Samsung Display has chosen Vancouver's Display Week Exhibition hosted by the Society for Information Display to unveil two new Retina-beating display panels. The WQXGA 10.1-inch LCD screen will be used for tablets, while the QHD+ 13.3-inch is destined for notebooks. Details are scant, but we have managed to persuade Samsung to part with a few key specs.
According to Steve Simons, Technical Account Manager for LCD Product Marketing at Samsung Display, the RGBW tablet panel has a resolution of 2560 x 1600 at an impressive 300 pixels per inch (ppi). That beats the iPad's slightly smaller Retina display in terms of both resolution (2048 x 1536) and pixel density (264 ppi).
The Korean consumer electronics behemoth has also given the 400-nit 10.1-inch LCD panel an 800:1 contrast ratio, and a viewing angle of 160 degrees.
The new 350-nit, 13.3-inch notebook panel overtakes the 13-inch Retina Macbook Pro, Toshiba's KIRAbook and Google's Chromebook Pixel to notch up a display resolution of 3200 x 1800 at 275 ppi. It gets the same contrast ratio as the company's tablet display, but benefits from a slightly wider viewing angle of 170 degrees.
Also on show at Samsung's Display Week booth were low-power versions of the hi-res panels claimed to draw 40 percent less juice than RGB panels, by cutting back on the number of driver circuits while bumping up the efficiency of the LED backlights.
What does all this mean for consumers? From the looks of the models on show in Vancouver, the outlook is bright and clear, with the possibility of sharp but tiny text and icons, and maybe even extended battery life with the so-called green versions. At the time of writing, we're awaiting confirmation on when (or even if) Samsung will be throwing these panels into its tablets and notebooks. We'll keep you posted.
Update 05/27/13: At this time, Samsung is unable to confirm when these panels will make it to the marketplace.
Source: Samsung Display