At last year’s CES, I drove all the way to Vegas just to see a prototype of a next-generation display called nanoLED. If you haven’t heard of it, you might have heard of the technology it’s based on: quantum dots. While the prototype was cool enough for me to drive eight hours over two days, it was still just a tiny prototype. The screen was more Nintendo Switch than home theater size.Â
Things have moved quickly in the last year. At CES 2024, Nanosys showed off a significantly larger prototype. Not TV sized just yet, but it’s a big step.Â
NanoLED, specifically electroluminescent, aka “direct-view” quantum dots, are even more advanced than current TV tech like LED, LCD or OLED. They boast improved picture quality, energy savings and manufacturing efficiency. And they’re theoretically so easy to produce, they could usher in a sci-fi world of screens on everything from eyeglasses to windscreens and windows, similar to transparent OLED and Micro-LED. Here’s what we know.
Read more: Best TVs of CES 2024
Direct-view quantum dots grow up
At 12.3 inches, the new nanoLED screen is pretty much a usable size. Not for a TV, of course, but definitely for tablets, small laptops and automotive uses. Resolution of the new prototype was a lot higher too, at 1,920×720. Sure, 167 ppi is not mind-blowing resolution, but again, this is very much preproduction.
While perhaps not as interesting as pixels and screen sizes, one of the most important aspects of this prototype is that it was made at atmospheric pressure. The previous prototype required a vacuum chamber. That’s a big step towards cost-effective manufacturing.
Sharp is Nanosys’ manufacturing partner and built this prototype. While Sharp has been out of the US TV business since 2015, it didn’t abandon the TV market entirely and…
Read the full article here