Samsung 10.1" 2560 X 1600 Tablet Panel Could Be iPad 3's Retina Display

Samsung has announced a new 10.1-inch, 300dpi PenTile prototype display running at a massive WQXGA 2560 x 1600 resolution, which the company says is headed to commercial tablets later this year. Although offering twice the resolution of most current tablet screens of the same size, Samsung's uses up to 40-percent less power; most interestingly – and of course not mentioned by Samsung itself – is the possibility that this could be the iPad 3's oft-rumored Retina Display.

According to Samsung, the nee PenTile display is also capable of an outdoor-viewing mode, which boosts brightness to 600 cd/m2. A 72-percent color gamut range is also well ahead of current-gen tablet LCDs, which apparently can muster a mere 55-percent NTSC.

It's all thanks to the PenTile RGBW technology, which allows Samsung to hit the 300 dpi resolution despite having two-thirds the number of subpixels of a traditional RGB stripe LCD. If you're not a display geek, that basically boils down to higher resolutions with lower power consumption and thinner panels, or in short something that could make the third-generation iPad – or indeed Samsung's own line-up of Android-based slates – even more luscious on the eyes.

Samsung will show off the new panel at SID 2011 next week.

Press Release:

Samsung Electronics and Nouvoyance Demonstrate 10.1-inch, 300dpi WQXGA PenTile RGBW Prototype Display for Tablet Market

PenTile RGBW is the only display to optimize balance between power efficiency and high performance viewing in tablets

SID Display Week 2011

LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–At the SID Display Week 2011 International Symposium (LA Convention Center, Booth 707) May 17-19, Samsung Electronics is demonstrating the industry's first 10.1-inch WQXGA (2560 x 1600) format PenTile™ RGBW tablet display, an ultra-high resolution, liquid crystal display (LCD). The prototype demonstration marks the first time this resolution has been available for the tablet market in the popular – 10.1-inch – format, rivaling the highest resolution smartphone displays now on the market. Samsung expects to have commercial availability of this technology for tablet applications later this year.

Because tablets are regularly used for viewing rich-colored images, the 10.1-inch 300 dpi display is ideal for applications that require extraordinary image and text clarity such as browsing the web and viewing high-definition movies, or reading books and spreadsheets.

"In order to develop tablets with the form and function that consumers demand, a design engineer ultimately has to determine how to get the highest resolution display possible, while still fitting within the overall power budget for their design," said Joel Pollack, executive vice president of Nouvoyance, Samsung's affiliate company that developed the PenTile RGBW technology.

Lightness and power efficiency of the display are critical factors since higher resolution displays typically draw more power.

"Samsung's PenTile display technology is the only display technology that operates at 40 percent less power yet provides twice that of Full HD-viewing performance for consumers compared to legacy RGB stripe LCDs. There is no other commercial display technology on the market today that offers this high of a resolution and pixel density in a 10.1-inch size display," said Dr. Sungtae Shin, Senior VP of Samsung Electronics.

PenTile RGBW WQXGA Technology Highlights

- This 10.1-inch tablet panel is capable of 300 cd/m2 of luminance, yet uses 40 percent less power than that used by legacy RGB stripe LCDs in power-saving modes.

- An outdoor brightness mode of as much as 600 cd/m2 luminance enables viewing in bright ambient lighting.

- The display's color gamut is 72 percent., allowing greater color realism than legacy RGB stripe tablet displays that have a typical color gamut of 55 percent NTSC.

- PenTile technology achieves 300 dpi resolution with two-thirds the number of subpixels, maintaining the VESA/ICDM display resolution standard.

For more information about the technology behind this WQXGA ultra high-resolution display prototype, go to www.pentileblog.com