So we’ve actually seen real live demos of microLED already, albeit in forthcoming really large screen (and incredibly expensive) televisions from Samsung (a 150 inch TV with a $150K price tag).
The TLDR version is that it potentially has the benefits of OLED (true black, high contrast) combined with the brightness and color accuracy and gamut range of QLED, without some of the downsides such as drift and inconsistent linearity.
And BTW, I think a lot of the rumors of Apple adopting OLED in other devices besides iPhones is actually microLED. eg. We think a new MacBook Pro and iPad Pro with this tech are coming relatively soon.
And @JoeS this has the potential to be the screen tech that we both want and can agree upon…
This is good to hear - so OLED may be a red herring…
But this quote from the article is disturbing: “This process will reportedly be carried out at Apple’s secretive R&D facilities in the Longtan District in the northern Taiwanese city of Taoyuan.” Sure hope Timmy has a better relationship with Xi than the Biden administration…
" Digital pulse-width modulation is well-suited to driving microLED displays. MicroLEDs experience a color shift as the current magnitude changes. Analog schemes change current to change brightness. With a digital pulse, only one current value is used for the on state. Thus, there is no color shift that occurs as brightness changes."
That means…, you’re in flicker land, and that doesn’t make me happy.
The other thing…
[…] each MicroLED subpixel “can be manufactured with an individual parabolic mirror behind the LED that reflects all of the light toward the viewer.” The mirror creates what he calls a “very high brightness power efficiency” that will ultimately improve battery life in devices like smartphones, smartwatches and laptops that all rely on a battery for power.
And since MicroLED relies on LEDs for its light source, MicroLEDs are generally much brighter than any other display technology.
So…, it sounds like my preferred scheme for dealing with PWM, cranking the screen to 100% (aka, 0% flicker) and use in a lighted work space, might not be sufficient. That is, 100% might be just too bright.
I suspect people like me will create a market for analog brightness screens, (like my gorgeous Dell Canvas), but it also sounds like it will add expense to an already expensive technology.
Maybe I’ll just have to re-investigate my whole wearing sunglasses plan…
FWIW I know some of the engineers that are working on this tech and they are aware of the issues and concerns around PWM.
That being said, as with OLED, for all intents and purposes this is the only effective way to broadly modulate the output but OTOH PWM tech has improved in multiple ways in the last couple of years including much higher rates (typically above 400 hz) as well as things like asynchronous deployment across various screen regions have greatly minimized it as well.
As I think I have posted in other topics that have brought up OLED, the early implementations of PWM used frequencies as low as 60hz to 200hz which research shows where most people , if they are sensitive to it, are affected and above about 300 hz or so seems to be essentially undetectable.
PS: Any reviews of an OLED display that claims that it doesn’t use PWM, in reality just don’t have the updated/proper equipment to detect it. I know for us, we have had to replace out testing gear twice in the last 2.5 years for that reason.