It is forecast that Flexible Printed Circuit Board(FPCB) antenna, instead of Laser Direct Structuring(LDS) antenna, will be adopted as main antenna for Samsung Galaxy S6 to be released. The analysis is that production cost was reduced and radio interference problem caused by use of metal case was solved through change of antenna material.
According to mobile industry on Feb.22, Samsung adopted FPCB antenna as main antenna for Galaxy S6. It is known that prior to the release of new product, early supply of products is being progressed.
FPCB antenna is the product which was formed with antenna pattern in thin and flexible FPCB and then realized electrical characteristics. FPCB antenna was partly used for NFC antenna because it is a little short of transmit receive performance and needs additional process, compared to LDS antenna mainly used for existing main antenna.
LDS antenna is the product to be drawn pattern in thermoplastic by laser and plate with cooper and nickel. Due to easy pattern design and modification work, it was used for main antenna along with diffusion of 4G LTE48 with much frequency bandwidth.
But it is estimated that after improvement of efficiency in FPCB antenna and development of process thechnology were made, as problems in radio frequency interference of LDS antenna and in space design came to appear, FPCB antenna became emerged as the next main antenna material.
FPCB antenna used as main one is different from NFC one in basic form. It is known that as it is not stuck to ferrite sheet for electronic wave shield, its size is smaller than NFC one and has speaker shape in thin metallic material. It is explained that production cost of FPCB antenna is cheaper than LDS one and that there is little problem in its performance, as well.
A security analyst pointed, "Part cost of Galaxy S6 was increased while various cutting-edge functions were added. As material for main antenna has been changed from LDS to FPCB, it seems that related production cost was reduced to about 20~30%."
The industry predicts that LDS antenna will be still used in medium-low price smartphone 117. But it is forecast that while the adopted rate of metal case as exteror material in smartphone is going up, change of main antenna will impact on geographical features in related parts industry.
Staff Reporter Park,Jung-eun jepark@etnews.com