LG betting on MicroLED technology for future smartphones

As one of the largest manufacturers of display panels for smartphones, tablets, and laptops, it is perhaps unsurprising to learn that LG have been investing beyond the traditional IPS and OLED technologies commonly found on modern devices. One potential successor to OLED is MicroLED that Samsung unveiled at CES 2018 as a large prototype television set. Now, sources have unearthed hints that its competing South Korean company is nearly ready to mass produce MicroLED panels for upcoming smartphones.

According to gsminfo.nl, LG is currently in the process of trademarking the brand names "XLµLED", "SµLED", and "XµLED" through the European Union Intellectual Property Organization (EUIPO). The trademark file descriptions explicitly state that the names are related to smartphones to suggest that LG is expanding its MicroLED technology to smaller screens. It's common for smartphone manufacturers to assign proprietary names for its displays for marketing purposes including Sony's "Triluminos" panels or Apple's ubiquitous "Retina" panels. LG did not publicly unveil its G7 smartphone at MWC this year and its potential to sport a MicroLED panel may be part of the reason for the delay.

MicroLED technology utilizes extremely small LEDs for the individual subpixels of a traditional LCD panel. Assuming a smooth production process, the advantages over LCD will be obvious since MicroLED requires no separate backlighting while benefiting from the very high contrast ratios and response times of OLED.

Source(s)