to press the mute button on a restless life.

It will not remind you to hurry and be busy; it only tells you that time is gentle.

It will not push anxiety-inducing information; it only quietly accompanies daily life.

It will not glare and disturb your vision; it only gently heals life.

In countless days held hostage by screens,

It is the only quiet, gentle, non-clamoring screen in the house.

Letting you see time when you look up, and see beauty when you look down.

Giving days order, warmth, and ritual.

Part Seven: The Best Technology Is Silent Companionship

True technological gentleness is not infinite smartness, but appropriate quietness.

True life sophistication is not piling up devices, but leaving white space and being at ease.

This E Ink electronic calendar photo frame carries our understanding of modern life:

In a fast-paced era, guarding the right to slowness;

In a clamoring electronic world, preserving a space of quietness;

In hurriedly passing time, preserving all precious beauty.

It is not stunning, but enduringly pleasing;

Not clamorous, but always accompanying;

Not showy, but healing daily life.

May everyone who owns it,

In the cyclical flow of years and seasons,

See time, cherish the present, preserve gentleness, and live well.

Letting time be traceable, letting beauty stay before your eyes.

— E Ink electronic calendar photo frame, silent companionship, worthy of time.

Color ePaper Passive Fridge Magnet

Mon, 27 Jul 2026 15:13:32 +0800

While most smart display devices are chasing larger screens, higher refresh rates, and richer features, a palm-sized product has chosen to make the screen smaller, reduce power consumption to zero, and hide its form into everyday life — it is the magnetic VidaBay color ePaper (E Ink) fridge magnet.

Born at Shanghai Enqi Information Technology Co., Ltd., this product did not follow the conventional "stacking specs" route of smart hardware. Instead, it started from one of the most overlooked everyday home scenarios, completing an innovation of simplification. It brought color ePaper technology out of the inherent track of eReaders and commercial signage, becoming a new favorite on family refrigerator doors in over thirty countries.

Part One: The Origin — Insight from Commercial Large Screens to a Home Market Gap

The starting point of the story lies in the Shanghai Enqi team's years of industry experience.

In 2020, Shanghai Enqi was established in Songjiang, Shanghai. From its founding, the company anchored itself in the smart display track, with government and enterprise commercial use as its initial stronghold. Leveraging self-developed technology and supply chain capabilities, the company's interactive conference tablets and digital photo frame products quickly entered domestic government and enterprise procurement, SME, and gift channels. At the same time, the team held Tencent Cloud agency service qualifications, establishing a firm foothold in the To B sector. Meanwhile, the team early on laid out cross-border export business, possessing complete import and export operating qualifications, with its proprietary brands VidaBay and TeamBay gradually entering the global market.

After serving thousands of government and enterprise clients and refining generation after generation of large-screen display products, the team began to ponder a reverse question: is the value of display technology limited only to conference rooms, offices, and living room TV cabinets?

This question came from team members' daily observations. Having made digital photo frame products for years, they knew all too well the pain points of traditional products: the need for continuous power supply, with messy desktop cables affecting aesthetics; operations relying on remote controls or complex system settings, making them difficult for elders and children to use; size and weight dictating that they could only be placed on desks, entryways, and a few other positions, unable to enter more daily scenarios.

On the other hand, every family's refrigerator door is a "golden display spot" overlooked by everyone. It is a high-frequency interaction center in the home — cooking, getting drinks, organizing food, everyone stops by multiple times a day; it is also a natural information-bearing area — paper fridge magnets, instant photos, sticky notes, shopping lists — people have long been accustomed to posting trivial information and mementos here.

But this space has never been touched by truly smart technology. Fridge magnets on the market are always static; changing a photo means reprinting and repurchasing; written notes cannot be edited and yellow and curl over time. Could there be a product that retains the compactness, casualness, and decorative feel of fridge magnets while also possessing the flexibility and convenience of smart display?

This seemingly small idea became the initial prototype of the VidaBay color ePaper fridge magnet.

Part Two: The Breakthrough — Putting ePaper Into a Fridge Magnet

With the direction set, the first question the team had to answer was: what technology could adapt to the extremely lightweight scenario of a "fridge magnet"?

LCD screens were quickly ruled out. They require continuous power, and wiring on a refrigerator is impossible; even with a built-in battery, the battery life would not last more than a few days, and frequent charging would completely erode user willingness. More importantly, a glowing small screen on a refrigerator would appear abrupt and glaring, losing the warm feel of home decor.

What ultimately came into view was color ePaper technology.

At the time, ePaper was not new, but its application scenarios were highly concentrated: e-book readers, supermarket price tags, and large commercial signage — almost all To B or professional reading scenarios. Almost no one had tried making it into a home decor item for ordinary consumers.

Yet its characteristics perfectly matched the needs of a fridge magnet: the image can persist, truly achieving zero-power display; the display effect is close to paper printing, warm and not glaring, fitting naturally in life-oriented scenes like kitchens and dining rooms; no charging needed, completely freeing from the constraint of plugging in; clearer display under sunlight.

More importantly, the team made a key form factor decision: magnetic integrated design. This was the industry's first consumer product to deeply combine color ePaper with a magnetic fridge magnet form. No stand, no base, no redundant structure — the entire device is a slim magnetic block that works by simply sticking it on a refrigerator, whiteboard, or any iron surface. It can be taken off at will and takes up no space. Without the traditional smart device path of connecting via WiFi or Bluetooth to upload images, it understands the needs of overseas family users: simple, direct, zero threshold. Photos can be transmitted from a phone via NFC in about 30 seconds to sync to the screen, easily transmitting life photos. Children can upload their drawings to stick on the fridge, and even people unfamiliar with digital products can get started in a second.

Beyond photo transfer, the team retained sufficient practical attributes: daily memos, to-do reminders, and message notes can all be updated at any time. It is no longer just a decorative item — exit reminders at the entryway, family message boards on the fridge, and it also comes with a genuine leather case that can be hung on a bag or car mount to always see your favorite photos.

Part Three: The Refinement — Obsessing Over Everyday Experience in Every Millimeter

From idea to mass production lies countless details requiring relentless effort.

First is thickness and weight. As a fridge magnet, being too thick would look clumsy and unaesthetic, with the risk of falling and screen breakage. The team repeatedly adjusted structural design and component selection, compressing the overall thickness to the extreme while maintaining screen pixel quality and aesthetic design, so that when stuck on the fridge, it looks like an exquisite, aesthetically pleasing magnetic decorative piece rather than an "electronic device."

The balance of magnetic force was also a focus of repeated tuning. Too weak, and it would slip when opening or closing the fridge door; too strong, and it would be inconvenient to remove and reposition. Engineers tested several magnetic solutions, ultimately selecting a balance that accommodates both stability and convenience — even with frequent fridge door opening and closing, it stays firmly attached.

Display quality tuning was another protracted battle. The color and contrast logic of ePaper is completely different from LCD screens. To present the most comfortable quality for portrait photos and landscape shots, the team imposed strict requirements on the screen supplier, ensuring all colors were consistent, and through continuous adjustment of waveform programs, ultimately achieved pure and unified colors.

What the product R&D team cared most about was also the real experience of "zero power consumption." Unlike the low-power claims of many products, the VidaBay fridge magnet requires no power when the image is static, displaying persistently.

In the team's view, good home tech products should be "invisible." They should not require users to learn how to use them, should not frequently remind users to charge, update, or maintain, but should quietly stay there, blending into daily life, ready to use exactly when needed.

Part Four: Going Global — From China Manufacturing to a Gentle Carrier for Global Families

After the product was finalized, Shanghai Enqi chose the path it knew best: entering overseas markets first.

Leveraging channel resources accumulated through years of cross-border trade, the VidaBay color ePaper fridge magnet quickly landed on mainstream cross-border e-commerce platforms in Europe and America, simultaneously entering overseas offline retail and gift wholesaler channels. The team had a clear rationale for choosing the European and American markets: overseas families have stronger demand for home decor, a more mature fridge culture, and a larger gift market, making this kind of small item combining creativity and practicality easier to break into the market.

Market feedback was more enthusiastic than expected.

Young overseas users use it as a DIY decoration tool, freely changing favorite illustrations and patterns to make the fridge a personalized corner of the home; family users use it to sync children's growing photos, with distant elders able to update photos with a tap, without needing to learn complex cloud albums; many use it as a kitchen assistant, posting recipes, writing shopping lists, and noting family dietary restrictions.

In many overseas buyers' reviews, the most frequently mentioned words are not "technology" or "smart," but "warm," "thoughtful," and "convenient." This precisely confirms the team's original idea: technology is never the end — making life a bit softer is.

