Tech startup Ampula launched a pair of ultra-portable 1080p laser projectors on Indiegogo, including a $599 step-up model it’s marketing as the “Wemax Go Pro,” claiming it renders two to three times the brightness of “competing pocket sized LED-based projectors.” Both projectors, including the $299 Wemax Go, “offer consumers a new way to experience cinema-grade projection whether it's on the go or from the comfort of your home,” said the startup. Ampula is the brainchild of CEO-founder Yajun Zhang, who started the company a little more than a year ago. “We're thrilled to make both revolutionary movie-theater-grade projectors available on Indiegogo this winter at prices that are practical for the on-the-go video enthusiast," he said. His LinkedIn profile lists him as former technical lead of Cisco’s Access and Routing Technology Group. Representatives of action-cam company GoPro didn’t respond to questions about the Wemax Go Pro’s nomenclature.
Industry panel maker revenue reached a record high in Q3, but declining LCD panel prices dented industry profits, reported Display Supply Chain Consultants. It estimates total industry revenue increased 27% year over year to $39.3 billion. BOE passed Samsung Display and LG Display for top revenue share in Q1, and maintained that lead in Q3 with revenue of $8.7 billion, said DSCC. The increase in panel demand for TV and computing applications, and the corresponding increase in panel prices, lifted the fortunes of panel makers across the board in the industry’s biggest “upswing” in its history, it said. Panel makers that concentrated on LCD panels for large-area applications “benefited most during the upcycle,” it said.
Applications are open for Innovation Zone exhibits at Display Week 2022, emailed the Society for Information Display Wednesday. I-Zone, now in its 11th year, is a showcase for “never-before-seen display technology,” and was created “to provide a special exhibit area for technology prototypes, proofs of concept” and new products on the commercial market for no more than six months before the conference, said SID. Feb. 15 is the deadline for I-Zone applications, and those accepted will be notified by March 31, it said. Display Week 2022 is scheduled for May 8-13 at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center. If the show comes off as planned, it would be the first in-person Display Week since the May 2019 conference, also in San Jose.
Quantum dot on glass “has been a great product” for Nanosys, but “it ended up being a sort of bridge to our newer xQDEF components,” emailed Jeff Yurek, director-marketing and investor relations. Nanosys brought QDOG to market about four years ago as a means of lowering the cost of introducing QDs in TVs and desktop monitors because the glass light guide in the display replaces one of the expensive barrier layers used in conventional QD enhancement film (see 1711080046). QDOG marries the thin form factor of glass light guides with the color and brightness performance from QDs. “Display makers are currently focused on xQDEF, which is a barrier-free diffuser plate containing air-stable QDs,” Yurek told us Friday. Nanosys is positioning xQDEF as delivering improved performance and lower cost compared with QDOG (see 2012300003). XQDEF "combines multiple functions in a display so it’s very easy to adopt and will allow QD technology to further penetrate the mainstream TV market, including TVs priced under $500,” said Yurek. Nanosys announced a collaboration in early September with diffuser plate technology developer CYD to bring xQDEF components to mass production. QDOG ultimately found limited adoption in large-screen desktop monitors, including the HP Pavilion 27 introduced at CES 2019 (see 1901140008), but not in TVs, as Nanosys had envisioned. The Patent and Trademark Office declared Nanosys’ November 2017 QDOG trademark application abandoned Sept. 27 for the applicant’s failure to file a timely statement of use, agency records show.
Display industry fab utilization is expected to slow down this quarter, with LCD panel prices plunging at their fastest rates ever, reported Display Supply Chain Consultants Monday. During the full year of rising LCD panel prices from Q2 2020 to Q2 2021, “fab utilization was particularly strong in Taiwan and China,” said DSCC. The trend continued in Q3, with only slight utilization reductions as prices fell, “and utilization in Taiwan remained above 90% for the sixth straight quarter,” it said. Global utilization dropped slightly to 89% in Q3 from 90% in Q2.
Comcast’s U.S. launch Tuesday of its XClass smart TVs sourced from Hisense comes nearly two weeks after Comcast’s London launch of the Sky Glass franchise of smart sets (see 2110070026). The XClass sets will work off the same Comcast “global technology platform” as Sky Glass, said the company. They will be available “direct to consumers across the U.S., without an Xfinity subscription, both inside and outside of Comcast’s service areas,” it said. Like Sky Glass, the XClass 4K sets, available in 43- and 50-inch screen sizes and priced at $298 and $348, respectively, will support Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. The XClass TVs also will be sold starting this week at select Walmart stores and soon will be available at Walmart.com.
Apple dominated Q3 industry procurement of AMOLED smartphone panels, overtaking Samsung to reach a 36% share, up from 19% in Q2, reported Display Supply Chain Consultants Monday. Samsung’s share rose to 23% in Q3 from 22% in Q2, while Xiaomi was third with a 10% share, down from 16% in the previous quarter, it said. AMOLED smartphone panel shipments rose 21% quarter on quarter and 31% year over year, reaching 160 million, the second best quarterly result on record, it said. The double-digit “lift” in panel procurement “reflects Apple’s continued focus and dominance on premium products” with higher average selling prices, said DSCC Senior Director David Naranjo. Apple’s “fast follower philosophy,” plus its loyal customer base, “provides the catalyst for the smartphone AMOLED market to continue to grow and thrive,” he said.
Panel makers rode “robust pandemic-fed demand” in Q2 to their best quarter in history across nearly a dozen financial metrics, including record-high revenue of $37.8 billion, reported Display Supply Chain Consultants Tuesday. DSCC analyzed Q2 results of 14 publicly traded panel makers, finding total aggregate revenue increased 10% sequentially from Q1 and by 48% year over year.
LG Display is using this week’s IAA Mobility show in Munich to showcase two 55-inch transparent OLED displays for public transportation vehicles in partnership with tech company Gauzy, LG said Tuesday. One OLED product being shown is laminated with Gauzy's smart glass to render images with high contrast ratios on displays that replace vehicle windows, making them more adaptable to bright environments and “shifting light conditions,” said LGD. The show runs through Sunday.
DTS Play-Fi now supports multichannel surround sound, said parent company Xperi Wednesday. It bills Play-Fi Home Theater as a way for TV makers to add surround audio “without incurring additional hardware costs for manufacturers or consumers.” TVs with the technology are due to hit the market this quarter, it said. Play-Fi Home Theater uses a TV’s existing Wi-Fi radio, so no cables, dongles or external boxes are required, a spokesperson emailed. DTS provides firmware for TV makers to integrate into their sets. Play-Fi Home Theater allows TVs to stream directly to Play-Fi compatible sound bars, speakers, and subwoofers to create a wireless surround sound system, with support for two subwoofers. Play-Fi also supports multiroom music, headphone listening and 24-bit/192-kHz streaming.