Quick Future Display Observations From Recent Travels, Inc. Color E Paper, MicroLED and Reflective LCD

November 5, 2024 by Dave Haynes

There are piles of interviews to write up and photos to sort through and edit from a bunch of recent travels to the US and over to Taiwan, and I will leave almost all of it to be detailed in a big special report on future display tech that will come out as a free download in January, before ISE.

But I can rattle off some quick observations and notes now:

• E Ink is very interested in the digital signage and DOOH sectors and actively working on larger and possibly much larger color displays than what has been seen to date, and the Taiwan company knows price is an issue. I was told the target with time is to be 1.5 to 2X the selling price of similarly sized LCDs. Right now it is 8-10X;

• There is renewed activity in reflective LCDs, which are a bit of a bridge between traditional LCD displays and e-paper tech – with natural or manmade light reflecting the visuals instead of relying on power-consuming backlights. I saw tech at AUO and, the furthest along, interesting LCD-based e-posters (above) that support full color and 30 fps video from HannStar. I saw this one working, and it looked good, but really did need to pick up sunlight or at least daylight from a window;

• Taiwan is a seriously tangled web of tech companies. Many of the presentation decks I saw showed corporate structures that involved numerous companies and holdings, the biggest being giant panel maker AUO. Along the many things AUO showed me was transparent microLED (the product Samsung has branded and shown at big trade shows in 2024);

• Numerous companies are well along with true microLED technology, and  I saw a stunning prototype at one company’s production center – though I am not sure who made it, because of the tangled web I mentioned. Either Yenrich, or PlayNitride, or AUO, or all three. I dunno. It was gorgeous, though – the big thing being the super-teeny LEDs allowing for a lot of black between each of them, which means better contrast. The other interesting aspect was how the final price was probably 1/3 to 1/4 of the only true microLED display on the market (the vast majority of what is marketed as microLED is just miniLED, and the manufacturers are using VERY loose interpretations);

• The company that developed those hologram-ish, human-sized transparent LCD displays and enclosures has been refining the design, supply chain and more and the new full-sized Protos, coming out of north LA, are roughly 1/3 the cost of the first ones;
• I have seen transparent mesh here and there in my travels, but there were giant displays in windows around Taipei (see top of post). These are the ones that look like mini-blinds on the inside, but solid from the visuals side;

• One thing that struck me about a country that does a LOT of work in digital displays is that most of the restaurants in food courts and airports use backlit vinyl print for menu displays, and not digital menu boards. It made sense, though, as I don’t think menus really change much. But the conventional wisdom would be that everything would be digital;

• Taipei’s international airport is really a duty-free store, with LED everywhere, that also processes some air travel.

As noted at the top, I have more interviews to do and write up, but it is coming together nicely and my big travel is behind me now. Yay!