small tft display size comparison pricelist

TFT LCD display is the general category that includes TFT display panels, MCU TFT displays, Arduino TFT displays, Raspberry Pi TFT displays, HDMI TFT displays, IPS TFT displays, VGA TFT displays, and embedded TFT displays.

TFT LCD panel means TFT LCD glass with LCD controller or LCD driver and backlight, with or without touch panel. Orient Display provides broad range products with the most competitive TFT LCD Panel Price by working with the most renowned TFT panel glass manufacturers, like AUO, Innolux, BOE, LG, Sharp etc.

Orient Display offers a range of small to mid to large size TFT LCDs. Our standard products for TFT screens start at 1” in diagonal size and up to 7 inches and to 32 inches. Orient Display TFT displays meet the needs for applications such as automotive, white goods, smart homes, telecommunications industrial, medical, and consumer devices.

Orient Display not only provides many standard small size OLEDs, TN or IPS Arduino TFT displays, but also custom made solutions with larger size displays or even with capacitive touch panels.

If you have any questions about Orient Display TFT LCD displays or if you can’t find a suitable product on our website. Please feel free to contact our engineers for details.

In-Plane Switching (IPS) is a technology that overcomes the viewing limitations of conventional TFT-LCDs. It is also known as Super TFT.IPS derives its name from the fact that the liquid-crystal molecules are aligned in parallel with the glass plates, whereas the TN principle adopted in conventional TFT displays is based on perpendicular alignment of the molecules.

Users of industrial display devices are wanting the same experience they have come to expect from a consumer device. Switching to an IPS display has become very cost effective as production increases and unit prices decrease. Benefits include:

With more and more consumer products such as smart phones and tablets using IPS displays, the production yield and cost has come down significantly in recent years. This is great news for manufacturers wanting to upgrade their design.

Pricing for small size IPS displays, particularly2.4 and 2.8", is comparable, if not favourable to TN-TFTs, meaning that you can upgrade from a monochrome display to a superior colour display without breaking the budget..

Our IPS-TFT displays are available from 1" to 23" and ideal for outdoor applications. To further enhance the displays where environmental challenges including sunlight, extreme temperatures, water or salt, or vandalism, can be an issue we have a number of

Here at Anders we don"t just strive to design a best in class display solution for your product, but we also want to make sure the display is driven with the right embedded system. We can help achieve a hardware solution that ensures your display works perfectly within your application. Hardware solutions include:

Marine user interface systems have a lot of challenges: for both safety and user experience, the displays need to have outstanding clarity, be easy to read in any conditions and and from any angle, whilst withstanding rain and seawater, all whilst delivering clear, concise information and reliable connectivity for a seamless user experience. We can help you design a display and embedded system truly fit for purpose.

The medical environment is quite rightly rigorous and demanding, requiring display and embedded solutions that are accessible and safe to use.Understanding where and how a medical product will be used and by whom is important for us to help you design a solution truly fit for purpose.

With ever increasing pressure in all of our lives, having easy to use and reliable home appliances plays a key role in easing thosestresses.We can help you achieve an innovative display and embedded design fit for those demanding user expectations.

Putting your own stamp on your product is more than a logo on the start-up screen. Discover how we can help you design a unique display solution with our customisation services:

We aim to offer reliable and long-term solutions to our B2B customers. If you would like to discuss your display and/or embedded system requirements please contact us below.

Take your design to the next level with our range of TFT Displays including latest IPS TFT, circular and bar shape as well as large size TFT. With or without touch, these are fully customisable to your system requirements.

TFT-LCD technology is now fairly mature. As a result, manufacturing processes are efficient and production yields are high, leading to very competitive unit prices. Upgrading from a monochrome display to a TFT is now an affordable way to give your product an uplift.

Users of industrial display devices are wanting the same experience they have come to expect from a consumer device with all-round viewing angles. Switching to a superior IPS TFT display has become very cost effective as production increases and unit prices decrease.

