The era of electronic atomization

Electronic atomization: an unpredictable new market：

20 years ago, pharmacist Han Li added nicotine to the atomization solution and invented the world's first electronic cigarette product "Ruyan" based on electronic atomization technology, which opened the prelude to the development of electronic atomization industry.

After experiencing smoke, big smoke and APV, the global electronic atomization has entered the "small smoke era", and bullet changing and disposable atomization products have gradually become the primary choice of most smokers. While electronic atomization has gradually become a new 100 billion market, China's technology and supply chain have also been playing the role of promoter.

The advantages of technology and supply chain promote the electronic atomization industry to mature. At the same time, due to the rapid outbreak of new products, the homogenization of products is becoming more and more serious, and the market is increasingly lack of revolutionary products that can lead the future development. Users are also beginning to find that there are fewer and fewer products that are refreshing and can greatly improve the sense of atomization experience and harm reduction, which seriously hinders the healthy and sustainable development of the industry.

At the same time, with the introduction of policies and regulations all over the world, as addictive products that strictly limit users to adults, the control of the production and sales of electronic atomized products has also been further tightened.

In 2016, the EU incorporated electronic atomization into the amendment to the draft of tobacco products, and electronic atomization and related products began to be regulated by chapter 20 of TPD. On the whole, the content is to strengthen management rather than restriction, which affirms the legal market position of e-cigarettes. For example, the atomization liquid in a single atomization bomb cannot exceed 2ml, and the nicotine content cannot exceed 2%.

As the country with the largest share of electronic atomization sales in the world, the United States, according to the "opinion" report "on the review progress of tobacco products and relevant mandatory measures" released by FDA in September 2021, the preliminary acceptance of all applications has been completed before September 9, 2020, and a total of 6.5 million PMTA applications for ends products have been accepted, At the same time, more than 200000 RTAs were issued (rejected) - which means that more than 90% of the electronic atomization products submitted for approval are prohibited from selling in the U.S. market because they fail to pass the relevant safety audit.

When we return to China, the birthplace of electronic atomization, we will find that policy supervision is also being carried out steadily in a scientific way.

Technological innovation: a boulder thrown into the lake：

Having mastered the core supply chain and occupied a leading position in the world, China's e-cigarette industry has completed the road of "from zero to one", in which the atomization core technology plays a decisive role.

Whether one-time atomized smoke, bullet changing atomized smoke or traditional large smoke equipment, the smoke oil needs to be heated and atomized through the atomization core and then inhaled. The overall structural design of the atomization core also needs to ensure safety, stability and high efficiency. From the past technical path, the atomization core has mainly experienced the stage from glass fiber rope atomization core to cotton atomization core, cylindrical ceramic core, and then to bowl ceramic core.

In fact, since 2016, dozens of markets around the world have begun to rapidly accept electronic atomization products, which is inseparable from the wide application of ceramic atomization core technology. This innovation has not only led the development trend of the global electronic atomization industry, accelerated the industry from the era of big smoke to the era of small smoke, but also brought the electronic atomization originated in China to the world.

Compared with the popular cotton core technology since the early stage of the invention of electronic atomization, the ceramic core solves the problems of large porosity and high smoke and oil permeability of the cotton core. At the same time, it has better practical performance in liquid leakage prevention, dry burning prevention, atomization stability, small volume and so on.

Once the small smoke product equipped with ceramic atomization core is available, it has opened up a large number of new electronic atomization markets with its distinctive characteristics and advantages.

According to the data, the global e-cigarette retail scale has continued to grow since 2016. In 2020, the global e-cigarette retail scale reached US $45.3 billion (about 287.5 billion yuan), a year-on-year increase of 28.7%. By 2023, the global e-cigarette retail scale is expected to reach 86.7 billion US dollars.

With the rapid growth of market scale, "fog Valley" Shenzhen is gradually known by more and more people.

According to the 2021 Blue Book of electronic cigarette industry, the patents of electronic atomization in China account for 90% of the relevant patents in the world; China's production capacity accounts for 95% of the global production capacity, and China's electronic atomization products are exported to more than 200 countries and regions around the world. A very complete industrial chain has been formed from the supply of raw materials in the upstream to the product design and manufacturing in the midstream, and then to the sales layout in the global market.

In other words, a group of Chinese enterprises that are responsible for the production and sales of electronic products, such as catfish, have gradually emerged under the core role of Chinese enterprises in terms of design and sales.

The complete industrial chain and core technology layout mean that from zero to one, China's electronic atomization is moving towards a new development milestone, followed by more pragmatic innovation - innovation that can comply with laws and regulations, be safer, more environmentally friendly and more efficient.

If the birth of ceramic atomizing core has changed the development trend of the industry, one of them must be mentioned is SIMORE feelm.

In 2014, smore started the research on ceramic heater technology. One year later, smore international began to develop the first generation of ceramic atomization core; In 2016, the first batch of ceramic heating technology was officially introduced to the market. In this year, smore launched the second generation of ceramic atomization solution with original porous black pottery + metal coating.

The subversion of this set of technology lies in that ceramics have higher temperature resistance than cotton core, which solves the problem of core pasting; Another advantage of porous is that the oil conduction speed becomes faster, and it will not dry burn for a long time. It also ensures the delicacy and stability of the taste.