For Shanghai Enqi, this small fridge magnet also has special significance. It represents the company's successful exploration from To B commercial display to To C consumer electronics; it is a landing of self-developed technology from serving government and enterprise clients to entering ordinary families worldwide. It proves that smart hardware does not have to be a grand narrative — thoroughly addressing and perfecting a tiny scenario can also create unique value.

Part Five: Epilogue — Letting Technology Move Into the Crevices of Life

Today, the VidaBay magnetic color ePaper fridge magnet has become a core growth pillar of Shanghai Enqi's overseas business, and the team's exploration continues.

From conference tablets to digital photo frames, to palm-sized fridge magnets, Shanghai Enqi has always been doing the same thing: finding the most suitable scenarios for display technology. If large screens are for improving efficiency and collaboration, then this small E Ink screen is for filling those trivial, warm, overlooked moments in life.

In the VidaBay brand name, "Vida" comes from the Spanish word for "life," and "Bay" means harbor. This small fridge magnet, just like its name, has no showy specs, no complex features — it just quietly sticks on the fridge door, using a photo that can be updated anytime, a warm message, or a clear list to become a small happiness in daily life.

True innovation is not always a world-disrupting breakthrough. Sometimes, putting an old technology into a new scenario, doing a small thing to the extreme, and letting technology truly blend into everyday life — that is the most vital innovation.

Full-Color ePaper Badge

Mon, 27 Jul 2026 14:55:43 +0800

In an era where creative badges and badge accessories have long become mainstream carriers for young people's daily fashion, collecting hobbies, and corporate brand communication, we have deeply engaged with industry pain points and, inspired by the circular avatars of social media platforms, conceived the idea of breaking through the limitations of traditional badges. Mainstream paper and metal badges on the market have always had unavoidable shortcomings: patterns are permanently fixed and cannot be changed once made; after purchase, users can only display a single fixed style; as collections grow, they become scattered and difficult to store; personal expression is extremely limited; and the one-time-use materials easily cause resource waste and are not eco-friendly. Whether young people want to freely switch styles and express real-time emotions, or enterprises hope to achieve long-term brand communication through creative gifts, traditional badges can no longer meet the diverse, lightweight, and sustainable consumption needs of today. This is the core motivation behind our creation of this 1.69-inch six-color circular ePaper badge.

Based on deep insight into industry pain points, this innovative ePaper badge was born. The product innovatively features a 1.69-inch six-color high-definition circular ePaper color display, adopting a small-size circular screen custom solution and a highly integrated multi-module cold-press packaging process. While streamlining the body and enhancing texture, it significantly optimizes the wearing and display experience, comprehensively surpassing traditional paper and metal badges and unlocking a new form of creative accessories.

Compared to the unchangeable fixed designs of traditional badges, the biggest core advantage of this product is its ability to be repeatedly customized with new images and infinitely reused. Users do not need to repeatedly purchase new badges — they can simply upload images and switch display content at will through a dedicated app. This can meet the vast majority of creative graphic display needs on the market, and also allows users to change personalized mood images based on daily feelings, outfit styles, and scene atmospheres — truly achieving one badge, a thousand styles, precisely meeting the diverse and differentiated personal expression needs of young people. Meanwhile, the product's circular screen form perfectly matches the circular avatar visual system of major mainstream social media platforms, offering higher aesthetic compatibility and more textured outfit display and social photo-sharing.

In corporate commercial scenarios, it also completely overturns the communication shortcomings of traditional creative gifts. Traditional corporate logo badges and creative gifts have fixed patterns, single communication forms, and poor reusability, while this ePaper badge can flexibly switch between corporate logos, brand slogans, and event theme visuals. As a business gift or event giveaway, it can both effectively convey brand image and iteratively update promotional content with corporate activities, making brand communication no longer limited to fixed patterns and achieving lightweight, normalized, and long-term brand exposure.

Furthermore, the product's core feature of being recyclable and reusable perfectly avoids the one-time-use and idle waste problems of traditional paper and metal badges, significantly reducing creative consumption costs and practicing the sustainable concept of low-carbon eco-friendliness. From personal fashion expression and mood display, to creative collecting and corporate brand promotion, this ePaper badge with innovative craftsmanship redefines the value and experience of creative badges in the new era with its core advantages of flexibility, longevity, eco-friendliness, and diversity.

ePaper Peak 80 FPS Refresh Technology

Mon, 27 Jul 2026 14:43:56 +0800

For a long time, E Ink devices have left many users with the impression: eye-friendly, suitable for reading, but slow to refresh, with noticeable ghosting, and unsuitable for complex interactions.

This perception is being rewritten by Bigme.

As a brand deeply involved in E Ink products for years, Bigme has continuously invested in refresh technology optimization. From eReaders, E Ink tablets to E Ink phones, Bigme has been improving screen response speed, image transition smoothness, and ghosting control, pushing E Ink devices beyond "slow reading" into more efficient mobile office, information browsing, and smart interaction scenarios.

The Challenge of E Ink Is Not Just About "Fast Refresh"

Unlike LCD and OLED screens, E Ink displays render images through the movement of electronic ink particles. Its advantages are: display quality close to paper, low blue light, low flicker, and clear visibility under strong light.

But precisely because of the different display principle, E Ink has long faced technical challenges in refresh speed, dynamic images, and ghosting control.

If you only pursue refresh speed, the image may show more ghosting; if you only pursue a clean image, the refresh process becomes slower. Truly excellent E Ink refresh technology is not simply about pushing numbers higher — it is about finding a better balance between speed, clarity, and ghosting control.

Bigme's technical breakthrough lies precisely here.

Up to 80 FPS — Bringing E Ink Into a Higher Fluidity Era

In Bigme products, HiBreak Dual and HiBreak Pro have achieved up to 80 FPS refresh performance. For the E Ink phone category, this is a significant upgrade. Enter the E Ink Center, select custom mode, choose Hyper refresh mode, and the frame rate can reach 80 FPS!

The changes brought by higher frame rates are immediate:

When scrolling pages, image transitions are smoother;

When browsing social media or news, the drag feel is lighter;

When typing text, response is more immediate;

In handwriting, annotation, and document reading scenarios, the "half-beat-slow" disjointedness is also reduced.

For users, this means E Ink devices are no longer only suited for static reading — they can also serve as smart terminals for office work, information browsing, lightweight social interaction, and focused use.

From E Ink Phones to Tablets, eReaders, and Monitors — Bigme Is Elevating the Refresh Experience Across Its Entire Lineup

Bigme's refresh technology does not serve only a single flagship model.

In addition to E Ink phones like HiBreak Dual and HiBreak Pro, Bigme is also continuously optimizing the refresh performance of the B7Pro E Ink tablet, B10 E Ink tablet, B6 eReader, and E Ink monitors.

The upcoming color E Ink monitor B251Pro will also significantly increase the frame rate over the previous generation B251, bringing a smoother interactive experience to the 25.3-inch large-screen color E Ink monitor.

The 7-inch E Ink tablet B7Pro's frame rate has also reached 80 FPS. B10's refresh performance has reached 50 FPS — for a 10.3-inch large-screen E Ink product, achieving this level of fluidity means large-screen E Ink devices can also deliver a smoother experience in reading, office work, annotation, meeting notes, and multitasking.

Auto Ghosting Clearance — Making High-Speed Refresh Cleaner

Another familiar issue for E Ink users is "ghosting."

When reading, scrolling, switching pages, or using complex interfaces, content from the previous page sometimes remains on the screen, affecting the visual experience. Especially when refresh speed increases, controlling ghosting simultaneously becomes even more important.

Bigme's auto ghosting clearance technology helps the device intelligently optimize display effects across different usage scenarios. When users read, browse, write, view images, or use apps, the system performs refresh optimization based on image changes, reducing ghosting buildup and keeping the screen in a cleaner, more stable display state.

Additionally, Bigme has added a water-ripple page-turning animation effect for users who love reading. In magazine mode, comic mode, and custom mode, users can enable page-turning animation for more natural page transitions and reduced ghosting.

This is also the key value of Bigme's refresh technology: not just pursuing "fast," but maintaining image clarity and readability while being fast.

Different Scenarios, Different Refresh Strategies

The usage scenarios for E Ink devices are highly diverse.

When reading e-books, users care more about text clarity and low power consumption; when browsing the web, users need smoother scrolling; when reading comics and magazines, users want richer colors and clearer image layers; when viewing lightweight dynamic content, users want more continuous images.

To adapt to different usage needs, Bigme provides multiple refresh modes in the E Ink Center, allowing users to choose or adjust based on scenarios, including default mode, comic mode, magazine mode, video mode, and custom mode.