Choosing a circular display for your next product design could really set you apart from your competition. Models are available from 1" to 4.2"in TFT, PMOLED and AMOLED, we have something to suit every application.

It is now possible to transform from a monochrome display to a colour display in space constrained systemsby using a letterbox shaped display. These ultra-wide displays are ideal for applications with restricted build height such as rack mount systems or landscape format front panels.

Large TFT display systems are increasingly being used for transportation information, retail signage and vending machines and kiosks. We can supply a large range of TFT solutions up to 65" diameter and in bar-style, square or rectangular configurations.

We are now offering increasing cover lens customisation options and processes to make your TFT LCD user interface truly stand out! Anders’ experienced marketers and engineers work with our manufacturing partners around the world to keep informed of the latest innovations, including mirrored glass,tinted glass, spot-facing, three dimension glass, and many more!

Here at Anders we don"t just strive to design a best in class display solution for your product, but we also want to make sure the display is driven with the right embedded system. We can help achieve a hardware solution that ensures your display works perfectly within your application. Hardware solutions include:

Get started quickly on your new user interface with our HMI development kits. The display, the processor and the OS work together out of the box with optimised QT GUI images. We"ll then optimise the kit to meet exactly your system requirements with our design services.

At Anders we understand that no two customers are the same, which is why we specialise in custom display solutionsand offer unique productstailored to your end application.

See below our range of TFT Displayswith sizes ranging from0.96" to 64.5" and including circular and bar type shape. All our displays can be tailored to suit your application antimicrobial coating technology,

We aim to offer reliable and long-term solutions to our B2B customers. If you are a business and would like to discuss your display and/or embedded system requirements please contact us below

A TFT display is a form of Liquid Crystal Display with thin film transistors for controlling the image formation. The TFT technology works by controlling brightness in red, green and blue sub-pixels through transistors for each pixel on the screen.

There are many display technologies, but do you know which one would be better for your application? Particularly when considering optimum viewing angle and contrast. We discuss 2 of the best options.

Compare IPS vs TFT displays - the TFT display is the display of choice for industrial designs, but it can have its limitations. A newer technology called IPS (in plane switching) offers better viewing angles and colours, but is it really the best choice - we discuss benefits and negatives of both types of TFT display.

Sharp NEC Display Solutions incorporates both Sharp and NEC brands of display products. Including desktop, 4K and 8K UHD large format, video wall, dvLED, collaboration and interactive products, Sharp/NEC offers the widest portfolio of displays available. Understanding that every market and environment has unique requirements, Sharp/NEC prides itself on being your partner, delivering customized solutions to match your needs.

KING TECH is a TFT LCD IPS supplier solution specialist since 2003, we are the group company combined byAn Innolux authorized LCD panel&IC distribution company

We Provide Different Kinds of Custom TFT Display ServicesIf needed we can make custom size tft displays for customers, we have a good relationship with original TFT display module factories, and we can negotiate with them to tool up an LCD panel mask. The tooling cost will be very high and paid by the end customer, and MOQ is at least 25K/lot.

We are capable to change every structure of the TFT display module. To increase backlight brightness and make it sunlight readable, the highest brightness we’ve ever reached was 6500cd/m2.To change the display FPC shape and length. To customize a resistive touch panel(RTP) or capacitive touch panel(CTP/PCAP), we have a long-term cooperation supplier to work with us on such tooling, for CTP, we can also make different shapes and thicknesses of cover glass, single touch, and multi-touch, AG/AR/AF is also available.

With our own PCBA hardware& software design company, we can design different kinds of TFT display modules for our customers, from simple convert boards to complete motherboards, from HDMI driver boards to Android controller boards, from non-touch function boards to capacitive touch function boards, they are all part of our working.

We have our own TFT display module panel and driver distribution department, if you want to switch to another structure of display, we can also help, cause we know which TFT display module panel and the driver is more match, and which suit’s supply is more stable, which one we can get the lowest price.

