LG continued the resolution war last spring when it announced the LG G3 with a 2560x1440 LCD. The display had good sharpness, but the brightness and colors were not great. LG says it has a new and improved 5.5-inch LCD ready to go, and it's going to be used in its "forthcoming flagship smartphone," meaning the G4.
The new panel has the same 1440p resolution for a whopping 538 pixels per inch. LG says the new LCD will have much more vibrant colors with a 120% sRGB color gamut. Contrast will be 50% higher than the G3's panel, and crucially, the brightness has been improved by 30% without an increase in power consumption.
A technology called Advanced In-Cell Touch (AIT) combines touch sensors with the LCD itself to reduce thickness and increase accuracy. LG points out this will make the new panel usable even when there are water droplets on it, which tend to make most touchscreens freak out. Although, the G4 probably isn't going to be water resistant, so I'm not sure that's going to matter much. The LG G4 is expected to be revealed later this month. All questions will be answered at that time.
PRESS RELEASE
LG Display Launches 5.5-inch QHD LCD Panel for Smartphones to Achieve
a Quantum Jump in Color Gamut and Brightness
Display incorporates Perfect Touch Sensitivity
Seoul, Korea (April, 3 2015) – LG Display, the world’s leading innovator of display technologies, announced today that it has launched a QHD (Quad High Definition) LCD panel for smartphones that represents a quantum jump in terms of key features, including color gamut, brightness, contrast ratio, touch function, power consumption and thinness. The company has started the mass production of the 5.5-inch QHD LCD panel with IPS technology for mobile devices that will be used in LG Electronics’ forthcoming flagship smartphone to be unveiled at the end of the month.
The display provides richer and more accurate colors with a 120 percent color gamut, exceeding the 100 percent gamut offered on conventional panels, for mobile devices (based on sRGB*).The QHD display has 1,440 x 2,560 resolution, four times higher than HD resolution (720 x 1,280), and the number of pixels per inch is 538 PPI (Pixels Per Inch) on the 5.5-inch panel size.
The new panel also adopted Advanced In-Cell Touch (AIT) technology which offers excellent touch sensitivity so that it can respond to touch commands even with water drops on the screen. The display boasts advancements in other major image quality features, with a contrast ratio that is 50 percent higher than conventional QHD LCD panels, while the brightness has increased by 30 percent without any increase in power consumption. A brighter screen and higher contrast ratio makes it easier for users to view the smartphone display in bright outdoor conditions.
The company received certification from Intertek, the leading provider of product safety testing and certification, for the superiority of the color gamut, brightness, and contrast ratio in the 5.5-inch QHD LCD panel.
LG Display employed three leading technologies to achieve the superior specifications of the new display: high color gamut LED, Advanced In-Cell Touch (AIT) and photo-alignment.
The high color gamut LED technology provides more accurate colors in red and green by combining a blue LED chip with red and green phosphors instead of combining the blue LED chip with a yellow phosphor used in conventional LED backlights. LG Display has achieved a 20 percent improvement in color gamut with this technology.
Developed by LG Display, AIT represents an improvement over conventional ‘In-Cell touch technology’. Instead of placing the touch panel on top of the LCD, the touch sensor is embedded within the LCD. This results in a slimmer design and an excellent touch response as the thickness of the panel is reduced by eliminating the need for an additional space for touch functions.
The photo-alignment technology uses UV light to form a liquid crystal alignment layer in the display panel, which helps achieve a higher contrast ratio by aligning the liquid crystals evenly to reduce light leakage. The higher contrast ratio contributes to deeper blacks and brighter colors that create a sharper picture quality.
Mr. Byeong-Koo Kim, Vice President of the IT/Mobile Development Group at LG Display said, “The company has maximized the essential display functions for mobile devices from touch to color gamut by using the latest technology and accumulated expertise.” He added, “LG Display will continue to develop products that can offer the best user experience not only for smartphones, but also for tablets and notebook PCs.”
Source: LG