After entering custom mode and selecting Hyper refresh mode, the device can unleash higher frame rate performance (e.g., HiBreak Dual and other products can reach 80 FPS), and users can also adjust color saturation and more.

Eye Protection and Fluidity — No Longer a Choice Between Two

In the past, many users chose E Ink because they wanted to reduce blue light, flicker, and eye fatigue from prolonged screen viewing. But at the same time, they had to accept E Ink's limitations of slow refresh and insufficiently smooth interaction.

Bigme hopes to change this trade-off.

From HiBreak Dual, HiBreak Pro to B7Pro, B10, B6, and other products, Bigme is integrating higher frame rates, auto ghosting clearance, Android open system, stylus support, AI office capabilities, and mobile communication into E Ink devices.

Users can enjoy the comfortable reading experience brought by E Ink screens while also having operational efficiency closer to modern smart devices. Whether for reading, studying, office work, meeting notes, document annotation, or business travel and mobile office, Bigme E Ink devices are covering more real-world usage scenarios.

Bigme Is Pushing E Ink Into a New Performance Phase

The E Ink industry is evolving from "can read books" to "can do office work, communicate, interact, and create."

Bigme's high frame rate refresh technology and auto ghosting clearance technology are important embodiments of this trend. The up to 80 FPS refresh performance gives E Ink phones like HiBreak Dual and HiBreak Pro higher fluidity; the continuous improvement in refresh experience for B10, B7Pro, B6, and other products also makes E Ink tablets and eReaders more practical.

Bigme is proving with generation after generation of products: E Ink does not have to remain stuck in the old impression of "slow" and "single-purpose." It can be faster, clearer, and smarter — and can also become a healthier screen choice for modern people's daily work, study, and life.

(Launched 2026) AI ePaper Instant Camera

Mon, 20 Jul 2026 17:36:44 +0800

Many people love instant cameras not because they produce better image quality or are more advanced than smartphones. On the contrary, they have many "imperfections": colors may shift, poor lighting easily ruins shots, the shutter cannot be undone once pressed, and the development process is full of uncertainty.

Yet it is precisely these imperfections that give instant cameras a charm that smartphone photos can hardly replace. When a photo slowly emerges from the machine, when the image gradually appears, when friends gather around waiting for it to develop — in that moment, the photo is no longer just a file, but something like a real souvenir of a moment that actually happened. It can be passed to someone else, written with a message, stuck on a wall, or tucked between the pages of a book. It carries the warmth of the moment, the emotion of the scene, and a precious sense that "this is the only one."

We initially fell in love with instant cameras for this very feeling.

But the longer you like instant cameras, the more acutely you feel their limitations. Film is too expensive, making every shutter press cautious; the risk of a ruined shot turns what should be casual recording into hesitation; the consumable nature of the medium quietly adds a subtle cost pressure to the act of "documenting life." Often, it's not that people don't want to take photos — it's that they start calculating before pressing the shutter: is this shot worth it?

Recording, which should be the lightest of actions, becomes a choice that requires weighing trade-offs.

It was through this long-term observation that an idea about "making recording more free" began to take shape. And the origin of this idea didn't appear out of nowhere.

It came from someone who has been persistently experimenting at the intersection of imaging and hardware — Xie Fayan.

If you've ever used a Miaomiao printer, you've likely already encountered his products in some sense. The Miaomiao printer is a minimalist compact printing device that brought "printing anytime, anywhere" into the hands of ordinary people. It was once hugely popular in study scenarios, helping many turn key knowledge points, mistakes, and notes into small stickers they could stick anywhere.

At that stage, Xie Fayan productized "instant output" at scale for the first time, giving a seemingly traditional hardware form new vitality in the mobile internet era. The Miaomiao printer eventually sold over 10 million units cumulative.

This is not just a sales figure — it means a massive number of users genuinely experienced "instant printing" in their daily lives: taking content off the screen and turning it into something tangible that can be touched, stuck on a desk, or flipped through casually.

After this, he created another important but relatively low-key product — the electronic word card.

The significance of this product lies in the fact that it gave the team their first deep exposure to E Ink display technology. Unlike traditional screens, E Ink displays emit almost no light, consume extremely low power, can hold an image for extended periods, and offer a visual experience much closer to "paper."

The electronic word card surpassed 1 million units in sales within a year of launch. It validated something important: people don't only need "screens" — they also need a quieter, more paper-like digital experience.

More importantly, this phase gave the team their first systematic understanding of a question: when "content" no longer exists solely on screens but can persist stably on a paper-like medium, the way people "record" and "display" things changes.

This laid the foundation for the later exploration of color ePaper.

If the Miaomiao printer solved "how to print content out," and the electronic word card solved "how to make digital content persist like paper," then the next question naturally arose: could "images" themselves become a tangible entity that persists long-term, can be freely changed, and carries no consumable burden?

It wasn't until color ePaper gradually matured that a clearer outline of an answer began to emerge.

We suddenly realized: perhaps the most captivating part of instant cameras doesn't necessarily have to rely on consumable film.

What we truly want to preserve is the experience of "press the shutter → immediately get a result you can hold in your hand → it becomes part of the moment."

Thus, a new product form began to be proposed: the ePaper instant camera.

It is not a replacement for the traditional instant camera, nor an extension of the smartphone gallery, but an entirely new intermediate form — between "paper" and "screen," between "physical" and "digital."

If the essence of the instant camera is "freezing a moment, once," then the ePaper instant camera aims to make freezing moments something that can happen repeatedly, without burden.

It still preserves the ritual of instant photography: press the shutter, wait for the image to generate, hold the physical result, share it with friends. But the difference is, this "photo" is no longer consumed.

It can be re-shot, replaced, and re-recorded. It can sit on a desk long-term, or become the next new memory at any time. It won't waste cost on failure, nor miss a moment due to hesitation.

In this process, Xie Fayan's accumulated experience in hardware products became very clear. The Miaomiao printer era's understanding of "low-barrier recording" taught the team how to make users willing to use a device frequently; the electronic word card era's practice with E Ink displays taught the team how to balance "long-lasting display" with "low power consumption"; and these experiences ultimately converged on a larger direction: the physical manifestation of images, but no longer at the cost of consumption.

When color ePaper matured, this path finally began to converge into a clear product definition.

We began to imagine a new scenario.

At a gathering, everyone takes a group photo — no longer worrying about whether there's enough film, no longer afraid of a bad shot. The photo appears on the ePaper display within seconds, becoming a real part of the tabletop. If someone isn't satisfied, they can shoot again; if someone wants to add a caption, they can edit it instantly; ultimately, this photo becomes a "shared memory entity" for that moment.

On a trip, users can continuously update the image, keeping their favorite moment on the ePaper display, letting it accompany the entire journey.

In daily life, it can become a quiet memory window: today, a friend's smile; tomorrow, the sky from a walk; the day after, an ordinary but warm afternoon.

It is no longer "taking a photo," but "letting a memory enter physical space."

This is the experience the ePaper instant camera hopes to create.

It inherits the emotional value of instant cameras but removes the anxiety of consumption; it retains the physicality of photos but breaks free from one-time costs; it is not like a smartphone — infinite yet easily forgotten — nor like traditional film — precious but irreversible. It is more like a "memory frame" that can be continuously updated.

Our vision thus became very clear: let more people document life without burden.

This "without burden" is not merely about lower cost — it is a release of psychological state. You don't need to hesitate before pressing the shutter, you don't need to regret a bad shot, and you don't need to do cost calculations when it comes to recording life.

You just need to record.

Because life itself is already worth preserving.

The ePaper instant camera hopes to be such a tool: at gatherings, it brings people a little closer; on trips, it lets memories linger a little longer; at life's important moments, it gives emotions a place to land.

And at the starting point of this path, there is an important trajectory of accumulation: from the Miaomiao printer, to the electronic word card, to the emergence of color ePaper.

They are not isolated products, but a path continuously approaching the same question: can we make "recording" lighter and lighter?

As this question was answered step by step, the ePaper instant camera naturally appeared.

It is not a sudden invention, but the result of long-term exploration. It is also a very simple return — letting people want to take photos again, want to record again, want to believe again that every ordinary moment deserves to be seen.

And without any burden.

(Launched 2026) Cover Glass E Ink Prism™ Color-Changing Strip Integration Technology

Thu, 09 Jul 2026 23:14:45 +0800

I. Product Innovation Background

Traditional electronic product cover plates are primarily made of rigid transparent or single-color materials such as glass and acrylic. Their colors and surface ID patterns (e.g., brand logos, decorative textures, personalized identifiers) are fixed designs that cannot be adjusted based on user preferences, usage scenarios, or environmental changes. This fixed design approach has the following limitations:

(1) Limited functionality: Traditional cover plates only provide basic screen protection and scratch resistance, lacking interactivity and engagement. Users cannot switch cover plate colors and ID patterns according to personal preferences, failing to meet aesthetic requirements across different scenarios such as daily use, business settings, and leisure activities.