In order to give the customer the best support, Kingtech, as one of the best TFT LCD IPS suppliers in China, also can provide industrial solutions such as developing a mother board, serial port UART board, T-CON board, HDMI board, and monitor according to the customer"s requirements.

Kingtech also has existing industrial solutions for the PV135 motherboard, PV901 Linux board, and PV804 motherboard. They can be connected between Raspberry pi and our TFT display module, which can make them work together.

For serial port UART board, Kingtech has a 2.8inch 240x320 LCD with serial port UART board, 3.5inch 320x480 module with serial port UART board, 4.3inch 480x272 display with a resistive touch with serial port UART board, 7inch 800x480/1024x600 TFT with capacitive touch with serial port UART board.

For the HDMI board, Kingtech has a 1.39inch 454x454 AMOLED round with HDMI board, 3.34inch 320x320 TFT round with HDMI board, 3.4inch 800x800 TFT round with HDMI board, 5inch 1080x1080 TFT with HDMI board, 4.3inch 800x480 TFT with HDMI board, 5inch 800x480 LCD with HDMI board, 7inch 800x480/1024x600 LCD display with HDMI board, 10.1inch 1280x800 LCD module with HDMI board.

Above all TFT display modules with board products can be used for industrial equipment, medical, smart-home, or others. Kingtech can also have industrial custom TFT display solutions according to the customer’s requirements. Ware is welcome to contact us. If you are interested in any tft display module products, we can negotiate with you at a reasonable TFT LCD display price. Thank you.

TFT display module is a Thin Film Transistor, and AMOLED is Active-matrix organic light-emitting Display. The TFT display module is backlight-on the liquid crystal panel; AMOLED is a panel that emits light on its own; TFT display module structure is more thick and strong, AMOLED is very thin and also weak, TFT display module is used widely than AMOLED, AMOLED is used in consumer products the most, like a smartwatch, mobile phone, and TV.

IPS is In-Plane Switching, It is also known as free viewing angle, which means the viewing angle of the display on 4 sides is the same, a normal display has its best viewing angle like 6 o’clock or 12 o’clock. While the TFT display module contains normal viewing angles and IPS display,IPS display is a kind of TFT display module.

TFT display module belongs to LCD, LCD is Liquid Crystal Display, it contains mono(single color) LCD and color LCD, single color LCD is barely used now, and color LCD has STN and TFT two types. Therefore, TFT display module is a kind of LCD display.

OLED is Organic Light Emitting Display, it is a display that emits light on its own, and it does not need an extra backlight, so it requests lower power consumption than TFT display module but its lifetime is shorter than TFT(5000 hours), AMOLED is a kind of OLED but it is more colorful. TFT display module requests a backlight to light on and power consumption are higher than OLED, but its lifetime is much longer(20000 hours).

The LED display is working by lighting up the LED lights, the TFT display module is lighted up by the backlight and the liquid crystal starts to work and shows contents. TFT display module has brighter and more true color, and lower price and LED display has lower power consumption, smaller heat, and longer lifetime.

Compares to other types of display, TFT display module is the more widely used, it can be made in different shapes and sizes, from very small sizes to big sizes. The resolution now is higher and higher, and the price of custom TFT display modules is more and more competitive. Its lifetime is longer than the OLED display, and its color is brighter than OLED.

This is a small graphics library, specifically aimed at ATtiny microcontrollers, for the variety of small colour TFT displays available at low cost from suppliers like Adafruit, AliExpress, or Banggood:

It"s an updated version of my Tiny TFT Graphics Library. This latest version of the library supports both the classic ATtiny processors, such as the ATtiny85, and the new 0-series, 1-series, and 2-series ATtiny processors, such as the ATtiny402. Like the original library it allows you to plot points, draw lines, draw filled rectangles, and plot characters and text with an optional scale factor, in 16-bit colour.

This version adds the ability to plot outline rectanges, and outline and filled circles. I"ve included demo curve-plotting and histogram-plotting programs that adjust to fit any display.

