Panasonic claims OLED-like contrast and brightness with new IPS technology

Panasonic is promising contrast ratios of 1,000,000:1, 1000-nit brightness, and HDR with their new IPS technology. Normal IPS displays have a uniform backlight, or at best, can only control brightness in certain areas, while OLED displays use no backlight and have per-pixel control, resulting in superior contrast and vibrancy. However, OLED displays suffer from image burn-in and become dimmer over time.

Panasonic has developed a technology akin to a layer of "gates" between a super-luminous backlight and the pixel-array. The gate can open and shut with per-pixel accuracy, resulting in the improvements in contrast and brightness.

Though the technology is relatively new and subject to improvement, the fact that it requires another layer of "cells" between the backlight and the pixel array will likely mean slightly increased thickness (and certainly cost). The backlight is also much brighter than regular IPS panels, so power consumption will certainly be ihher as well. Panasonic has not divulged any information about response time—an area that OLED currently dominates with <1 ms response times. The Panasonic website suggests automotive, medical, video, and broadcasting use-cases.

According to Panasonic, samples will start shipping in January, 2017. It's also a safe bet that Panasonic will have a demo up at CES (in early January).

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