LG Display announced yesterday that they are manufacturing a 5-inch, full HD LCD panel for smartphones. At 440 ppi and 1920x1080 resolution, this is both the most pixels and highest pixel density of any smartphone display—and the first to be capable of full HDTV quality in a mobile.
The display uses AH-IPS (Advanced High Performance In-Plane Switching) technology as opposed to the current In-Plane Switching technology of the iPhone 4S. According to Tech2, "This new generation of In-Plane Swtiching showcases better colour accuracy, which in turn allows it to reproduce the original colour without any distortion. In addition to this, it provides greater light transmission, which translates to lower power consumption, while delivering exceptional picture quality, thereby making it ideal for use in outdoor settings. It also provides for better viewing angles with more stability."
"As smartphones become increasingly valued for how well they do multimedia and with the rapid growth of LTE enabling faster large file transfers, our new 5" Full HD LCD panel is certain to prove a significant asset to the mobile market," said Sang-Deok Yeo, CTO and Executive Vice President of LG Display. "With the world's highest resolution smartphone display, LG Display continues to remain a step ahead in developing the most innovative in display technology products."
The 5-inch Full HD LCD panel from LG Display is expected to release the new panel in the second half of the year, and will debut it in the flesh at SID 2012 Display Week in Boston, on June 4.
Some are already referring to this new 5-inch standard as a "phablet," and the new form factor would make one hand operation a bit of a challenge. The screen itself measures roughly 4.4 inches by 2.5 inches, or 1.5 inches taller and .5 inches wider than the current iPhone 4s. But the ability to have full HD in your pocket or purse will create all kinds of opportunities for content consumption. It will also create the need for big, fat LTE data plans.
The promise of device with these kinds of screens creates another interesting conundrum. A 5-inch media phone is great in certain circumstances, but sometimes you just want to run around town with the minimum possible device, right? The same early adopter consumer that will buy a 5-incher will also want another, trimmer phone. Does this then begin to move consumers away from an individual account and phone number for each device and towards a single account and number that can be accessed on multiple devices? Or, more radically, could this open the way for Skype and a data plan to be the prerequisites for connectivity instead of actual phone plans?
LG has not released any details yet about who it will be supplying the new displays to or when actual 5-inch HDTV smartphones will be available, so the iPhone 5 will still have its day in the sun—briefly.
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