future designs lcd displays free sample

Interactive screens and technology is not new, but using it for better communications and experiences will be something we’ll see more of in the future.

If you need a hint to where digital signage is heading, your best bet is to look at retail. They were one of the first industries to add large digital signage displays to shop windows and to understand the power of using these displays for more than just advertising.

As well as providing value to the customer (hopefully the number one aim of all signage displays) this is also a powerful tracking message for brands. Brand Diageo used beacon technology as part of its out-of-home campaign with Pimms to track how many people were around various transport hubs during rush hour in London. How did it do it? By counting the number of smartphones in the area using beacons installed in nearby pubs.

The idea is that checkout screens in supermarkets and gas stations scan the faces of customers to determine age and gender. From this, the screen can then show more targeted advertising displays. Herein lies the super thin boundary between helping customers to see stuff they’re actually interested in and not encroaching on privacy and consent.

Similarly, the school uses different social media feeds for different classes and year groups, then displays them on screens outside lessons. These feeds are updated by the teacher of those lessons sending a tweet (from wherever they are) and the students can automatically see lesson times, room changes and class notes just by viewing the screens.

In education, where process often gets in the way of innovation, these simple displays are revolutionizing what information can be shown and shared.

Reflective displays really are a unique thing. You don’t have to hide them from the sun. You don’t have to shield your screen with your hand in order to eliminate glare. You don’t have to tilt it at funny angles that cause your neck to throb in pain, just so that you can read what’s on the screen. Funny, because those are our natural reactions whenever LCD and sunlight combine. Not with a reflective display though.

With the exception of few circular displays mostly used in smartwatches, the standard display shape is rectangular and mainly suits products such as TVs, mobile phones and computers. There is a large range of rectangular display products where the same display format can be used for multiple applications. Display makers are forced to compete over display parameters such as resolution rather than introducing new display shapes that can enable new form factors.

The notion of “free-form” display was introduced as an intent to move away from rectangular shapes. The first free-form displays were glass-based, non-rectangular flat displays. For example the NEST thermostat features a one of the first circular displays for smart home devices. Those non-rectangular flat displays can be used to enhance car infotainment systems too such as demonstrated by Sharp’s non-rectangular car dashboard display concept in 2015. There are also examples of consumer electronics future designs that can be transformed with freeform displays, one example being a controller-like handheld device concept that requires an elliptical touch display that covers the device"s entire surface.

Non-rectangular glass displays remain rare on the market mainly for the following two reasons. First, the making of those displays incurs extra engineering costs through the design of a bespoke thin-film transistor (TFT) array and the need for new photolithography masks. Those costs can be absorbed for high volume products but remain a challenge today for niche applications. The second reason is the production cost and the challenges posed by using glass substrates. When it comes to complex shapes, the laser cutting process of glass material and the handling of the glass impact negatively on the production yield and increase the costs.

Slightly curved displays are already widely used both in TVs and mobile phones providing products with better viewing angle or simply better ergonomics. They are usually made on glass substrates which limits the radius of curvature to several hundreds of millimetres. The technology for bending the glass requires sophisticated engineering including advanced thermoforming of glass components that must be as thin as they are strong. The curvature is also limited to one axis and one direction of bending due to the mechanical constraints of the glass.

Free-form displays should be truly shapeable and the intrinsic properties of glass do not allow it. Plastic displays can reach very tight bend radii and be formed to multiple axes and direction of curvature. The inherent flexibility of the plastic substrate makes plastic displays easy to conform to 3D surfaces. Organic liquid crystal displays (OLCD) are ultra-thin (0.3mm) plastic displays that can be laminated directly onto curved surfaces to a radius of curvature of ten millimetres.

Displays should be manufacturable in any shape reliably; and there is no doubt that it is much easier to cut plastic than to cut glass. Today, glass displays are limited to straight or gently curved edges because of the challenges of handling glass with more complex shapes, whereas plastic OLCDs can be easily cut to exotic shapes by laser profiling. Once the display has been built, the plastic substrate can be gently released from the rigid carrier ensuring a simple, reliable high yield “release” process. The ability to cut plastic displays to shape offers an infinite degree of design freedom. For example, it is now even possible to insert a physical hole in the middle of a display to create a “donut shape” display product.

Product designers want to design displays around the product, and not the other way round. “Free-form” means more than non-rectangular; it is the ability to integrate displays seamlessly into any 3D shaped surface. Only plastic displays can become truly free-form displays and wrapped around objects that have multiple axes and direction of curvature. OLCD is the only plastic display technology that enables low cost, large area and shapeable displays today. If you want to unleash your imagination, please contact us at info@flexenable.com.

For more than a decade, smartphone designers have stuck closely to the humble rectangular slab. Yet of late, manufacturers are experimenting with wilder forms. We"ve seen devices with multiple displays, phones of different shapes, and handsets of varying sizes. Last year, Samsung and Motorola made clamshell-shaped flip phones that opened up to look like normal smartphones. Even Microsoft waded into the weird end of the pool with the Duo, a book-like phone with dual displays connected by a vertical hinge in the center.

