FPC Mobile Phone Application Example: OCP Corp

Ten years ago, Mustafa Kurtcu, the CEO of OCP Corp, contacted us regarding the repair market for smartphones in Florida, United States. While the world was just beginning to embrace smartphones, Florida had already widely adopted them, resulting in a high demand for phone repairs, including screens, batteries, main boards, cameras, and more. FPC played a crucial role in this market, serving as a connector for various components such as phone screens, battery management system boards, cameras, keyboards, SIM cards, speakers, displays, antennas, USB connectors, near field communication, and actuator coils.

How We Helped Our Customer’s Business

Empower your business with our flexible PCB solutions. Our FPC soft boards offer high flexibility, enabling reduced product volume and customized shapes to fit space constraints. With three-dimensional wiring capabilities and foldable design, our boards streamline the manufacturing process, saving time and minimizing errors. They boast stable chemical properties, delivering reliable performance, preventing electrostatic interference, and ensuring safety. Featuring high/low-temperature resistance, flame resistance, and excellent heat dissipation, our boards are versatile and cost-effective. They enable technological advancements like full-screen smartphones, virtual buttons, under-screen fingerprint recognition, and folding screens.

The Application of FPC Flexible Circuit Boards in Smartphones

FPC (flexible circuit boards) play a vital role in smartphones, being utilized in various hardware components such as cameras, display screens, touch screens, batteries, antennas, fingerprint modules, and buttons.

With the advent of 5G technology, the usage of FPC flexible circuit boards has significantly increased. They find application in multi-cameras, under-screen fingerprint modules, radio frequency antennas, folding screens, flexible screens, and ductility functions. In a single smartphone, the number of FPC flexible circuit boards can reach approximately 20 pairs.

FPC (flexible circuit boards) offer significant advantages in folding screen mobile phones, with the ability to bend hundreds of times to meet the needs of these devices. Their lightweight and thin form factor contribute to reducing the overall thickness of folding screen mobile phones.

The application scope of FPC in mobile phones covers components such as batteries, screens, cameras, side buttons, antennas, fingerprint modules, and speakers. With the advent of 5G communication technology, the number of internal parts in mobile phones has increased, particularly driven by the demand for 5G antennas. The usage of FPC in mobile phones has grown by 15%-20% since the commercialization of 5G, accompanied by an increase in the size of mobile phone motherboards.

In mobile phone cameras, FPC serves as the circuit connection between the CMOS sensor and the mobile phone motherboard, enabling complete electrical circuit functionality. Without FPC, the mobile phone camera cannot capture or generate images. FPC fulfills multiple functions in mobile phone cameras, including providing electrical characteristics and connections, offering mechanical support and assembly capabilities, and facilitating automatic mounting, soldering, and inspection between integrated circuits and electronic components.

The evolution of mobile phone rear cameras from dual cameras to multi-cameras signifies technological innovation, meeting users’ high-quality and diverse photography needs, and achieving more vivid and natural imaging effects.

With the increasing focus on differentiation in the competitive landscape, the expansion of multi-camera modes in mobile phones driven by the 5G network layout leads to a higher usage of FPC. Testing of mobile phone camera FPC is essential to verify performance and prevent damage. The testing process includes assessing appearance, substrate thickness, plug-in pinholes, resistance, capacitance parameters, short circuits, open circuits, and other factors, aiming to enhance overall camera quality and reduce production costs.

The shrapnel micro needle module plays a crucial role in the FPC testing of mobile phone cameras. Its thin and lightweight design adapts well to the intricate circuitry and small spacing inside mobile phones. With the ability to transmit current ranging from 1-50A, stable overcurrent performance, no current attenuation, stable connectivity, and an average service life of over 20,000 times, the shrapnel micro needle module significantly improves the efficiency of mobile phone camera FPC testing without the need for frequent replacement.

Overall, FPC contribute to the advancement of smartphone technology, enabling enhanced functionality, improved quality, and cost-effective production processes.