Is display technology for phones going to see any noticeable improvements soon?

[kyrax12]

There is quite a difference in display quality between the S4 and the S7, but is it going to stay at a plateau or do you think there are going to be phones in the next two years that will have significant improvements in display technology?

 

[IntelUser2000]

May I ask in which way it can be improved? Color reproduction? Brightness? Usability outside? Resolution?

I'd say in most if not all aspects we are pretty close to saturation. The rest of the improvements I dare say are due to using it for "cheap VR" using your Smartphones. That's when having a high resolution screen would matter.

 

[MarkizSchnitzel]

When iPhone adopts OLED, I think everyone will profit. It should bring the prices down, and increased R&D maybe will lower power consumption.

I hope.

 

[RockinZ28]

Yea I'd just like to see lower power consumption. Res and amoled was already good enough for me with Note 4.

Unless we start going to folding displays etc. don't see a whole lot more improvements.

 

[Oyeve]

I look forward to a much higher resolution but only for VR. Screens are great now, but when hooked up to Gear VR you really see the pixels.

 

[vi edit]

Meh. I'd rather have VR dedicated models with the stupid amounts of resolution needed to support that and a separate model for the rest of us that don't care. Then I don't need to waste processing, battery and brightness on pushing pixels have no additional need for.

 

[sbpromania]

In my opinion, one of the best improvements would be an increase in battery life, or should I say better, a decrease in power consumption.

I'd take +50% battery life over +50% more pixels, anytime.

 

[nerp]

OLEDs and flexible screens.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Meh. I'd rather have VR dedicated models with the stupid amounts of resolution needed to support that and a separate model for the rest of us that don't care. Then I don't need to waste processing, battery and brightness on pushing pixels have no additional need for.

Why not both? The Sony 4K phone goes 1080p when the 4K isn't needed.

 

[gorcorps]

Why not both? The Sony 4K phone goes 1080p when the 4K isn't needed.

That helps reduce processing power, but it doesn't shut off pixels. The screen still has to power all those pixels even if it's only displaying a 1080p image

 

[Midwayman]

Only big one on the horizon is flexible displays. That could produce some interesting stuff. New shapes. Maybe fold-able phones. Displays that won't shatter no matter how hard they are dropped.

 

[KeithP]

May I ask in which way it can be improved? Color

Yes, accuracy can be improved.

Brightness?

Yes.

Usability outside?

Yes, see above.

Resolution

Ok, we are fine there. Power consumption could be reduced. Durability could be improved. In short, still a ton of room for improvements.

-KeithP

 

[zCypher]

It will of course keep improving. Remarkable progress has been made, but that doesn't mean we've come close to reaching any kind of limit of what's possible. I'm confident we'll continue to see significant improvements in pretty much every respect... no real reason to think otherwise. Plenty of room for improvement as has been pointed out.

 

[Sheninat0r]

May I ask in which way it can be improved? Color reproduction? Brightness? Usability outside? Resolution?

I'd say in most if not all aspects we are pretty close to saturation. The rest of the improvements I dare say are due to using it for "cheap VR" using your Smartphones. That's when having a high resolution screen would matter.

no way, man. the best displays aren't capable of displaying even half of the human-visible color space, and 8-bit (or 6-bit with dithering, ugh) color inherently limits the dynamic range which is achievable without banding. there's also motion blur, caused both by pixel persistence (on its way to being solved by low-persistence/strobing displays) and low refresh rates. refresh rates could easily stand to increase by an order of magnitude or two to fully end motion blur. we're nowhere near display quality saturation for mobile displays; in fact, even the highest end of professional displays aren't even close to perfect. i would say the only part of display technology which is approaching its maximum potential is pixel density.

 

[Zodiark1593]

Where are the 120 hz smartphone displays?

 

[nerp]

My other thought is holograms. A watch with months of battery life that can project holograms freely in 3d space you can control with your mind.

 

[ClockHound]

My other thought is holograms. A watch with months of battery life that can project holograms freely in 3d space you can control with your mind.

Now you're talking. Tired of these little 5 inch soap bar displays.

However, my concern with this sort of advanced tech, is the smartphone could freely control your mind. Oh, wait, that's already been done. Hi, Apple! :biggrin:

 

[lxskllr]

I'd like to see panels than can be quickly swapped out. E-ink for outside, normal for inside.

 

[poofyhairguy]

We need cheap but high density round screens for watches. I want a smaller and cheaper and better Moto 360 dammit. Wearables never really heated up as a segment, and the economies of scale I was looking forward to never came because of that. My G Watch was supposed to be a temporary thing and I will own it for longer than any smartphone I have had I bet.

 

[Commodus]

We need cheap but high density round screens for watches. I want a smaller and cheaper and better Moto 360 dammit. Wearables never really heated up as a segment, and the economies of scale I was looking forward to never came because of that. My G Watch was supposed to be a temporary thing and I will own it for longer than any smartphone I have had I bet.

I don't think the display is that large a concern. IHS estimated that the original Moto 360's screen cost $35, for example. I can't see economies of scale knocking more than $15 or so off the price. Rather, any price reductions will come as a result of a lot of little cost reductions, such as for processors, batteries and watch-sized wireless tech.

As it stands, the jury's out on how long smartwatch cycles will be. We're only just hearing about the next generation of smartwatch-friendly Qualcomm chips, and the next Apple Watch (which will hopefully debut the S2 chip) isn't expected until September. It may take a while before you can buy a new smartwatch that's $199 or less without sacrificing significant features.

 

[blankslate]

Brightness (or reduced power consumption at the same brightness) and durability would be the top ways I hope display technology improves. Even if the phone isn't designed to be flexible as others have noted bendable displays could help with durability.


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