SID held its first Mobile Display Conference here in San Diego this week. The conference was well organized and attended and had a number of quality presentations and exhibits. While we will have full coverage in the next edition of our newsletter, Mobile Display Report, here are a few highlights from the show:

Chris Chinnock
Sr. Analyst and Sr. Editor
of Insight Media

The cell phone market is maturing with developed nations already reaching high saturation levels. These markets will focus on replacement products, but high growth is still possible in emerging markets. Low cost phones will be needed for these markets. For example, Motorola has introduced a new phone using an electrophoretic display that requires no power to retain an image on the display - a power-saving benefit and an attractive and inexpensive option.

Numerous presentations focused on the need to reduce power consumption and improve performance. Dynamic illumination, which adjusts the LCD backlight brightness to the overall scene illumination, is being leveraged from the TV space and is migrating to cell phones. New color filter architectures like RGBW, are allowing the same brightness level at reduced power levels by adding a white segment. Improvements in efficiencies of LEDs and newer drive schemes are also helping reduce power consumption.

Transflective and reflective displays were also showcased and described. For example, Qualcomm showed an array of new reflective displays based on an interference effect created by moving a tiny membrane up and down. Monochrome, two-color, full-color and front-illuminated versions were on display. These products looked good and will perform especially well in bright environments. Other speakers described rollable displays and electro-wetting displays. These alternatives are in various states of commercialization, but offer hope for new performance options in the future. We were particularly impressed with an e-book product from iRex that focuses not on the display but on the interface, applications and content that will be used on the product. This will drive the market - not the display technology.

Several market forecast presentations described a market that is growing in units, but will soon plateau in terms of profits and decline by the end of the decade. LCD prices have declined as much as 30% per year in the small panel market. This means active matrix LCDs are squeezing the passive matrix versions and putting big pressure on the OLED camp.

But the topic that most chose to ignore was AMOLED. Once forecast to sweep thru the small/medium panel market, its prospects have dimmed considerably with almost all players effectively retreating from any significant commercialization plans. The only major horse left in this race is Samsung, which is pursuing it aggressively. Since the company does not already play in small panels with an LCD offering, it is using AMOLEDs to enter the space and is taking a strategic approach to its market entry. Translation: Samsung is rolling the dice, hoping it can grab market share by offering pricing on AMOLEDs that is much closer to AMLCD pricing. Currently, comparable AMOLED panels are about twice the price of AMLCD versions, but we think Samsung will price a lot lower in an attempt to place some orders with internal and external customers. We will be watching this one carefully as the technology may sink on swim based on Samsung’s results.

Finally, we had a chance to see the latest nano-projector prototype from Microvision. Smaller than a pack of cigarettes, with plans to shrink to as small as a 10cc volume, the projector uses RGB laser and a two-axis scanning mirror to create an image. While there remain some problems with image quality, the company looks on track to offer products by the end of 2008. And, with the high contrast and fantastic color gamut such products offer, the apparent brightness of the display is about twice what most display experts would guess. Good stuff.