(2) Limited color options: Traditional cover plates typically come in black or white, making it difficult to switch colors. Color mixing is challenging — repeated ink color adjustments often still fail to achieve the desired color effect.

(3) Poor adaptability: Fixed-color cover plates exhibit significant visual differences under varying lighting conditions. For example, light-colored cover plates reflect glare under strong light, while dark-colored ones have low visibility in dim environments. Additionally, fixed ID patterns cannot provide dynamic feedback based on device status (e.g., power-on, charging, notifications).

Therefore, developing a new type of cover plate with a simple structure, controllable cost, and dynamically changeable colors and logo patterns has become key to addressing the limitations of existing technologies. ePaper color-changing film technology offers advantages such as low power consumption, lightweight flexibility, and flexible color switching. Applying it to electronic product cover plates can effectively solve the above issues and meet the demand for personalized customization of electronic products.

II. Product Innovation Purpose

Since the display layer of ePaper screens is composed of micro-capsules containing dye molecules, it cannot bend like OLED. This makes it difficult to resolve the space occupied by edge wiring, limiting the design to three-sided narrow bezels at most. This results in one side always having a wider bezel, significantly constraining the overall ID design of the device. The only workaround is to silk-screen side strips in different colors to create a visual narrow-bezel compensation.

Our product department engineers, while exploring color-changing film applications, noticed that customers frequently adjust side strip colors back and forth. To achieve the desired visual effect, a single new project's cover plate often requires multiple rounds of sampling and color confirmation. This led to the exploration of applying color-changing film technology to cover plate color variation. After discussions with the customer, we jointly decided to develop a cover plate product capable of side color changing.

III. Design Inspiration

The vertical gradient color strip design on the cover plate side is rooted in Eastern natural aesthetics and the art of light and shadow flow. Drawing inspiration from the natural color transitions of mountain glow between dawn and dusk, it captures the diverse color palette that flows naturally from sunrise to sunset, freezing ever-changing natural light and shadow within the compact side area. This imbues the minimalist, rectangular screen exterior with dynamic layered beauty and poetic depth.

The vertically arranged gradient colors replicate the light and shadow transition pattern of the sky from deep to light, warm to cool during dawn and dusk. The warm tones of reddish-brown and light yellow are drawn from the morning glow at dawn, carrying a vibrant and lively visual atmosphere that symbolizes vigorous upward momentum, representing the device's stable, efficient, and continuously sustained performance. It also embodies the user's aspirations to move forward and forge ahead. The transitional blue tones originate from the clear sky, representing rationality, reliability, and composure, reflecting the product's precise and stable technical core and conveying a professional, rigorous character. The concluding deep green and gray tones are extracted from the tranquil base colors of mountain forests at dusk, combining inclusiveness and calmness — both softening the visual clutter of multi-color combinations and symbolizing steady endurance and long-lasting durability.

The regular vertical narrow strip design, set against the large-area minimalist silver-gray body, breaks the monotony of the overall appearance. The vertically extending color lines visually elongate the body proportions, giving the device a sleek and refined aesthetic. Multiple colors transition gradually and softly without strong color conflicts, balancing premium visual recognition without disrupting the device's overall minimalist and elegant design tone.

The design distills the beauty of natural temporal sequences into industrial product details, integrating the gentle poetry of mountains and rivers at dawn and dusk into hardware exterior design, giving cold industrial components the warmth of natural aesthetics.

IV. Product Structure

The RF-ET0700356 color-changing cover plate is a color-changeable eReader cover plate product. The product includes a glass cover plate, AG film, PS film, color-changing ePaper, and a complete driver board.

1) Color-changing cover plate stacked structure

2) Substrate routing and processing flow

Substrate: Uses ultra-thin, ultra-light substrate material primarily composed of polymer compounds. The circuitry employs high-precision transfer printing technology, with silver paste via-holes connecting the carbon paste blocks on the front of the substrate to the silver wire traces on the back. The substrate processing flow is as follows:

3) ePaper

E Ink Prism™ 3S microcup-based 6-color ePaper. The film consists of millions of microcup structures, with microstructure sizes approximately the diameter of a human hair. Each microcup contains four types of charged particles suspended in a transparent fluid: positively charged red and blue particles, and negatively charged yellow and white particles. When a positive or negative electric field is applied, the corresponding particles migrate to the top of the microcup, displaying the desired color and pattern. In Prism 3S color display, E Ink guarantees six colors: white/red/yellow/black/blue/green, where white/red/yellow are primary colors and black/blue/green are mixed colors.

Upper PS film: A barrier film suitable for EPD displays and flexible solar photovoltaic encapsulation, featuring high weather resistance and high moisture barrier performance. The water vapor transmission rate (WVTR) can meet 10⁻³.

4) Driver module

The Prism 3S driver IC uses the IST7400LB1. The IST7400LB1 is a 64-channel output ePaper (EPD) source driver chip. The device employs a 3-bit serial input/parallel output architecture, with each output channel integrating level-shifting functionality that converts 3-bit digital signals into 8-level analog output voltages (VP3, VP2, VP1, GND, VN1, VN2, VN3, and high-impedance state Hiz). Through input logic levels combined with OE pin control, the 64 output pins (S1 through S64) can dynamically switch to any of the above voltage levels.

The main controller chip is the STM32 microcontroller from STMicroelectronics, featuring an ARM architecture core with low-power characteristics. 64Mb SPI flash + 2kb EEPROM, USB UART/USB Slave/TF card/NRF/ATK-Module Port.

(Control card module)

V. Product Demonstration Results

In April, we completed sample assembly and debugging, and brought the product to the customer site for live demonstration. A total of 5 programmed dynamic graphic loops were displayed, along with multiple static graphics. The samples were controlled via board cards, with future support for whole-device APP control. The customer expressed satisfaction with the display effect and will continue to explore the application of color-changing film on eReader cover plates, promoting multi-scenario applications of color-changing film technology.

(Launched 2026) Full-Color ePaper Local Effect Refresh Technology

Thu, 09 Jul 2026 23:10:17 +0800

I. A Pain Point Taken for Granted

In early 2025, in the R&D lab of Jinyatai Technology, engineers were testing the local refresh performance of a color ePaper digital signage display. On the screen, a bus route information area needed to update its arrival times — one of the most typical use cases for ePaper. However, when the local refresh completed, an intern engineer casually remarked: "The display updated, but it felt like it just 'snapped' into place. It would be nice if it had a transition animation like smartphones do."

This seemingly naive question sparked a months-long technical research effort.

Since its inception, the core logic of traditional ePaper local refresh technology has remained unchanged: detect which screen regions have pixel changes, drive only those regions' charged particles to rearrange, and leave other areas untouched. This logic was nearly perfect in the era of black-and-white text display — it significantly reduced power consumption, shortened refresh time, and minimized visual flicker. But as ePaper entered the full-color era and moved into medium-to-large commercial display applications, the experiential shortcoming of "refreshing content without transitions" began to surface.

In retail digital signage scenarios, when promotional posters switch, the "hard jump" of local areas appears unprofessional. In bus stop display scenarios, when arrival information updates, users need to carefully identify the differences between old and new information. Yet, the industry seemed to have accepted this "jump" as a given — after all, the physical characteristics of ePaper prevent it from achieving the high-speed refresh of LCD, and pursuing "animation effects" was considered an unrealistic expectation that defied the laws of physics.

Jinyatai Technology refused to accept this "taken for granted." They asked themselves: Must local refresh necessarily come at the cost of a "hard jump"? Could we, within the physical limits of ePaper, create a "local refresh with transitions"?

II. Technical Breakthrough: From "Functional" to "Usable"

Finding the answer proved far more difficult than anticipated.

The working principle of ePaper dictates that refresh is fundamentally "particle migration" — black, white, and colored particles move up and down under electric field drive, combining to form the target image. Every refresh is a rearrangement of particle positions. Traditional local refresh is "hard" because the driving waveform contains only instructions to go "directly from state A to state B," with no transitional control in between.

"Our initial idea was simple: could we insert some intermediate-state waveforms into the local refresh waveform sequence, allowing particles to gradually migrate to their target positions, thereby creating a gradient-like visual effect?" recalled project lead Lu Xiaoguang. "But we soon discovered this approach didn't work — ePaper particle migration is not linear. Inserting intermediate states would intensify particle oscillation, actually increasing ghosting and flicker."

