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Sharp's new 443ppi 5-inch smartphone displays on show at CEATEC 2012 (update: 6.1-inch 498ppi panel spotted)
Here at CEATEC, the Japanese display maker is showing of its latest portable screens. Although the vivid 1080p displays were scurried away in the corner of Sharp's stand, we managed to grab a few photos of its 443ppi -- likely smartphone-bound -- tech. From these prototype samples (the screen will go into production later this month), it's looking pretty good, with Sharp's thinnest GS-Silicon technology reducing the layers between the LCD display and our eyes. Although we were told not to touch, viewing angles were also impressive -- we could see ourselves gazing at YouTube clips on this screen in whichever smartphone it ends up on. Sharp weren't talking manufacturers just yet, but you can take a closer look in our gallery below. Update: Sharp also quietly exhibited its 6.1-inch 498ppi panel on the other end of the booth, but we were told it won't be out in the market until next year.
Sharp begins production of 1080p smartphone displays: 443ppi crammed into a 5-inch LCD
Layoffs and loans may be dominating our Sharp coverage at the moment, but that just makes this type of news all the sweeter. The company has announced its LCD panel type 5 -- a 5-inch full HD (1,920 x 1,080) display packing a Retina-busting 443ppi (just trumping LG's similar 440ppi LCD). An outcome of its layer-reducing CG-Silicon technology, the smartphone-targeted screen goes into full-scale production this month and will be shown off at CEATEC Japan this very week. We'll try to give it eyes-on treatment at the show, but you can rub your hands together sinisterly in the meantime and just think about the glorious devices which will bear it.
Sony formally quits Sharp LCD joint venture, takes back every yen it invested
After Sony cut off its supply of capital to the ill-fated Sakai production plant that it jointly owns with Sharp, it became clear that the final goodbye may be little more than a formality. And here it is, in the form of a cold, resolute press release stating that Sony is selling its seven percent stake back to Sharp and taking back the 10 billion yen ($126 million) it originally invested. The only reason given is the "rapidly changing market for LCD panels and LCD televisions," which is a polite reference to the fact that profits from big TVs are well below what these companies predicted back in the heady days of 2008 and early 2009, when the impact of the global economic crisis loomed without yet being fully apparent. Fortunately for Sony, which is in the delicate stages of reform, the solid pre-nuptial agreement it had in place with Sharp should protect the company from having to revise its financial forecasts for the coming year -- not that those were particularly great in the first place.
Sharp to cut LCD production in Osaka plant by half
Remember that brand-spanking new production facility in Sakai City, Osaka that Sharp just christened a few years back? Japan's Nikkei business daily reports that Sharp will be cutting output at that factory by a whopping half for a month or maybe longer -- its second major reduction in a year. The Sakai factory typically makes 1.3 million 40-inch panels per month but was running at 80-90 percent capacity after being idled in April. Sharp continues to be impacted by the same cutthroat competition in the LCD market that has affected Japanese rivals like Hitachi and Sony as the high yen continues to push up pricing for domestically produced goods while dragging down overseas revenues. Sharp, which recently announced its 2012 lineup, is now thinking about reconfiguring the plant to make panels with higher resolutions and other features during the slowdown.
Samsung, Sharp, Hitachi and others settle LCD panel price fixing consumer class action for $539 million
'Tis the season for settling antitrust lawsuits, folks. Earlier this month, Sharp, Samsung, Hitachi and other LCD panel producers settled out their price fixing lawsuit with direct purchasers (read: TV and computer monitor manufacturers) for $388 million. So the story goes, the companies colluded to assure higher prices on LCDs sold between 1999 and 2006. Now, those same seven companies have settled up with indirect LCD purchasers -- aka the folks buying TVs and PCs -- to the tune of $539 million. Samsung, Sharp and Chimei are dishing out the lion's share of settlement dollars at $240 million, $115 million and $110 million, respectively, with the other companies kicking in between $2.8 and $39 million for their (allegedly) anti-competitive ways. Of course, the settlement isn't final until it receives the court's blessing, but you can see what the judge will likely be rubber-stamping at the source below.
How to turn a spare LCD panel into a working monitor for $33
We know how it is. You have a laptop or monitor that's finally bought it, so you decide to salvage it for parts that you'll use someday. Well, here's one decidedly inexpensive option for any spare LCD panels you might have lying around. As noted by Make, you can now buy a simple LCD controller on eBay for just $33, which will turn that panel (assuming it's compatible) into a fully functional monitor without too much skill required on your part -- you're on your own to make it presentable, though.