According to the data, since 2016, the sales volume of SIMORE's ceramic core solution products has increased rapidly in the following years, and the global shipment has exceeded 3 billion by the end of 2021. At the same time, this solution was also named feelm in 2018, and the "feelm inside" technology brand was officially launched in 2019.

With the rapid development of market scale, SIMORE international has also completed the corresponding layout in terms of patents. It is understood that by 2021, there were more than 3300 global patent applications, half of which were invention patents.

Under the influence of feelm, the global electronic atomization market began to shift from cotton core to ceramic core, which brought a new outlet for investment. According to the 2021 Blue Book of electronic cigarette industry, the electronic atomization industry entered the financing peak in 2019, and the number of domestic financing increased by nearly five times compared with the previous year.

Of course, opportunities and risks are relative. With the tightening of supervision, the requirements for technology in terms of harm reduction and product quality have increased. At the same time, the "internal roll" of the industry has brought a high degree of homogenization of products. The market urgently needs to launch breakthrough technology and become a giant stone in the silent lake.

On January 18, smore held a new technology conference in London, UK, and officially launched a new generation of ultra-thin ceramic atomization solution "feelm air", which attracted extensive attention in the industry. As a senior enthusiast commented, this time smalls once again pointed to the pain point of the industry and once again expanded the boundary of ceramic atomization.

As a new generation of electronic atomization solution, feelm air is equipped with a new generation of bionic film ceramic core with thinner thickness (the thickness is only 7.8mm, 25% thinner than the previous generation). It has iterated in taste reduction, harm reduction, leak proof liquid and differentiated experience. In terms of process, feelm air introduces nano vacuum coating process to achieve more accurate taste reduction.

In terms of core materials and structure, feelm air designed seven layers of composite alloy materials, which comprehensively increased the harm reduction of feelm air by 80% and the average reduction rate of spices by 33% (compared with the previous generation). In addition, the ultra-low power interactive linear motor, fast charging system and MEMS sensing technology in the scheme also improve the harm reduction and sense of experience from multiple dimensions.

It can be seen that in addition to the core technology iteration of ceramic atomization itself, in terms of battery system and sensing system, "feelm air" is also aligned with the manufacturing fields of smart phones, smart cars and other technologies. The addition of new technologies can effectively solve the safety risks caused by unstable atomization power, which is also the focus of the industry for a long time.

Feelm air technology solutions with comprehensive and numerous core technologies have aroused the appetite of the industry. Many people have wondered which brand will be the first to use feelm air.

As commented by industry media, feelm air heralds a new era.

Product power era: "created in China" starts again：

In recent years, the "product power" of electronic atomization has gradually become an important topic discussed by the market and users, and the basis for supporting the "product power" is the "technical solution" with more emphasis on integrity.

The future performance of feelm air still needs time to be tested, but from the development of ceramic atomization solutions in the past few years, we can see that the electronic atomization industry needs core technology and the market also needs core technology.

Public information shows that in the revenue structure of SMOORE international in 2020, British American Tobacco Renault alone contributed more than 3.4 billion yuan, accounting for nearly 35% of the revenue.

In fact, feelm's famous ceramic core technology solution in World War I is not plain sailing. For example, the distribution of ceramic wrapped heating wire used in the first generation of ceramic core does not solve the problem of occasional burning smell. In the second generation, the coating technology greatly improves the transmission efficiency of ceramic atomization core, so as to get rid of the heating non-uniformity of heating wire.

"How important is the leading edge of technology? Compared with the same track enterprises, Heyuan group, zhuolineng and other manufacturers only launched ceramic cores in 2019, and need to constantly bypass the patents of SMOORE, which not only increases the research and development time and difficulty, but also increases the cost - this is the first mover advantage of SMOORE" An industry investor told 36 krypton.

It is also not difficult to find the whole path of SMOORE, and re research and development has always been the most important barrier. According to 36 krypton, the cumulative R & D investment of smore international has reached 2 billion yuan; It is planned that the annual investment in scientific research funds will be increased and maintained at more than 10% of the turnover in the future; The investment of basic research funds shall not be less than 30% of the total investment of scientific research funds.

Such data reflects the development trend of the industry: the advantages of core technology solutions help SMOORE international occupy an important position in the global market, which not only proves feelm's correct judgment on the development route, but also means that if China's electronic atomization industry wants to continue to lead the world, it needs to make continuous technological breakthroughs.

The comprehensive support of leading technology + advanced manufacturing is the core element that determines the competitiveness of the industry. From the comprehensive reality, the "Matthew effect" of the industry is becoming more and more significant, and the professional enterprise leaders who have cultivated the industry for a long time will be more competitive.

With the gradual improvement of policies and regulations in major electronic atomization markets around the world, the industrial chain and technical capacity of "fog Valley" Shenzhen are gradually maturing, and the corresponding technical indicators are constantly moving closer to the policy.

Wu Lizheng, deputy director of Tianfeng Securities Research Institute, said, "Atomized e-cigarette has become one of the important industries in China's export earning foreign exchange, making a stable contribution to employment and real economic growth. However, the application of atomized nicotine is only the beginning of this trillion industrial opportunity. In the future, we are expected to see atomization technology applied and promoted in more fields, such as traditional Chinese medicine atomization application, inhaled atomized vaccine, medical beauty atomization application, CBD atomization application and so on."

In the future, China's "fog Valley" will "start again" with the vision of technology and social responsibility. While continuously improving its strength, it will explore the application in many fields derived from electronic atomization and constantly break through the boundary of technology.