The breakthrough came when the team reexamined their FPGA hardware platform. Jinyatai Technology had already accumulated deep expertise in ePaper display driving, with their proprietary Mygica-Flex display driving technology and Waveform intelligent waveform algorithm successfully addressing full-screen refresh flicker. The team realized that implementing local refresh with dynamic effects could not rely on simple waveform-level stacking — it required a fundamental architectural redesign at the TCON (timing controller) level.

The core innovation emerged from this: the team developed an FPGA-based 8-bit grayscale template mapping phase offset technology, combined with a dual-dimension lookup table algorithm, achieving "pixel-level timing control" over local refresh areas. In plain terms, this technology enables the TCON to precisely control the refresh timing and phase offset of every pixel within the local refresh area — even when all pixels share the same "start state" and "end state," their transition can be controlled through staggered refresh start times and speed curves, creating layered transition animation effects.

For example, the "gradient effect": from the top-left corner to the bottom-right corner, each pixel's refresh start time is delayed by tens of milliseconds in sequence, visually creating a "left-to-right gradual reveal" effect. The "ripple effect" uses the center of the refresh area as the origin, with pixel refresh start times radiating outward in concentric circles. All these effects are executed only within the local area where content changes — unchanged areas remain static, keeping both power consumption and flicker to an absolute minimum.

In August 2025, at the Shenzhen International IoT Exhibition, Jinyatai Technology publicly showcased an ePaper digital signage equipped with this technology for the first time. Attendees witnessed with their own eyes the local area of an ePaper screen updating content with a "water ripple" effect, while the surrounding areas remained completely still — an experience never before seen in the ePaper industry. One exhibiting technical lead exclaimed: "We chose ePaper for its low power consumption, but always felt the display quality was 'a bit lacking.' This local effect refresh gives ePaper a sense of premium quality for the first time." Mr. Zuo Qiang, Secretary-General of the ePaper Alliance, highly praised the technology after observing the local effect refresh demonstration: "This is a remarkable technological innovation that gives the ePaper industry a brand-new capability to create innovative products. It is an outstanding contribution to the development of the ePaper industry."

III. From Lab to Industrialization

Technological innovation is only the first step. To move this technology from the lab to large-scale application, it needed to pass rigorous industrialization validation.

In October 2025, Jinyatai Technology's paper, "Design of Dynamic Display Transition Effects for E Ink Spectra 6 Full-Color ePaper Based on FPGA," was officially published in the national-level journal "Information Technology and Standardization." The experimental data disclosed in the paper provided quantitative support for the technology's reliability and performance advantages:

Flicker rate controlled within 4Hz, far below the human-perceptible flicker threshold;

Ghosting rate not exceeding 0.8%, on par with traditional refresh solutions, with no degradation from effect layering;

Local power consumption reduced by over 40% — because the effect control did not increase driving energy, but rather reduced ineffective particle oscillation through optimized timing design.

These data demonstrate that local effect refresh technology significantly improves user experience without "sacrificing ePaper's core advantages (low power, low flicker)." Meanwhile, the technology has been implemented across Jinyatai Technology's full range of medium-to-large ePaper products: 10-inch to 28.5-inch digital signage, single-board multi-screen bus stop displays, ePaper photo frames, and more. At international exhibitions including CES, ISE, Embedded World, and COMPUTEX in 2026, these products garnered widespread attention from global customers, with multiple leading international retail and transportation companies expressing cooperation interest.

More importantly, this technology has substantially expanded the interaction boundaries of ePaper. In commercial digital signage, local updates of brand advertising visuals can now be paired with brand-style effect transitions, enhancing the professionalism and appeal of commercial displays.

IV. Opening New Possibilities for the ePaper Industry

Looking back at the development of ePaper technology — from black-and-white to color, from static to dynamic refresh, from small to large sizes — each breakthrough has expanded its application boundaries. The significance of Jinyatai Technology's local effect refresh technology for the ePaper Innovation Gold Award may lie in this: it has, for the first time, introduced "experience design" thinking into the ePaper display field.

Previously, technological innovation in the ePaper industry focused primarily on "display performance" — higher refresh rates, lower power consumption, richer colors. This was certainly the right direction. But once these foundational performance metrics reach a certain level, "user experience refinement" becomes the new competitive dimension. Local effect refresh technology is a pioneering exploration in this direction — it does not solve the problem of "whether it can display," but rather "whether it displays well, whether it is elegant."

As the engineer's question that sparked this technical breakthrough reveals: user expectations for ePaper have evolved from "functional" to "usable" and even "enjoyable to use." Local effect refresh technology is precisely an industry-first born in response to this user demand upgrade, opening new possibilities for deeper application of ePaper in retail, transportation, office, education, and other scenarios.

(Launched 2026) Additive Printed Flexible Circuit Boards (FPC)

Thu, 09 Jul 2026 22:54:33 +0800

Foreword

Over the past three decades, China's flexible printed circuit (FPC) industry has grown from a blank slate to possessing the world's largest production capacity, yet it has long been trapped in a cycle of homogeneous competition based on subtractive etching. Countless small and medium-sized FPC factories remain stuck in traditional manufacturing models marked by high pollution, high costs, and long lead times, grappling with rising raw material costs for copper foil and chemical solutions on one side, and increasingly stringent environmental regulations and downstream demands for lightweight, low-carbon products on the other. As a local Shenzhen manufacturer rooted in Bao'an Shajing for over a decade — Shenzhen Bochengxin Electronics Co., Ltd. — we chose to step out of the comfort zone of mature traditional production lines. With self-developed nano conductive paste at its core, the company spent several years tackling additive printed FPC technology, completing a manufacturing revolution from "subtractive etching" to "additive printing." Today, this innovative process has achieved stable mass production in two major tracks — ePaper and notebook Mini LED backlit keyboards — completely resolving core pain points in the ePaper industry: high cost of traditional FPC components, heavy process pollution, excessive module thickness, and lengthy delivery cycles. This article, from the founder's perspective, documents Bochengxin's complete journey from a traditional factory to a technology innovator, telling an original innovation story of staying rooted in manufacturing, committing to green production, and slashing costs and emissions for the ePaper industry.

I. Industry Impasse: Three Shackles of Traditional Subtractive FPC Force an Inevitable Process Revolution

In 2011, I founded Shenzhen Bochengxin Electronics Co., Ltd. in Shajing Subdistrict, Bao'an District, Shenzhen, with registered capital of RMB 10 million, a 4,000-square-meter factory, and nearly 200 employees. Our core business covered single-sided, double-sided, and multi-layer traditional subtractive FPCs with supporting SMT processing. In the early years, strong demand from consumer electronics, notebooks, and industrial control equipment allowed us to gain a foothold in notebook keyboard backlight FPCs, industrial touchpads, and similar products. Over the course of more than a decade, the company sequentially obtained ISO9001, IATF16949, and ISO14001 certifications, was recognized as a National High-Tech Enterprise and a Shenzhen Specialized & Sophisticated SME, and holds over 20 utility model patents — establishing itself as a local FPC manufacturer with reliable delivery capability in its niche.

However, starting in 2020, the survival environment of the entire FPC industry underwent fundamental change. Three shackles tightly bound all small and medium-sized manufacturers, and Bochengxin was equally trapped.

Shackle One: The inherent high pollution and high energy consumption of traditional subtractive processes, with environmental compliance costs continuously soaring. Traditional subtractive FPC relies on flexible copper-clad laminate (FCCL) as the base material. The complete production process encompasses over ten wet-chemical steps — cutting, drilling, dry film lamination, exposure, development, etching, stripping, and immersion gold surface treatment — consuming large quantities of copper salts, developer, etchant, and precious metal gold-plating solutions throughout. The process continuously generates heavy-metal wastewater and hazardous organic sludge. The MIIT's 2023 "Regulatory Conditions for the PCB Industry" significantly tightened standards for flexible board energy consumption, wastewater recycling, and hazardous waste management. The 2025 draft revision further introduced hard targets for carbon emissions per unit product, copper recovery rate ≥95%, water reuse rate raised to 50%, and restrictions on PFAS persistent pollutant usage.