Sony WhiteMagic LCD promises magic formula of better brightness, lower power
How do you make a brighter LCD without murdering battery life? Simple. Add a white pixel to each RGB trio, creating an RGBW panel that pumps out more nits without recourse to the backlight. We've already seen this technology in action on a tablet-sized screen from Samsung and Nouvoyance, and now Sony's come up with an OEM 3-inch panel that it hopes will prove popular in smartphones and cameras. The VGA screen is claimed to double brightness without increasing power consumption compared to conventional panels. Alternatively, it has an outdoor mode which sacrifices this power-saving in favor of doubling brightness -- although, when it comes to the sunlight problem, we're still hoping that PixelQi's approach will eventually come of age.
iSuppli suggests Apple's cash infusion going toward display manufacturing
During Apple's recent earnings conference call, Tim Cook confirmed Apple was spending $3.9 billion on pre-payments for unspecified components. Aware of the AMOLED display shortages that plague the mobile phone industry, analysts and tech pundits alike assumed Cook was referring to the LCD displays used in the iPhone, iPod touch and the iPad. One early hint of a manufacturing deal for display technology surfaced in early 2009 when Apple reportedly signed a five-year deal with LG to supply displays for its notebooks and Cinema displays as well as the iPhone and iPod touch. A more recent rumor suggested Apple was investing in a Toshiba-owned manufacturing facility for retina displays. IHS iSuppli has dug up information from its manufacturing channels that corroborate these rumors. According to iSuppli, Apple's $3.9 billion in pre-payments is headed to LG Display, Sharp, and Toshiba Mobile display and would secure the supply of advanced LCD displays for the iPhone, iPod touch and the iPad. Besides buying displays from the trio of display makers, Apple is also investing in manufacturing facilities to build the high resolution IPS (in-plane switching) and LTPS (low-temperature polysilicon) LCD panels used in its mobile devices. By investing in these LCD companies, Apple is securing for itself a steady supply of displays which will meet the growing consumer demand for its popular iPhone and iPad. [Via Fortune]
Sony said to be outsourcing production of high-end LCDs, Foxconn and Wistron getting the nod
Potentially bad news this morning for fans of high-end Sony HDTVs. The company, still struggling with huge losses and desperate to find reasonable pricing for its exported TVs amid historically high values for the yen, is looking to outsource not only assembly but full panel production on many of its LCDs. According to the report, up to 80 percent of Sony's 2011 sets will be manufactured externally, with between 40 and 50 percent of those getting panels manufactured by Foxconn-affiliate CMI. Foxconn itself is said to be producing 18 million sets, while Wistron, the other major partner here, will stamp out Sony's Google TV. If true this will be the first time Sony has outsourced full production of its higher-end models to Taiwan. None of this has been confirmed by any of these players, so apply salt to taste, but the concepts certainly make sense, and recent production slowdowns at the company's massive new LCD production facility could be related. Naturally you're wondering whether this move to help Sony's bottom line will hurt quality, but since Sony just sold one of its major panel-production facilities to Foxconn last year maybe this isn't so much a change as it is keeping things the same.
Toshiba prototype display does 2D and 3D at the same time
One of Toshiba's favorite hobbies is to tease the general public with prototype autostereoscopic technology, and that's exactly what we have here today; demoed at SID 2010, this screen can display 2D and 3D images simultaneously on the same 12-inch screen, no glasses required. How it does that is rather complicated, especially when translated from the Japanese, but it sounds like Toshiba's sandwiched a special panel with gradient-index lenses between a high-speed polarizer and the typical color LCD. We'd wager good money it's not coming to a store near you, but we'll keep an eye out for future developments. These days, they have a tendency to pop right out of the screen.
Epson begins mass-producing 'world's smallest' LCD for 3LCD data projectors
Epson's started volume production of what it believes to be the "world's smallest" XGA high temperature polysilicon TFT (HTPS-TFT) panel for 3LCD data projectors. The chip used (an L3P05X-91G00) is approximately 23 percent smaller than its predecessor, and the 0.55-inch panel boasts natural XGA (1024 x 768) resolution. Epson says they're working to increase the resolution on these types of displays, which are currently being manufactured only for 3LCD data projectors. Pretty impressive -- though, we'll just hold out until they start putting these babies into really tiny television sets.[Via About Projectors]
Sharp LCD panels banned from US import until further notice
Chalk up another huge win for Samsung in its long-running patent dispute with Sharp: the US International Trade Commission has just issued a ruling banning importation of Sharp LCD panels that infringe one of Samsung's viewing-angle patents. As you might imagine, the ban covers a wide swath of Sharp's consumer products, including the Aquos TV line, but it's not clear on how it'll affect other companies that use Sharp panels -- this ruling could potentially have a huge impact on the entire tech market. On the other hand, we'd bet that Sharp's lawyers are furiously putting together a request to have the ban delayed while an appeal is sorted out, so this is far from over -- in fact, we'd say the real fireworks are just beginning.