The biggest barrier to widespread adoption of phones with these new designs is their high price. Samsung"s first foldable phone launched in 2019 for $1,980. Last year"s Z Flip cost $1,380, and Microsoft"s Surface Duo sells for $1,400. However, these technologies will start to get a little more accessible this year according to industry analyst Patrick Moorhead, founder and President of Moor Insights & Strategy.

"There is a price issue. I see that coming down this year," Moorhead says. "If there could be some penetration pricing done to get the entry level to $1,000, that would start to drive some considerable volume." Moorhead also expects we will see more of these foldable designs at the Mobile World Congress tradeshow in June. (MWC usually takes place at the end of February in Barcelona, but the show was pushed back to June due to the Covid-19 pandemic.)

Most modern computer monitors, and even televisions, have an edge-lit LCD display that’s fundamentally similar to the first such displays sold decades ago, but that’s not where the future is headed. The twin threats of Mini-LED and OLED want to conquer the world of PC displays for themselves.

Which will win, and where is the future headed? I spoke with Ross Young, CEO of Display Supply Chain Consultants, and David Wyatt, CTO of Pixel Display (and inventor of Nvidia G-Sync), for the inside scoop.

Modern OLED displays rarely exceed 1,000 nits of brightness, and when they do, are incapable of sustaining it. LG’s C9 OLED television, for example, can’t sustain a peak brightness above 160 nits (according to testing by Rtings). Mini-LED displays like Apple’s Liquid Retina XDR, Samsung’s Odyssey Neo G9, and Samsung’s QN90A television can hit peak brightness well above 1,000 nits and sustain at least 600 nits.

Wyatt points to this as a key advantage. The best HDR standards call for up to 10,000 nits of brightness. Current consumer Mini-LED displays don’t achieve this, but it’s possible future displays will.

Such brightness is not necessary for computer monitors or home televisions and instead targets demanding niche components, such as avionics displays. Still, it hints that we’ve only seen a sliver of HDR’s real potential – and that Mini-LED and Micro-LED, not OLED, will lead the charge.

Modern Mini-LED displays often claim to rival OLED. Apple’s Liquid Retina Display XDR, for example, lists a maximum contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1. In reality, Mini-LED still noticeably lags the contrast performance of OLED because it can’t light pixels individually. This will remain true at least until Micro-LED, which can light pixels individually, goes mainstream.

Mini-LED improves on traditional edge-lit LCD displays by improving the backlight. The LCD panel itself, however, is much the same as before and retains some flaws common to the technology.

Display quality can shift significantly depending on viewing angle, and significant blur will be visible when displaying fast motion. Both problems are inherent to LCD technology. The liquid crystals do not block light uniformly, so the image looks different from different angles, and require a few milliseconds to respond to a charge, causing blur or ghosting in rapidly changing images.

OLED is different from LCD technology. There’s no liquid crystals to twist or move. Each pixel is an organic element that creates its own light when a charge is applied. The light is emitted in a relatively uniform pattern and can turn on or off extremely quickly, removing the viewing angle and motion performance issues of LCD entirely.

This advantage will likely continue in the near future. OLED pricing is reliant on availability of OLED panels, which are not as widely produced as LCD panels. Companies looking to build Mini-LED displays can design the backlight somewhat independently of the LCD panel and choose panels as needed based on the panel’s capabilities and pricing.

Because of this, there’s more ways for manufacturers to deliver Mini-LED displays in notebooks and monitors, which may lead to a more aggressive reduction in price.

OLED’s big break may come with the introduction of new fabs. Young says they will “lower costs significantly for 10-inch to 32-inch panels, giving OLED fabs the same flexibility as G8.5 LCD fabs, meaning the ability to target multiple applications from a single fab.” The first of these new fabs should start producing panels by 2024.

Affordable OLED seems alluring, but Wyatt champions a different approach. He believes the Micro-LED technology championed by Pixel Display will meld the strengths of LCD and OLED while ditching the weaknesses of both.

Personally, I think Mini-LED shows more promise—when it comes to PC displays, at least. The static images, long hours, and sustained brightness of Mini-LED displays pinches on OLED pain points, which will remain even if pricing becomes more affordable.

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Each of these tests and all of them combined is designed to simulate years of real-world aging in environments such as in automobiles and appliances. By showing consistency over time under these conditions of the b* value, manufacturers can be confident of resistance to yellowing for LCD displays. In addition, customized testing is not uncommon in cases where a product may be exposed to unique or especially harsh conditions.

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Cupertino, California — Apple today announced iPhone X, the future of the smartphone, in a gorgeous all-glass design with a beautiful 5.8-inch Super Retina display, A11 Bionic chip, wireless charging and an improved rear camera with dual optical image stabilization. iPhone X delivers an innovative and secure new way for customers to unlock, authenticate and pay using Face ID, enabled by the new TrueDepth camera. iPhone X will be available for pre-order beginning Friday, October 27 in more than 55 countries and territories, and in stores beginning Friday, November 3.

“iPhone X is the future of the smartphone. It is packed with incredible new technologies, like the innovative TrueDepth camera system, beautiful Super Retina display and super fast A11 Bionic chip with neural engine," said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “iPhone X enables fluid new user experiences — from unlocking your iPhone with Face ID, to playing immersive AR games, to sharing Animoji in Messages — it is the beginning of the next ten years for iPhone.”