Shackle Two: Persistently high raw material costs and cutthroat price competition driven by product homogeneity. The core subtractive-process base material FCCL is heavily dependent on copper foil, whose price is chronically volatile. Over 90% of copper material is corroded into waste liquid during the etching process, yielding a material utilization rate below 30% — a staggering waste of raw materials. Downstream customers in notebooks, ePaper, and wearables keep pressing for lower prices. The low-end FPC market has low entry barriers, with numerous small factories flooding in and engaging in price wars, plunging the industry into a paradox of "growing volume without growing revenue." For ePaper-related FPC specifically: demand for ESLs, eReaders, and retail smart labels has been rising year after year, yet traditional FPC unit prices remain stubbornly high, and module thickness is hard to compress — constraining large-scale ePaper product adoption. Downstream panel makers have repeatedly called for lightweight, low-cost, low-carbon supply chain upgrades but could not find a mature process solution to deploy.

Shackle Three: Excessively long, fragmented production cycles incapable of meeting ePaper's fast iteration, ultra-thin, and miniaturized requirements. A complete production cycle for a conventional double-sided subtractive FPC lasts 6-7 days or more, with dispersed, segmented processes and low sheet-line efficiency. Meanwhile, the ePaper industry is advancing toward large sizes, colorization, ultra-thin portability, and flexible bendability — posing three rigid requirements for companion FPCs: extreme thinness, high bending reliability, and rapid prototyping and delivery. Finished traditional etched FPCs are thick; multi-layer film stacks consume module interior space. Complex circuit prototyping cycles stretch to 4-5 days. Faced with rapid new product iteration and high-mix, low-volume orders from ePaper customers, traditional processes are completely incapable.

In 2024, organized by the ePaper Industry Alliance, we visited several leading ePaper companies — Hanshow, YesTech, QY, HKC, BOE — for in-depth discussions on industry pain points. Customer feedback pointed to the core issue: ePaper pursues low power consumption, lightweight design, and sustainability; traditional etched FPCs are bulky, highly polluting, and costly — fundamentally conflicting with ePaper's green development ethos. The industry urgently needs a completely new flexible circuit manufacturing solution. Bolstered by the confidence from these discussions with leading ePaper enterprises and alliance members, I made a firm decision: we could no longer cling to a mature but backward subtractive process. We had to independently develop an entirely new FPC manufacturing technology — one that is wet-process-free, low-energy, low-cost, ultra-thin, and flexible: namely, the additive printed flexible circuit process.

At the time, the mainstream industry view was not optimistic about this route. The world's first PCB was made using an additive printing process back in 1926, but it was subsequently replaced by etching due to precision limitations. Nearly a century later, attempting to replicate or even surpass traditional FPC precision through printing technology would require enormous investment with an extremely high risk of failure. No mature mass-production equipment existed on the market, suitable nano conductive paste was entirely dependent on imports, and the R&D timeline was impossible to predict. Internal divisions also emerged within the company: existing traditional production lines were generating stable profits; investing tens of millions of RMB in new process R&D could drag down the entire business if it failed. But I have always believed that the converging trends of dual-carbon policies, green transformation of the electronics industry, and downstream demand for lightweight terminals make additive printed FPC the inevitable direction for FPC industry upgrading — and the optimal solution for the ePaper industry to break through cost and environmental barriers. Innovation in manufacturing cannot be judged by short-term returns alone; one must position for the long-term track.

II. Three-Year Breakthrough: Building the Full Additive Technology Chain from Scratch, Overcoming Materials, Equipment, and Process Hurdles

At the beginning of 2023, Bochengxin formally established a dedicated additive-method R&D team, assembling core engineers from process, equipment, materials, and quality disciplines — launching a three-year technology offensive. The entire R&D process was divided into three major phases, in which we tackled three core challenges one by one: nano conductive paste formulation, custom non-standard automated printing equipment, and double-sided circuit interconnection printing processes.

1. Materials Breakthrough: Self-Developed Silver-Copper Composite Nano Paste, Breaking Free of Imported Material Monopoly

The core foundation of the additive process is conductive paste. In the early phase, we tested imported silver and copper pastes and discovered three fatal flaws: first, excessively high curing temperatures incompatible with PET flexible substrates commonly used in ePaper; second, poor adhesion — after bending tests, traces easily detached and resistance drift exceeded specifications; third, prohibitively high unit prices that could not achieve cost reduction at scale. The R&D team spent 18 months repeatedly adjusting nano metal powder ratios, resin carriers, and dispersing additives to independently develop silver paste, copper paste, and silver-coated-copper composite nano paste tailored for the printing process. The new paste achieves low-temperature curing and can reliably form traces on any insulating substrate — PI or PET. Trace adhesion and bending resistance pass industry standard tests. At the same time, the self-developed paste reduces procurement cost by 40% compared to imported materials, solving the mass-production cost challenge at its source. Addressing the via-filling and interconnection requirements of ePaper double-sided FPCs, we specifically optimized paste filling performance to achieve complete laser blind-via filling with stable and controllable via resistance, perfectly matching the dual-layer circuit transmission needs of E Ink screens.

2. Custom Equipment: Non-Standard Sheet-to-Sheet and Roll-to-Roll Fully Automated Printing Lines, Achieving Double-Sided Circuit Formation in 2 Hours

Conventional printing equipment can only produce simple single-sided circuits and cannot meet FPC requirements for high precision, double-sided interconnection, and continuous roll-to-roll production. We partnered with equipment manufacturers to customize fully automated double-sided sheet and roll-to-roll printing production lines, integrating unwinding, precision printing, low-temperature curing, laser drilling, via filling, and AOI automated inspection into a single streamlined process — completely eliminating the full suite of traditional etching wet-chemical steps. Traditional subtractive FPC requires 24 hours to complete double-sided circuits; our custom additive production line completes the entire double-sided circuit process in just 2 hours — a 12x improvement in delivery efficiency. Automated flow lines reduce manual intervention; output per unit area increases by 300%, making capacity per equivalent factory floor space 3x that of traditional processes — significantly saving factory floor space and land resources. It perfectly matches ePaper's order patterns of small batches, rapid prototyping, and flexible switching to large-volume production.

3. Process Reconstruction: Eliminating 80% of Wet-Chemical Steps, Establishing a Fully Dry Green Manufacturing System

We comprehensively restructured the FPC manufacturing workflow, consolidating the traditional subtractive method's 8 major complex steps into 5 core steps — fundamentally changing the manufacturing logic. Traditional processes require purchasing FCCL copper-clad laminates, then completing drilling metallization, exposure etching, and immersion gold surface treatment through multiple wet-process stages. The additive method directly uses PI/PET insulating film as the substrate, forming fine traces and vias in a single printing pass — no FCCL base material needed, no black-hole copper plating, no etching/development, no immersion gold or OSP surface treatment. The entire process generates zero heavy-metal wastewater and zero hazardous etching waste liquid, achieving a truly fully dry, zero-discharge manufacturing process. Process optimization brings comprehensive performance improvements: additive single-sided board thickness is only 30μm, double-sided 50μm — far thinner than traditional etched FPCs — fitting ePaper's ultra-thin module designs. In mass production, minimum line width/space reaches 0.05mm, with ultimate precision of 0.035mm and outline tolerance of ±0.05mm, meeting ePaper's high-resolution driver circuit fine-routing requirements. The full product line passes complete reliability testing: 2kg weight 180° forward/reverse bending 10 cycles with no open circuits; 85°C/85RH high-temperature high-humidity for 72 hours with no oxidation; 24-hour salt spray test pass — fully meeting ePaper's stringent quality standards for long-term stable operation.

The R&D road was littered with setbacks — countless sample failures, paste cracking, poor circuit continuity, and substandard printing precision occurred repeatedly. Throughout 2023, the R&D team practically lived in the lab and pilot production workshop, daily adjusting paste ratios, printing pressure, curing temperatures, and laser drilling parameters — cumulatively prototyping over a thousand test samples and scrapping various base materials and paste worth over a million RMB. In June 2023, we officially debuted additive printed FPC technology at Lenovo's New Process & New Materials recommendation conference, completing stable single-sided board pilot production that same year. By June 2025, double-sided additive FPCs fully passed verification, and double-sided boards for e-cigarettes and ePaper achieved mass delivery. During the same period, the company added over ten additive-process-related patents, becoming a leading domestic enterprise in additive printed FPC patent holdings.

III. Landing in the ePaper Track: Four Core Values, Reshaping the ePaper Green Supply Chain System

Once the technology achieved mass production, we immediately deployed the additive process in the ePaper industry, developing dedicated double-sided printed FPCs for ESLs, eReaders, E Ink display backplanes, retail smart labels, and handwriting ePaper products — thoroughly resolving the four long-standing pain points of cost, environmental impact, thinness, and delivery, bringing transformative change to the ePaper industry.