This library supports TFT displays that use an SPI interface and require four pins to drive the display. This leaves one pin free on an 8-pin chip such as the ATtiny85 or ATtiny402. If you need more pins choose a larger chip, such as the ATtiny84 or ATtiny404.

Unlike my Compact TFT Graphics Library which uses standard Arduino SPI calls, this library uses direct I/O pin manipulations. This means that you can use any assignment of pins to the four I/O lines needed by the display, and makes it about twice as fast as one using SPI calls. I"ve also added support for some additional displays, so it now supports 16 different TFT displays.

So provided you set all the pins to their disabled state at startup, the display routines can simply toggle the appropriate pins to enable or disable them.

The differences between each family of processors are handled by constants to define the pin assignments, and preprocessor macros to define the bit manipulations. If you use the circuits given below you won"t need to change anything, apart from specifying which display you"re using.

The ClearDisplay() routine has been optimised further by realising that we don"t need to keep setting the mosi bit, since to clear the display it is always zero, so the routine only needs to toggle the sck bit the appropriate number of times. I"m grateful to Thomas Scherer for suggesting this.

This library will work with displays based on the ST7735 which supports a maximum display size of 162x132, or the ST7789 and ILI9340/1 which support a maximum display size of 320x240. It includes parameters for the following colour TFT displays:

* These Adafruit displays conveniently all have the same edge-connector layout, so you can make a prototyping board or PCB that will take any of them, such as my Universal TFT Display Backpack.

Some of the AliExpress displays include a LDO 3.3V regulator, but not logic-level translation, so I recommend only interfacing them to a processor running from 3.3V.

The Adafruit displays all include an LDO 3.3V regulator and logic-level translation, so can be safely interfaced to processors powered from either 5V or 3.3V.

On the AliExpress red 160x128 display you need to connect the backlight pin to Vcc to turn it on. This doesn"t seem to be necessary with the other displays.

The library will probably support other TFT displays that use the same ST7735, ST7789, ILI9340/1 driver chips, but you may need to experiment with the parameters to get the image scaled and centered correctly.

The display needs to be connected to the microcontroller via four I/O lines: MOSI, SCK, CS, and DC. You can use any pins for these, but they should all be in the same port. You need to specify the port pin numbers of the pins you are using at the start of the Tiny TFT Graphics Library listing.

The 33kΩ pullup resistor from the display"s CS pin is optional; it is only needed on the AliExpress displays, and holds the chip select high to prevent the display from flickering while programming the ATtiny85.

The different displays are catered for by seven constants which specify the size of the display, the offsets relative to the area supported by the display driver, whether the display is inverted, the rotation value, and the order of the colours; for example:

By default the parameters give the correct orientation assuming you"re using the display with the header pins along the top, except in the case of the larger displays which have the header pins along the shorter edge, in which case the header pins are assumed to be on the left.

To check or adjust the values for each display you can run the TestChart() program, which draws a one-pixel border around the display area, and plots a red "F" to show the orientation:

The library will probably support other TFT displays that use the same driver chips, but you may need to experiment with the parameters to get the image scaled and centered correctly.

The library includes basic graphics routines for plotting points and drawing lines. These work on a conventional coordinate system with the origin at lower left. For example, on the 80x160 display:

Focus Displays offers a wide range of standard full color TFT displays. 64 million unique colors, high brightness, sharp contrast, -30C operating temperature, and fast response time are all good descriptions of a TFT display. This is why TFT technology is one of the most popular choices for a new product.

Thin Film Transistor (TFT) display technology can be seen in products such as laptop computers, cell phones, tablets, digital cameras, and many other products that require color. TFT’s are active matrix displays which offers exceptional viewing experiences especially when compared to other passive matrix technologies. The clarity on TFT displays is outstanding; and they possess a longer half-life than some types of OLEDs and range in sizes from less than an inch to over 15 inches.

