The South Korean mobile phone manufacturing giant is gearing up to do what no other manufacturer has done before – make OLED display panels with WVGA resolutions. Until now, active matrix OLED displays were limited to a 240 x 320 pixel resolution. But, with PenTile RGB technologies from partner Clairvoyante, Samsung SDI has announced that they will be producing the world’s first VGA-resolution OLED display in widescreen format.
Samsung SDI is planning to use their 3.08-inch (in the diagonal) WVGA OLED panel for any application where “exceptional detail and viewability is required” – basically the mobile phone market. With a thin form-factor and highly efficient power consumption, Samsung is looking to market the PenTile WVGA OLED panel for next-gen handhelds. “Our partnership with Clairvoyante will create a new PenTile OLED panel that will lead the handheld market with a power-efficient, high-resolution OLED panel that supports continued innovation in emerging handheld applications,” said Sung-Chul Kim, Samsung SDI vice president.
Production samples are expected to start shipping in early 2008, with mass production slated for 3Q 2008.
We can’t wait for WVGA OLED panels to bring 1000:1 contrast ratios and 200 nits of luminescence to next year’s handsets. Samsung really has the right idea here. The most conspicuous component of all mobile phones is the main display – one area where mobile phone manufacturers having been lagging in development. With these new panels, we should see some seriously beautiful mobiles in the near future.