LG Display will release HD panel for smartphones

(Phys.org) -- LG Display is getting ready to showcase a five-inch smartphone display that turns out to be a full HD LCD panel supporting up to 1080p video, something like having a high-quality TV in your hand. The display will allow smartphone users to view full HD content with ideal viewing as seen on TVs and monitors and will set a high bar for other manufacturers as a result. The Seoul, Korea-based company has announced the new display with 1920x1080 resolution and impressive pixel density of 440ppi.

Smartphone displays are becoming larger in size, and the marketplace is now seeing users who view phone calls as incidental to a higher goal toward owning a handset that can do multimedia well. High resolution and pixel density have become selling points in smartphones. The new display from LG Display will draw this kind of customer.

The panel uses the 16:9 aspect ratio to make exceptional smartphone viewing of high-definition movies closest to watching HDTV. Advanced High Performance In-Plane Switching (AH-IPS) technology is behind the new Full HD LCD display, and the company claims the technology brings faster response on touchscreens, clearer colors and images, wide viewing angles, brighter light transmission, and lower power consumption,

The five-inch panel will be released in the second half of this year, but no device names were cited. Before that, LG Display, which are manufacturers of thin-film transistor liquid crystal display, will show the panel at the upcoming Society for Information Display (SID 2012) event in Boston, Massachusetts, starting June 4.

Outside the company, meanwhile, observers are extending compliments on the news of the display, with its high resolution and 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio features that suggest the display will upstage Apple’s Retina Display.

In contrast to the compliments, though, are worries being raised about the possible effects of any such high-quality display on battery life, as battery drain is often linked to large, high-density displays. Generally, vendors and carriers in the past have noted that battery technology has not caught up to rapid advances in smartphone technology. Put another way, power requirements of mobile devices are growing faster than advances in battery capacity. Batteries have seen advances but observers say these advances are not happening fast enough; significant breakthroughs are eagerly awaited. LG Display, meanwhile, says that the AH-IPS display technology for the panel provides lower power consumption.

© 2012 Phys.Org