Samsung and LG to showcase high pixel density LCD panels for tablets at SID 2011

It's a well-known fact that LG's already dominated the pixel density race in the smartphone market thanks to the Retina Display inside the iPhone 4, but we've yet to see similar technologies making their way to larger devices. That could change very soon, however, with Samsung and LG both announcing larger high-density panels to be showcased at SID 2011 next week. From Samsung we'll be seeing its 10.1-inch 300ppi prototype LCD panel, which rakes up an astonishing resolution of 2,560 x 1,600 under the battery-friendly PenTile RGBW matrix (not to be confused with AMOLED and Super AMOLED's RGBG arrangement). What's more, Samsung also teases "commercial availability" for this technology later this year.

Things are a bit vague with LG -- no specific resolutions are mentioned in the pre-show announcement, but we're told that the company will introduce "a full line-up" of "ultra-high resolution" Advanced High Performance In-Plane Switching (AH-IPS) products, including 3.5-, 4.5-, 7-, 9.7, 55-, and 84-inch panels, with a "greater number of pixels than the PPI that can be recognized by the human eye at a typical distance" -- a proclamation typically reserved for the iPhone 4's 326ppi Retina Display. Of course, LG could be misleading here -- the 9.7-inch panel brought up in the press release could just be the exact same 1,024 x 768 IPS display on the iPad, but we'd be surprised if LG doesn't have a similarly-sized prototype to fire back at Samsung's 10.1-inch 300ppi panel. Well, keep an eye out for our SID 2011 coverage next week and we'll let you know what goodies we find.

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Samsung Electronics and Nouvoyance Demonstrate 10.1-inch, 300dpi WQXGA PenTile RGBW Prototype Display for Tablet Market

PenTile RGBW is the only display to optimize balance between power efficiency and high performance viewing in tablets

SID Display Week 2011

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--At the SID Display Week 2011 International Symposium (LA Convention Center, Booth 707) May 17-19, Samsung Electronics is demonstrating the industry's first 10.1-inch WQXGA (2560 x 1600) format PenTile™ RGBW tablet display, an ultra-high resolution, liquid crystal display (LCD). The prototype demonstration marks the first time this resolution has been available for the tablet market in the popular – 10.1-inch – format, rivaling the highest resolution smartphone displays now on the market. Samsung expects to have commercial availability of this technology for tablet applications later this year.

Because tablets are regularly used for viewing rich-colored images, the 10.1-inch 300 dpi display is ideal for applications that require extraordinary image and text clarity such as browsing the web and viewing high-definition movies, or reading books and spreadsheets.

"In order to develop tablets with the form and function that consumers demand, a design engineer ultimately has to determine how to get the highest resolution display possible, while still fitting within the overall power budget for their design," said Joel Pollack, executive vice president of Nouvoyance, Samsung's affiliate company that developed the PenTile RGBW technology.

Lightness and power efficiency of the display are critical factors since higher resolution displays typically draw more power.

"Samsung's PenTile display technology is the only display technology that operates at 40 percent less power yet provides twice that of Full HD-viewing performance for consumers compared to legacy RGB stripe LCDs. There is no other commercial display technology on the market today that offers this high of a resolution and pixel density in a 10.1-inch size display," said Dr. Sungtae Shin, Senior VP of Samsung Electronics.

PenTile RGBW WQXGA Technology Highlights

- This 10.1-inch tablet panel is capable of 300 cd/m2 of luminance, yet uses 40 percent less power than that used by legacy RGB stripe LCDs in power-saving modes.
- An outdoor brightness mode of as much as 600 cd/m2 luminance enables viewing in bright ambient lighting.
- The display's color gamut is 72 percent., allowing greater color realism than legacy RGB stripe tablet displays that have a typical color gamut of 55 percent NTSC.
- PenTile technology achieves 300 dpi resolution with two-thirds the number of subpixels, maintaining the VESA/ICDM display resolution standard.

For more information about the technology behind this WQXGA ultra high-resolution display prototype, go to www.pentileblog.com

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LG Display Brings Innovation in Smart Mobile Panels to SID 2011

Seoul, Korea (May 12, 2011) – LG Display Co., Ltd. [NYSE:LPL, KRX:034220], a leading innovator of thin-film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) technology, will showcase a full line-up of Advanced High Performance In-Plane Switching (AH-IPS) products at SID(Society for Information Display)'s Display Week 2011 to be held during May 15 to 20 in Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. The AH-IPS panels deliver ultra high resolution, notable for their superiority in use for smartbooks (tablet PCs) and smartphones.

LG Display will introduce a full line-up of products that employ IPS technology to deliver ultra high resolution, including 3.5- and 4.5-inch panels for smartphones, 7- and 9.7-inch panels for smartbooks, and 55- and 84- inch panels for TVs at the exhibition. In particular, by highlighting the strengths of AH-IPS, the company plans to solidify its competitive edge in the smart mobile market. The Company is already enjoying dominance in technology, supply capability, and cost competiveness based on its extended experience in mass production.

"Consumers can enjoy crisp and clean pictures in any device like smartphones and smartbooks with LG Display's proprietary AH-IPS technology," said President and CEO of LG Display Mr. Young Soo Kwon. "Our goal is to be the world's No. 1 display maker that consistently delivers groundbreaking technologies like IPS to innovate the display industry."

AH-IPS technology, an advanced form of IPS, has realizes 1.5 to 2 times the resolution of typical LCD panels. This ultra high resolution becomes particularly valuable when the emphasis is on displaying highly detailed images. The technology also improves display's color accuracy, which in turn leads to reproduce the original color precisely without color distortion. In addition, it provides greater light transmission which translates into lower power consumption while delivering exceptional picture quality, making it ideal for use in outdoor settings.

Resolution is generally defined by the total number of pixels whereas image crispness is measured by pixels–per-inch (PPI) which refers to pixel density per unit area. The ultra high resolution technology employed by AH-IPS adds a greater number of pixels than the PPI that can be recognized by the human eye at a typical distance. This makes it more difficult for the naked eye to distinguish each individual pixel, thus making the image sharper.

LG Display's 3.5-inch smartphone panel supports 960x640 pixel resolution at 326 PPI, delivering the most detailed images among smartphones available on the market.