1. Maximum Cost Reduction and Efficiency Gains, Accelerating ePaper Commercialization

Compared to traditional subtractive FPCs, the additive method directly reduces overall manufacturing cost by over 15%, raises material utilization above 70%, and eliminates multiple expense categories — FCCL copper-clad base material, precious metal surface treatment, and hazardous waste wastewater treatment. ePaper terminal manufacturers see significantly lower procurement costs, easing the industry-wide challenges of high prices and slow market penetration for color ePaper and large-format ESLs. Our current ePaper FPC monthly capacity reaches 7,000–8,000 square meters, reliably accepting double-sided circuit orders for E Ink screens of various sizes and adapting to the industry's scaling-up demands.

2. Full-Chain Green and Low-Carbon, Aligned with ePaper's Sustainability DNA

ePaper itself is regarded as a green display medium for its low power consumption, reusability, and blue-light-free characteristics — but traditional companion FPCs' high-pollution manufacturing creates a weak link in the industry chain's environmental performance. The additive process eliminates etching and electroplating wet steps at the source; the entire production process generates zero wastewater and no heavy-metal hazardous waste. Production energy consumption is reduced by 70% versus traditional processes, carbon emissions drop by 50%, precious metal (copper, etc.) consumption approaches zero, and water reuse demand falls to a minimum. The entire process fully complies with RoHS, REACH, and the Electronics Industry Water Pollutant Discharge Standard GB 39731-2020. It can assist ePaper enterprises in completing full-product carbon footprint accounting and meeting global brand ESG and carbon-neutral supply chain audit requirements. As the global electronics industry comprehensively rolls out green supply chains, this zero-pollution additive process fills the green manufacturing gap in the ePaper industry chain and clears environmental barriers for ePaper brand exports overseas.

3. Ultra-Thin, Flexible, High Reliability — Adaptive to ePaper Form-Factor Innovation

ePaper is evolving toward rollable, foldable, and ultra-thin portable form factors. Traditional multi-layer stacked FPC thickness consumes module interior space and constrains slim product design. Additive FPC double-sided boards measure only 50μm — eliminating multi-layer copper foil and surface treatment stack structures — dramatically reducing overall ePaper module thickness. At the same time, the printed circuit base material offers exceptional flexibility and outstanding bending resistance, accommodating flexible ePaper rollable installation requirements and replacing traditional thick copper wires, reducing module interior space occupation and improving eReader and smart label portability. For medical monitoring ePaper sensor devices, the additive process's miniaturized circuit advantages stand out, enabling ultra-thin sensor backplane fabrication for ECG monitoring and blood glucose detection, balancing comfort with long-term monitoring stability.

4. Integrated Capability, Delivering One-Stop ePaper Solutions

Leveraging the company's in-house SMT production line, additive FPCs can have driver ICs and NFC sensing components directly mounted after circuit printing is completed, achieving integrated FPC + component formation in a single pass — eliminating the traditional secondary SMT step after FPC shipment, simplifying ePaper module assembly and reducing end-customer assembly labor costs. For retail NFC-enabled ESLs, we developed double-sided additive FPCs with integrated NFC sensing circuits, offering stable read/write performance and ultra-thin profiles.

From 2025 to date, Bochengxin's additive ePaper-specific FPCs have achieved stable volume shipments. Customer feedback confirms that product yield, reliability, and cost all outperform traditional etched products. Multiple ePaper companies have simultaneously initiated production line switchover verification. The market space for additive flexible circuits in the ePaper track continues to open up. Industry data projects that by 2030, the global FPC market will reach USD 30.5 billion, with additive processes capturing an 8%-10% share — roughly USD 3 billion — of which China accounts for 60%-70%. ePaper, Mini LED, and medical electronics are the core growth tracks for additive methods, with vast market expansion potential.

IV. Staying True to the Original Vision: A Niche-Track Innovation Leader, Pursuing a Long-Term Industrial Future Through Original Processes

Looking back on Bochengxin's decade-plus journey — from establishing the factory in 2011 making traditional subtractive FPCs, to deciding in 2023 to independently develop additive innovative processes, to today's mass production in both ePaper and notebook keyboard domains — what sustained us through this difficult innovation path is the vision established at the company's founding: "Commit to being an innovation leader in niche segments, drive industry transformation through additive FPC process innovation, create value for customers, and build platforms for employees."

As a local private manufacturing enterprise rooted in Shenzhen's Bao'an District, we deeply understand that for small and medium-sized manufacturers to break through, they cannot rely on low-price competition — only original technology and differentiated innovation can build a long-term moat. In the notebook keyboard niche track, we are already the pioneer of stainless-steel FPCs and Mini LED backlight printed FPCs, first to achieve mass production of single-key independent-light-source Mini LED keyboard FPCs, with module thickness compressed to 0.3mm and backlight power consumption reduced by 65% — extending notebook battery life by up to 3.5 hours — serving the supply chains of Lenovo, Huawei, Dell, and Apple. The ePaper track is the new core battlefield for our green process deployment. We hope to leverage our independently developed additive printing technology to drive the entire ePaper industry chain's low-carbon upgrade.

Innovation is never a shortcut achieved overnight but a commitment to long-term perseverance. Through three years of R&D, we withstood financial pressure, technical failure risks, and market skepticism, steadfastly mastering the full suite of core technologies — paste, printing, via filling — without relying on external technology licensing. We have cumulatively obtained dozens of additive-process-related patents and are one of the few domestic enterprises with double-sided roll-to-roll additive FPC mass production capability. Looking ahead, we will continue increasing R&D investment along two major directions: first, optimizing conductive paste performance and developing highly transparent conductive inks to expand into transparent ePaper and transparent display FPC markets; second, upgrading ultra-large-format roll-to-roll printing lines, planning 500×1200mm large-format processes to meet the demands of large-size commercial ePaper and industrial display panels.

At the same time, we always keep in mind the social responsibility of manufacturing enterprises. The water pollution and heavy-metal pollution caused by traditional etching processes are painful issues the entire electronics manufacturing industry cannot avoid. The additive fully dry process not only helps enterprises reduce environmental compliance burdens but also provides downstream ePaper and consumer electronics brands with a genuinely green and sustainable supply chain choice, contributing to China's dual-carbon goals and implementing the MIIT's green manufacturing upgrade requirements for PCBs. We are committed to continuously promoting the zero-pollution additive printing process, driving synchronized green transformation of upstream and downstream base materials, equipment, and paste supply chains, and promoting the overall phase-out of high-pollution legacy etching lines in the FPC industry.

For the ePaper industry, thinness, low consumption, and green credentials define the long-term development trajectory, and companion flexible circuits are core components determining product cost, form factor, and environmental attributes. Bochengxin's additive printed FPC innovation is not merely the company's own technological breakthrough — it provides the entire ePaper industry with a completely new foundational manufacturing solution. This application for the 2026 ePaper Innovation "First Launch" Award under the Electronics Industry Alliance is both a summary of our three years of technological achievement and a hope that, through this nomination, we can promote additive green manufacturing processes across the industry and attract more industry chain partners to jointly explore the infinite possibilities of printed flexible electronics.

Conclusion

A century ago, the world's first PCB was made using an additive printing process. Today, a century later, Bochengxin — standing on Shenzhen's local manufacturing foundation — has revived the additive process through a triple innovation in nano materials, precision printing, and automated production lines, completing a retro-innovation in flexible circuit manufacturing. The journey from a traditional subtractive etching factory to an additive green FPC innovation leader has been filled with challenges, yet profoundly meaningful.

Going forward, Bochengxin will always uphold the core value of "customer-centric, results-oriented," continuing to deepen its presence in four niche tracks: ePaper, notebook Mini LED, medical sensing, and automotive flexible electronics. We will relentlessly iterate and optimize the additive printing process, using original green manufacturing technology to enable low-cost, lightweight, and low-carbon mass adoption of the ePaper industry, writing a new chapter for China's flexible electronics manufacturing through industrial innovation. We firmly believe that only through continuous process innovation and steadfast commitment to green and sustainable development can Chinese manufacturing hold core sway in the global electronics industry chain and stride toward an even farther future.

WenXianTong: ePaper Assistive Communication Device for the Hearing Impaired Wins Gold Award (Launche

Thu, 09 Jul 2026 20:23:27 +0800

In China, there are over 27.8 million people with hearing impairments. They appear to blend into everyday life, yet remain trapped in a silent corner, enduring communication struggles that most people cannot imagine. At the hospital, they miss the doctor's instructions; in workplace meetings, they cannot keep up with team discussions; while shopping, they often miss what the shop assistant says; during family chats, they miss those gentle, everyday exchanges. Hearing loss is an invisible wall — it does not affect one's appearance, but it isolates them from the warmth of human connection. Many hearing-impaired individuals are often misjudged as indifferent or slow because they cannot hear clearly or respond promptly. Over time, they gradually withdraw from social interactions and close themselves off. For years, traditional hearing aids and generic speech-to-text tools have failed to address the real-world pain points: severe latency, inability to recognize dialects, unusable in noisy environments, privacy risks, and insufficient battery life for daily use. It is precisely these long-unfilled needs that gave rise to WenXianTong. Powered by a deep integration of self-developed chips and AI technology, it achieves breakthroughs across both hardware and software, building a reliable, secure, and user-friendly barrier-free communication bridge for the hearing-impaired community.