CCFL’s are still available, but are becoming a legacy (obsolete) component. TFT displays equipped with a CCFL require higher MOQs (Minimum Order Quantities) than displays with LED backlights.

The majority of TFT displays contain a touch panel, or touch screen. The touch panel is a touch-sensitive transparent overlay mounted on the front of the display glass. Allowing for interaction between the user and the LCD display.

Some touch panels require an independent driver IC; which can be included in the TFT display module or placed on the customer’s Printed Circuit Board (PCB). Touch screens make use of coordinate systems to locate where the user touched the screen.

Resistive touch panels are the lowest cost option and are standard equipment on many TFT modules. They are more common on smaller TFT displays, but can still be incorporated on larger modules.

Contrast ratio, or static contrast ratio, is one way to measure the sharpness of the TFT LCD display. This ratio is the difference between the darkest black and the brightest white the display is able to produce. The higher the number on the left, the sharper the image. A typical contrast ratio for TFT may be 300:1. This number ratio means that the white is 300 times brighter than the black.

TFT LCD displays are measured in inches; this is the measurement of the diagonal distance across the glass. Common TFT sizes include: 1.77”, 2.4”, 2.8”, 3”, 4.3”, 5”, 5.7”, 5.8”, 7”, 10.2”, 12.1 and 15”.

As a general rule, the larger the size of the glass the higher the cost of the display, but there are exceptions to this rule. A larger display may be less expensive than a smaller display if the manufacture produces higher quantities of the larger displays. When selecting your color display, be sure to ask what the cost is for one size smaller and one size larger. It may be worth modifying your design requirements.

TFT resolution is the number of dots or pixels the display contains. It is measured by the number of dots along the horizontal (X axis) and the dots along the vertical (Y axis).

The higher the resolution, the more dots per square inch (DPI), the sharper the display will look. A higher resolution results in a higher cost. One reason for the increase in cost is that more driver chips are necessary to drive each segment.

Certain combinations of width and height are standardized and typically given a name and a letter representation that is descriptive of its dimensions. Popular names given to the TFT LCD displays resolution include:

Transmissive displays must have the backlight on at all times to read the display, but are not the best option in direct sunlight unless the backlight is 750 Nits or higher. A majority of TFT displays are Transmissive, but they will require more power to operate with a brighter backlight.

Transflective displays are readable with the backlight off provided there is enough ambient light. Transflective displays are more expensive than Transmissive also there may be a larger MOQ for Transflective. However, Transflective displays are the best option for direct sunlight.

Drivers update and refresh the pixels (Picture Elements) of a display. Each driver is assigned a set number of pixels. If there are more pixels than a single driver can handle, then an additional drivers are added.

A primary job of the driver is to refresh each pixel. In passive TFT displays, the pixel is refreshed and then allowed to slowly fade (aka decay) until refreshed again. The higher the refresh frequency, the sharper the displays contrast.

The controller does just what its name suggest. It controls the drivers. There is only one controller per display no matter how many drivers. A complex graphic display with several thousand pixels will contain one controller and several drivers.

The TFT display (minus touch screen/backlight) alone will contain one controller/driver combination. These are built into the display so the design engineer does not need to locate the correct hardware.

If you do not see a Thin Film Transistor (TFT) Display module that meets your specifications, or you need a replacement TFT, we can build a custom TFT displays to meet your requirements. Custom TFTs require a one-time tooling fee and may require higher MOQs.

Ready to order samples for your TFT design? Contact one of our US-based technical support people today concerning your design requirements. Note: We can provide smaller quantities for samples and prototyping.

In this guide we’re going to show you how you can use the 1.8 TFT display with the Arduino. You’ll learn how to wire the display, write text, draw shapes and display images on the screen.

The 1.8 TFT is a colorful display with 128 x 160 color pixels. The display can load images from an SD card – it has an SD card slot at the back. The following figure shows the screen front and back view.

This module uses SPI communication – see the wiring below . To control the display we’ll use the TFT library, which is already included with Arduino IDE 1.0.5 and later.

