PPI - Page 11

Sharp announced a new 5.5" 4K IGZO LCD display (2160x3840) - that is the world's highest density display at 806 PPI (!). This takes the crowd from the previous record setting display - SDC's 5.1" QHD (577 PPI) Super AMOLED.

While it's a bit debatable whether we need such high-density displays in our mobile phones, it seems this race won't stop soon. Samsung is also reportedly working on a 4K panel for the Galaxy Note 5, for example (rumors suggest this will be a 5.9" 4K panel). Some other reports say that Samsung is also developing a 5" 4K panel (which will reach 860PPI).

Samsung officially announces their next flagship phone, the Galaxy S6 and its curved-display variant the Galaxy S6 Edge. Following the disappointing sales of the Galaxy S5, it seems that Samsung focused on the phone look and feel - and reportedly the GS6 looks and feels great, especially the S6 Edge with its curved flexible OLED display.

The two phones sport the same features - an aluminum body covered with Gorilla Glass 4 on both sides, an octa-core CPU (quad-2.1 Ghz and quad-1.5 Ghz), 3GB of RAM, 16 MP camera, LTE Cat6, Android 5.0 and wireless charging support. Both display have the same specification - 5.1" QHD (2560x1440, 577ppi) Super AMOLED. Samsung also announced Gear VR edition that supports the two new phones.

Last month we reported that China's Everdisplay (EDO) started mass producing 5" 720p AMOLED displays with a capacity of 600,000 panels per month. EDO presented in a trade show in China, and showed their near-future AMOLED roadmap:

We already knew that EDO aims to start making 5.6" FHD panels in February 2015 and smaller 1.63" 320x320 ones in Q2 2015, but according to the new roadmap, there are some more panels underway. First up will be a circular 1.35" panel for smartwatches, and it will also be released in Q2 2015. Further down the road EDO plans a 6" WQHD (2560x1440 489 PPI) and a 5" FHD panel.

Researchers from the Korean Inha University developed a new method to produce shadow masks that could lead to masks that have higher densities and are also more robust - leading to higher yields in OLED production. The team are going to transfer the technology to a company that will commercialize it.

Samsung AMOLED production

The researchers used an electrochemical processing technique to manufacture the new masks. This enables masks that are stronger (and thus fail less often) and still reach pixel densities of up to 500 PPI.

A few day ago Audi unveiled a new concept two-door car, the Prologue - which uses several new OLED technologies. Audi were kind enough to update me on those new OLEDs and provide some technical details.

So first up is the bendable OLED panel, which is integrated to the center console tunnel and is nearly invisible when not in use. This display is "ergonomically adapted to the driver" and is used for climate control, handwriting input and other vehicle settings. When the car is started, the display pops up and Audi says that the fact that it bends ensures a constant distance to the hand which makes for better ergonomics. When operating the display, the wrist rests on the low-positioned gear selector lever of the eight-speed tiptronic.

According to a tip sent to Phone Arena, samsung developed a 5.9" UHD (746 PPI) Super AMOLED display, and will begin producing it by next August - to be adopted by the next Galaxy Note 5 phone. If true, this display will have a much higher density then the Note 4 (455 PPI) and the GS5 (432 PPI).

While this is just a tip, in January 2014 SDC already said it is planning a UHD smartphone OLED panel (back then they said that they aim to achieve 860 PPI).

In June 2014, Japan's Semiconductor Energy Laboratory (SEL), in collaboration with Nokia, unveiled new foldable OLED display prototypes - 5.9" 1280x720 (249 PPI) ones, which can be folded in two or in three (these were two different prototypes).

Last month in Japan SEL unveiled new prototypes. The new panels are bigger at 8.7" and offer a higher resolution (1920x1080, 254 PPI). The new panels are also touch-enabled. And they are still tri-folded like the ones shown in June.

The Nikkei Asian Review reports that Athene, a Japanese semiconductor technology maker, developed a new shadow mask (or Fine Metal Mask, FMM) specifically for high precision OLED production. The new mask is stronger and more durable than any other mask on the market, which means it can be used to make higher resolution OLEDs.

Samsung AMOLED production

This new strong mask was achieved by adding nickel and iron materials to the standard metal mask. Athene's mask can withstand temperatures of up to 100 degrees Celsius without deformation, and the company says it can enable the production of OLED panels with pixel densities of over 500 PPI. Athene plans to setup a production line to make these new shadow masks and they will start delivering products to OLED makers in 2015.

Samsung's newest phones, the Galaxy Note 4 and Note 4 Edge haven't been released yet, but my friend Raymond Soneira already got his hands on two pre-release production devices and posted the first review of these new AMOLED smartphones.

So first of all, the regular Note 4 displays. Ray's conclusion? This is the best mobile display ever tested at DisplayMate, surpassing the AMOLED used in the GS5 and the GN3, and also the one used in the Galaxy Tab S. The GN4 display improves on previous generations in the display density (PPI), color accurate, peak brightness (750 cd/m²) and screen readability in high ambient light and the display power efficiency.

In June 2013, Cambridge University and Plastic Logic announced a research collaboration that aimed to develop transparent graphene-based backplanes for flexible displays. Now, following this collaboration, Plastic Logic demonstrated the world's first flexible display that uses a graphene backplane.

The first prototype is a 150 PPI active-matrix E Ink display, in which the electrodes were made from solution-processed graphene (patterned after deposition) in a low-temperature (less than 100 degrees Celsius) process. The UK Technology Strategy Board recently gave a grant towards this research, with an aim to develop full-color OLED displays within the next 12 months.