Display Technology for Wearables: The Next Wave in the Tech Revolution

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Display Technology for Wearables: the Next Wave in the Tech Revolution

Every new advance in consumer electronics technology has caught some companies by surprise. A year ago forecasters were predicting that the growing demand for bigger smart phones and mini-tablets would take the market by storm. There was only one catch — the surge in market growth of wearable devices. By the end of next year this market is expected to grow to 74 million devices being sold generating revenues of almost $10 billion. Clearly a new revolution is taking place.

The companies that invested in wearables as the next big thing in consumer electronics now look to be much smarter than those that didn’t. Interestingly there is one company where the nexus across all wearable devices converged — US Micro Products. All wearable devices have several characteristics in common:

  • Lower power consumption matters!
  • Size is getting smaller and will soon be less than 1.5”
  • Must have multi-function versatility
  • Device connectivity

Unless the display tells the user exactly what he needs to know instantly and in a format that is totally intuitive at a glance then the device, whatever it is, is regarded as useless.

The open and visible aspects of advanced display technology for wearables are only the surface part of the story. Underneath what you see are the design features which make it all work effectively under low power and in a form factor suitable for a wearable device. Here are the critical factors for a display that every OEM wearable device designer must pay attention to in today’s market:

  • Compact Wearable Form: Weight/Thickness/Size/Shape
  • Lower Power consumption
  • Sunlight readability
  • Touch or mechanical interface
  • Using capacitive touch screen (CTP) technology
  • Lower Cost

The technologies provided by US Micro Products offer multiple options for your design. Here are some spec comparisons to help you make the right choice. The table below compares the different features for each display technology that we recommend for wearable applications. It compares AMOLED (Active Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode), PMOLED (Passive Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode), TFT LCD (Thin-film transistor liquid crystal display) and E-Paper.

 

Whatever technology option you choose for the display in your wearable device, US Micro Products has the best solutions for this rapidly growing market.

Looking forward for devices to come in the near future here is what you can expect:

  • Curved/ Flexible displays
  • High brightness displays
  • Shaped as well as round displays
  • Displays with narrow bezels and borders

Our Display Engineers will analyze your requirements and design the best solution for your specific application. Once we design a solution, we will manufacture, do quality control and deliver a high quality display at the best value. To find out more about our Engineered Display Solutions Process,visit our Custom Displays page.