The TFT display communicates with the Arduino via SPI communication, so you need to include the SPI library on your code. We also use the TFT library to write and draw on the display.

In which “Hello, World!” is the text you want to display and the (x, y) coordinate is the location where you want to start display text on the screen.

The 1.8 TFT display can load images from the SD card. To read from the SD card you use the SD library, already included in the Arduino IDE software. Follow the next steps to display an image on the display:

Note: some people find issues with this display when trying to read from the SD card. We don’t know why that happens. In fact, we tested a couple of times and it worked well, and then, when we were about to record to show you the final result, the display didn’t recognized the SD card anymore – we’re not sure if it’s a problem with the SD card holder that doesn’t establish a proper connection with the SD card. However, we are sure these instructions work, because we’ve tested them.

In this guide we’ve shown you how to use the 1.8 TFT display with the Arduino: display text, draw shapes and display images. You can easily add a nice visual interface to your projects using this display.

Whether it is for professional graphic designing, gaming, or general computing requirements, a high-quality monitor can deliver an engaging viewing experience. Available in a wide range of options, these devices offer you the flexibility to choose the one as needed. You can decide based on their size, screen resolution, panel type, display type, and technology. You can also choose based on their design and mounting, webcam, and additional features. So, whether you are bored of your old monitor or need an upgrade to take advantage of the sophisticated software, you can browse and find the right screen for your requirements. Several brands, such as Dell, Acer, LG, HP, BenQ, and many more offer a myriad of options to choose from.

You can go ahead with a basic monitor if you only need it to get you through the day and help you send emails, post on social networks, surf the web, pay bills, watch films, and so on. For these uses, adequate-size screens with full HD displays are easily available. Heavy games demand displays with high resolution, a good response time, a fast refresh rate, and a wide viewing angle of up to 178 degrees or more. And, if you are a gaming enthusiast, you can search for AMD FreeSync or NVIDIA G-Sync technology for an engrossing gaming experience. Some gamers also search for two gaming monitors or a truly widescreen display to enjoy an enhanced view. For photographers, graphic designers, animators, coders, and other multimedia specialists, widescreen displays with Full HD or Quad HD resolution can be suitable. The IPS panel and other display technologies provide wide viewing angles and excellent colour accuracy. You will also need to think about response time, mounts, stands, and so on for an improved viewing experience. If you want to buy this device for work, such as working on spreadsheets or collaborating with coworkers, an LED or IPS display with Full HD resolution will be ideal.

If you want to enjoy high-quality pictures, you need a display with up to 1920x1080p Full HD display and more. But, a QHD or up to 4K variant will deliver more sharp and clear images. As far as the size is concerned, up to 81.28 cm (32) devices are enough for viewing from average desktop distances. You can find up to 81.28 cm (32) 4K gaming or general use displays. The refresh rate, which is measured in hertz, indicates how many times your display updates with new information every second (Hz). A large number delivers smooth images. Gamers desire a display with a refresh rate of at least 75 Hz as well as the shortest response time possible. But, if you are not a gamer, a refresh rate of 60 Hz should suffice. Curved displays are less eye-straining and have a large field of view. And, these displays are often wide, which indicates high performance. So, you can buy monitors online and enhance your overall viewing experience.

Reports suggest that Apple is getting closer to implementing MicroLED in its future product releases, including the Apple Watch, with the display technology potentially offering a number of benefits compared to other methods. AppleInsider explains how the current TFT and OLED display technologies work, and how MicroLED differs.

MicroLED shows promise as a display technology, potentially offering power savings and a reduced screen thickness when put beside current-generation display panels. Apple has recognized the potential, and has invested heavily into developing the technology over the last few years, with a view to using it in the company"s future products.

To understand fully how MicroLED can benefit Apple, it is worth understanding how the commonly-used display technologies work in the first place, before examining how different MicroLED really is in a comparison.

