A startup out of Los Angeles claims they have developed the world’s highest-resolution active-matrix color display. In a demonstration at the Society for Information Display’s annual symposium, Q-Pixel presented a display measuring 1.1 cm x 0.55 cm with an astounding PPI (pixels per inch) of 6,800. For comparison, the beloved display of the Apple Vision Pro has a PPI of 3,386.
How did they do it? Q-Pixel has attacked the problem of pixel density from another angle, by creating what they call polychromatic RGB microLED. Instead of utilizing pixels that are divided into three subpixels for red, green, and blue light, Q-Pixel has developed a polychromatic LED containing a gallium nitride semiconductor that emits any of the three colors depending on the voltage applied to it. This drastically reduces the amount of space each pixel much occupy, allowing the company to pack in many more pixels per square inch.
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What’s more, Q-Pixel claims that its manufacturing process for polychromatic RGB microLED is simpler than the current process for microLED displays. The company also claims its displays are more energy efficient and offer a faster response time, though these claims have not yet been vetted.
“At Q-Pixel we aim to overcome the obstacle of high fabrication costs and to dramatically streamline the LED display assembly processes,” the company says. “Our objective is not only to significantly reduce the cost, but also to minimize the number of defective pixels and maximize assembly speed for high-yield, high-throughput, foldable large area (>100 inch) microLED displays. Notably, our technology is also entirely transferrable to smaller displays, such as mobile phones, tablets, personal computers, and wearable devices.”
While Q-Pixel’s process has yet to make it to mass production, it is one of the many emerging technologies aimed at increasing display resolution and energy efficiency by tackling the problem from a different angle.