The birth of this product was never about piling up technology for its own sake. It stems from the R&D team's deep empathy for and field research into the real lives of the hearing-impaired. The team discovered that most assistive tools on the market can only handle basic Mandarin transcription and simply cannot adapt to real-life, diversified scenarios. Many cloud-based transcription apps not only suffer from lag, severely disrupting conversational flow and affecting normal communication, but also pose privacy risks through potential leaks of conversation records. More critically, the majority of grassroots hearing-impaired users communicate primarily in local dialects, yet most devices are virtually useless for dialect recognition — rendering them practically unusable. Beyond that, traditional device screens are harsh on the eyes, causing fatigue during prolonged use; the devices are bulky and inconvenient to carry; and power consumption is high with short battery life. One by one, these real-world frustrations strengthened the R&D team's resolve: to build a dedicated communication aid truly suited to the daily, safe, durable, and all-scenario needs of the hearing-impaired.

To fundamentally overcome the industry's long-standing issues of high latency, weak computing power, and cloud dependency, the R&D team spent years developing a proprietary inference chip — WenXianTong's core technological moat. Unlike general-purpose chips designed for broad applications, this self-developed chip is purpose-built with an architecture optimized for real-time speech transcription, delivering more precise computing resource allocation and higher operational efficiency. It enables the device to perform high-intensity AI computations locally, completely eliminating reliance on cloud data. Leveraging this self-developed computing power, the device features a newly iterated AI speech recognition model achieving up to 97% Mandarin accuracy, capable of accurately capturing soft tones, short sentences, and natural speech patterns in everyday conversation, maximally restoring authentic dialogue and eliminating fuzzy, erroneous, or distorted transcriptions.

Recognizing China's diverse linguistic environment, the team specifically tackled the challenge of dialect recognition, breaking through technical bottlenecks such as mixed accents and non-standard pronunciation to support real-time transcription of multiple regional dialects. Whether at a township hospital visit, a market shopping trip, or casual dialect conversation among family and friends, WenXianTong delivers fast and accurate transcription, effectively bridging regional language barriers. Through deep co-optimization of chip and algorithm, the device significantly reduces display latency, thoroughly solving the classic problem of "the person has finished speaking but the text only appears afterward" that plagues traditional devices, achieving synchronous voice-to-text presentation so hearing-impaired users can smoothly keep pace with conversations and enjoy a natural, equal two-way communication experience.

In hardware design, WenXianTong consistently puts people first, refining every detail based on real user scenarios. In daily life, the vast majority of communication takes place amid noise — the clamor of streets, shopping malls, hospitals, and offices has always been the biggest obstacle to hearing-impaired communication. To address this pain point, WenXianTong is equipped with dual-microphone noise reduction and directional pickup technology. Through the coordinated work of two microphones, it precisely locks onto the speaker's voice directly ahead while intelligently filtering out wind noise, ambient clutter, and background noise, focusing on the effective sound signal. Even in crowded, acoustically complex public settings, it stably captures voices and delivers clear transcription, truly enabling barrier-free communication across all scenarios.

The screen is the core medium through which hearing-impaired users receive conversation information. To accommodate extended reading needs, WenXianTong abandons harsh conventional electronic screens in favor of an eye-protecting E Ink display. With its paper-like viewing experience free of blue light and flicker, prolonged viewing causes minimal visual fatigue, fully safeguarding users' eye health. At the same time, the team deeply optimized the display algorithm, and combined with the self-developed chip's extreme processing speed, compresses the entire transcription-rendering-display pipeline, achieving seamless voice-to-text synchronization with a smooth and natural viewing experience. The device body is also designed for both portability and practicality — compact, lightweight, and easy to stow, it fits effortlessly into a backpack or pocket, ready to be taken out for commutes, work, medical visits, or gatherings, enabling barrier-free communication anytime, anywhere.

Privacy and security are the bottom lines the team upholds. Everyday conversations, medical consultations, and workplace communications all contain substantial personal and private information. Traditional cloud-based transcription devices require uploading voice data, creating a serious risk of information leaks and data misuse that discourages many users from trusting such tools. WenXianTong leverages its powerful local computing capability to process all data entirely on-device — voice capture, intelligent recognition, and text display are all completed locally without any cloud upload, eliminating privacy leak risks at the source and ensuring peace of mind with every conversation.

Battery life determines everyday practicality, while portability directly impacts user experience. WenXianTong delivers both long battery life and lightweight portability. Addressing the dual shortcomings of traditional assistive devices — high power consumption, short battery life requiring frequent charging, combined with bulky, inconvenient form factors — WenXianTong optimizes its chip power architecture and pairs it with low-power intelligent operation algorithms. While maintaining high-precision, low-latency transcription performance, it minimizes energy consumption to the greatest extent. A single full charge supports all-day high-frequency use, perfectly suiting users' uninterrupted needs for going out, working, and running errands — delivering long battery life, always ready to use. On the other hand, the device has been meticulously streamlined: compact, lightweight, and mini-sized, it can be effortlessly slipped into a pocket or backpack, truly achieving take-anywhere, carry-anywhere portability, unrestricted by setting or space, always ready to enable barrier-free communication. Building on solid performance, battery life, and portability, WenXianTong breaks free from the conventional model of hearing-impaired assistive devices to create a cost-effective, broadly accessible solution, filling the gap left by mainstream assistive devices that remain out of reach for many.

Currently, cochlear implants are the mainstream approach for restoring hearing in individuals with severe hearing loss. However, these invasive medical devices come with high barriers, high costs, and considerable risks, making mass adoption difficult. Even after national centralized procurement has brought prices down, the combined costs of the implant device, surgery, and rehabilitation support still run to tens of thousands of yuan, while imported high-end products can reach ¥100,000 to ¥300,000, with ongoing costs for maintenance, replacement parts, and system upgrades — an enormous burden for ordinary families. At the same time, cochlear implants require surgical implantation with inherent medical risks, followed by lengthy post-operative rehabilitation. Limited by age and physical condition, many hearing-impaired individuals cannot qualify for this option, falling far short of meeting the everyday communication needs of the broader population.

Leveraging the lightweight computing architecture of its self-developed chip and integrated hardware-software design, WenXianTong delivers a low-cost, non-invasive, risk-free, highly adaptable alternative. No surgery required, no medical qualification needed, no rehabilitation training — simply power on for accurate transcription. Elderly users, teenagers, and individuals with mild to severe hearing loss can all use it with confidence, completely circumventing the medical risks and qualification barriers of invasive devices. Compared to the high cost and long-term maintenance expenses of cochlear implants, WenXianTong is affordably priced with no additional post-purchase costs, using extreme value for money to break down the high-cost barrier of hearing assistive technology, enabling families with limited means to easily own a professional barrier-free communication tool — truly making technology accessible to every hearing-impaired user.

From core technological breakthroughs in self-developed inference chips and AI intelligent transcription algorithms, to meticulous hardware refinement in dual-mic noise reduction, eye-protecting E Ink display, and portable form factor, to comprehensive advantages in local privacy computing, long battery life, and low-cost accessibility — WenXianTong has always been rooted in genuine user needs, avoiding superficial feature stacking and focusing solely on solving real communication challenges. Once, countless hearing-impaired individuals missed job opportunities, drifted away from family and friends, and feared social situations because of communication barriers, trapped in a silent predicament. Today, the dual innovation of hardware and software, together with affordability and accessibility, has broken down the wall between the hearing and silent worlds, allowing hearing-impaired users to "see sound and understand conversation" in real time, integrating into life, work, and social circles with equality and ease.

The most moving value of technology lies in gently embracing every community. The innovation story of WenXianTong is not merely a technological iteration and product upgrade — it is a heartfelt practice of "tech for good." Rooted in hardcore self-developed technology and underpinned by humanistic care, it dissolves communication barriers between people with precise, secure, convenient, and durable barrier-free communication experiences, breaking through identity and scenario limitations. It empowers millions of hearing-impaired individuals to cast off the shackles of silence, confidently embracing a complete, equal, and beautiful life — illuminating every silent moment with light and warmth.