LG Display CEO says that LCD panel prices have "reached a bottom"
The company may not exactly have the final say on the matter, but LG Display CEO Kwon Young-soo seems confident that the market for LCD panels is finally set to turn around, with him saying today that, "the good news is that we've reached a bottom," and that, "TV panel prices will likely stop the downward trend and recover." LG doesn't see things completely turning around overnight, however, and in the meantime it says it'll be pouring more than $400 million into a new production line designed to produce high-end LTPS LCD displays for mobile devices, which it apparently expects will be a more profitable area, and help it turn that frown upside down once more.[Via DailyTech]
AU Optronics' miraculous LCD Panels can read fingerprints or UV levels
Female? User of LCD panels? Have fingerprints that need read? Worried about skin cancer? If you answer "yes" to any or all of these questions, we have news that is sure to knock your sun-lovin' socks off. Among the items on display at this year's FPD International Exhibition in Yokohama are two exciting LCD panels: they're both 2.8 inches, and they're both manufactured by AU Optronics (a company that knows a thing or two about liquid crystal displays). The first panel functions as a fingerprint scanner -- it boasts a pixel count of 320 x 240, each pixel is equipped with four optical sensors, and sends its output to a 640 x 480 monitor. The other panel uses similar technology to measure the intensity of UV rays, numerically displaying the results on a scale of 0 to 11. According to the company, the UV reader "is targeted at female users who are concerned about the amount of UV light outdoors." There's no word yet on a UV reader for men, but you'll know as soon as we do.
Casio touts "Blanview" transmissive LCD for outdoor use
Casio sure seems to be confident in its new transmissive LCD panel, so confident that it apparently thinks it can make it with a name like "Blanview." The big innovation here, Casio says, is that it's managed to develop a new system that pulls outside light into the LCD panel to make the transmissive LCD usable outdoors without backlighting, eliminating the need for so-called "semi-transmissive" LCD panels that are more commonly used today. What's more, it says this new method also increases the transmittance of the panel by about 30% and cut its power consumption for outdoor use by upwards of 50% compared to current panels. Unlike some other promised LCD technology, it also seems like this one is actually fast approaching commercializtion, with sample panels ranging in size from 2.7- to 6.5-inches set to begin shipping this month.
LG, AU Optronics said to be prepping 17.3-inch 16:9 LCD panels
As if we needed any more evidence that the 16:9 laptop bandwagon is already roaring right along, DigiTimes is now reporting that LG and AU Optronics are each readying some 17.3-inch panels boasting the increasingly common aspect ratio. If the usual unnamed "industry sources" are to be believed, those panels will supposedly be finding their way into laptops from Acer, Lenovo, Toshiba, and Asustek, among others, although it's not clear when those will actually be showing up. Somewhat interestingly, those same sources also say that Samsung has no plans to produce 17.3-inch panels of its own, although at the rate these various slight changes in sizes keep cropping up, we wouldn't be surprised if that situation changed sooner rather than later.[Via TG Daily]
NEC creates tiny, full HD-compatible LCD module
It looks like your cellphone display (and camcorder viewfinder) resolution is about to get significantly higher in the near-future, thanks to NEC and its crack team of super nerds. The company today announced that it had developed a 2.7-inch LCD module which delivers a resolution of 960 x 540, thanks to a super high pixel density of 413 pixels-per-inch. The quarter high-definition (QHD) panel is compatible with full HD resolution, and sees a boost in both the color gamut and luminance. Sure, it all sounds a bit dry on paper, but when you're noticing just how bad local reporters look in HD on your phone, you're going to thank NEC.
LG said to be prepping 16:9 LCD panels for low-cost laptops
16:9 LCD panels designed for computer use aren't exactly all that uncommon, but this latest batch announced by LG will likely generate a bit more interest than most, especially given that they're apparently intended specifically for use in low-cost laptops. According to DigiTimes, LG will first roll out a standard 16:10 aspect ratio, 8.9-inch panel with a resolution of 1024 x 600 in August, which will then be followed by a 16:9, 10.1-inch panel with a 1024 x 576 resolution in October, and finally a 9.4-inch panel of unspecified resolution in April of 2009. Making things even more interesting is that some unspecified "industry sources" say the panels are "expected" to be adopted by Acer and HP for use with their low-cost laptops, and possibly Asustek as well, which will no doubt add plenty of fuel to the next round of Eee PC rumors.[Via Electronista]
Samsung sez: 24- is the new 22-inch LCD for Vista
Forget all that nonsense about 22-inch monitors being ideal for Vista. Samsung is now telling us that 24-inch panels are where it's at. That extra 2-inches makes room for a pair of A4 sheets side-by-side as well as the Vista right-side bar and margins. Shame those "industry experts" weren't more clear about this before Samsung managed to sell-out their stock of 22-inch panels, eh? Anyway, Sammy's new 1,920 x 1,200 LCD panel is LED-backlit and covers an industry-high 111% of the NTSC color gamut; an ideal resolution for watching HD flicks with the color saturation required to keep photogs and designers whistling while they work. Rounding out the specs are a 180-degree viewing angle, contrast ratio "greater than 1000:1," and 250cd/m2 brightness. Samsung is ramping up production in Q2 (i.e., now) so we should see the new panels sneaking out in monitors by the end of Q2 or early Q3.[Via Photography Blog]