The most common display technology used by consumer products today, and the oldest of the technologies examined in this article, TFT"s full name of TFT LCD stands for Thin-film-transistor liquid-crystal display. This technology is extensively used by Apple in its products, found in iPads, iPhones, MacBooks, and iMac lines.

The LCD part relates to the concept of defining small translucent or transparent areas in a thin and flexible liquid crystal-filled panel, like the displays used in calculators. Passing current through the segment changes the molecular properties of the defined segment area, allowing it to switch between being see-through or opaque.

TFT takes this a stage further, by effectively covering an entire panel with a grid of isolated liquid crystal segments, which again can vary between opaque and transparent based on the level of electrical current. In this case, there are far more segments needed to make up the display than with a normal calculator.

Polarizing filters on either side of the TFT display sandwich are used to prevent light from passing through directly, with the liquid crystal reaction of each segment affecting polarized light passing through the first filter to go through the second.

Sometimes these types of display are known as "LED," but this somewhat of a misnomer, as this actually refers to the use of Light Emitting Diodes as a light source. The LED backlight shines light through the various layers making up the TFT LCD.

Displays that use collections of LEDs as individual pixels do exist, but it isn"t usually found in consumer products. LED screens are commonly used for billboards, in attractions, and as a large-scale display for events.

TFT LCD screens continue to be widely used in production for a number of reasons. Manufacturers have spent a long time perfecting the production of the display panels to make it as cheap as possible, while its high usage allows it to benefit from economies of scale.

Used in consumer devices in a similar way to TFT LCD, OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode) is a display technology that is similar in the basic concept, but differs considerably in its execution. Again, the idea is for a thin panel to be divided up into segments, with charge applied to each section to alter its molecular properties, but that"s where the techniques diverge.

These self-emitting pixels gives OLED a considerable advantage over LCD-based systems in a number of areas. Most obviously, by not needing a backlight, OLED panels can be made far thinner than an equivalent LCD-based display, allowing for the production of thinner devices or more internal area for other components, like a larger battery.

The power efficiency of OLED panels can be far greater, as while a TFT screen requires an always-on backlight, the brightness of OLED pixels themselves determine power usage, with a black pixel consuming no power at all. OLED screens are also faster to respond than LCD displays, making them more useful for VR displays, where response time needs to be as rapid as possible.

This also allows OLED to provide superior contrast ratios compared to TFT, as the lack of backlight bleed-through that occurs in TFT simply doesn"t happen in OLED.

OLED also can be produced on plastic substrates instead of glass, allowing it to be used to create flexible displays. While this is currently embodied in curved and other non-flat screens in some devices, it has the potential to be employed in foldable smartphones or rolled up for storage, an area Apple is also allegedly examining.

Despite the advantages, OLED is still lagging behind TFT in terms of adoption. The cost of production is far higher, in part due to the need for extremely clean environments, as a single speck of dust can potentially ruining a display during fabrication.

OLED panels are also affected by the presence of water, both in production and in use. Small amounts of water contacting the organic substrate can cause immediate damage to the display, rendering parts of the screen useless.

Thought to be the next big thing in display technology, MicroLED basically takes the idea of using LEDs for pixels in a large stadium-style screen and miniaturizes it all.

Using extremely small LEDs, three MicroLEDs are put together to create each pixel, with each subpixel emitting a different color from the usual red, blue, and green selection. As each LED emits light, there is no need for a backlight as used in TFT screens.

MicroLED doesn"t use an organic compound to produce light, making it less susceptible to failure compared to OLED. Just like OLED, it can be applied onto a flexible material, allowing it to be used for curved displays or non-stationary components, like a watch strap, and can result in an extremely thin display panel.

MicroLED offers the same lower power consumption and high contrast ratio benefits as OLED when compared to TFT. However, MicroLED is also capable of producing a far brighter image than OLED, up to 30 times brighter, and is in theory more efficient in converting electricity into light.

As a relatively new and in-development technology, the cost of MicroLED production is extremely high in comparison to the more established OLED and TFT mass production lines, in part due to lower than required yields. Manufacturing equipment vendors have produced hardware for MicroLED production that cuts defects in half and reduces deposition deviance from 3 nanometers down to 1 nanometer, but it is unclear if this is enough to help mass production move forward.

While MicroLED is an attractive proposition for Apple, it is not the only technology under development by the company"s engineers. Apple has previously filed patent applications for a technology described as "Quantum Dot LED and OLED Integration for High Efficiency Displays."

Quantum Dots are photoluminescent particles included in an LED-backed TFT display that can produce brighter and more vibrant colors, with the colors produced depending on their size. While available in current QLED televisions, the technology is only really being used to enhance the backlight, rather than being used to illuminate individual pixels.

Image: Lee, Changhee & BAE, Wanki & KWAK, Jeonghun. (2014). "Quantum Dot LED (QLED) Emerging as a Next-generation Display Technology" in Physics and High Technology

The technology in theory can create an even thinner display than OLED, along with a more streamlined manufacturing process. True QD displays are also capable of high pixel densities of up to 1,000ppi, multiple times the density required to be called a Retina-quality display, and based on Apple"s hybrid invention, will also boast the response times of OLED technology.

The QD patent application certainly shows Apple is thinking about display technology in multiple ways, and how it can be applied to future devices, but short of getting firm supply chain information or an official announcement from Apple directly, it is difficult to confirm which direction it will be heading.

Apple has been interested in using the technology for some time now, with the first notable sign being its acquisition of LuxVue in May 2014, alongside assorted related patents. A MicroLED specialist, LuxVue was rumored to have been the display producer for the ill-fated Google Glass headset, but was also the holder of assorted patents in the LED display field, including MicroLED.

At the time, the acquisition was thought to be an attempt by Apple to bring part of its display technology development in-house, with suggestions the MicroLED technology would be used in another rumored-at-the-time device, the Apple Watch. A more recent report suggests Apple is working with TSMC to make small panels for a future premium Apple Watch, potentially starting mass production by the end of the year.

The facility is also claimed to be sufficient in size to perform small scale manufacturing of display panels, allowing the company to keep development and testing in-house without involving third-parties. Considering Apple"s previous history in developing technologies before issuing information to manufacturing partners, it is possible that Apple is trying to work out the kinks in production before suppliers even attempt to make MicroLED panels.

The rumored small screen production may be for the Apple Watch now, but it may also benefit another often-rumored device, namely the VR or AR headset. This type of hardware relies on light components to keep the weight off the user"s head and neck, as well as displays with a high refresh rate and as close to perfect color reproduction as possible.

Apple is also apparently planning to use the technology in larger displays, said to be bigger in size than those in the MacBook Pro lines. This could be an iMac or iMac Pro, or even an external display, but ultimately there"s no real indication of Apple"s plans at this point, regardless of the scale of the screen.

Reports from last year also suggest Apple"s investment in MicroLED was a cause for concern for Samsung, LG, and other South Korean suppliers who provide display panels for the company"s products. Owning the process for MicroLED manufacturing could allow Apple to migrate away from its existing display suppliers in the coming years, reducing revenues and profits.

Aside from Apple"s development, there has been little in the way of announcements from other firms for products using the technology that could be bought by consumers in the coming months. The exception is Samsung, Apple"s main rival in the mobile marketplace and a major supplier of display panels, but its usage of MicroLED is not aimed at producing smaller screens.

At CES 2018, Samsung introduced The Wall, a 148-inch TV claimed to be the "world"s first consumer modular MicroLED" television. According to the South Korean electronics giant, The Wall"s modularity meant consumers would be able to customize their television"s size and shape to suit their needs.

The impending use of the technology in a high-priced consumer product could be considered proof that MicroLED display technology is maturing enough for use in devices. If the reports claiming Apple is getting close to mass producing panels is true, the inclusion of MicroLED in the Apple Watch could end up being the first mainstream usage of the technology.