LG Display's new "in-cell" touch screen for laptops
LG Display said Monday it would start mass producing the world’s thinnest full LCD touch screen for laptops, which combines the LCD and touch sensor and allows slimmer device design, from later this year.
Unlike existing “add-on” touch screen technology that puts a touch panel as an extra layer on the LCD panel, the company’s Advanced In-cell Touch or AIT technology has the touch sensor layer embedded in the LCD.
The in-cell type display, which doesn’t require additional cover glass, not only reduces weight and thickness but also improves brightness as it reflects less light, the company said.
The 15.6-inch touch screen weighs 200 grams and has a 1-millimeter thickness, which are 35 percent and 25 percent improvements, respectively, on current touch-screen models on the market, the company said.
LG Display has used the touch-screen technology in smaller devices like LG Electronics’ latest flagship smartphone G4. But it is the first time for it to be available for laptops.
The company said it had already inked supply deals for 14-inch and 15.6-inch screens with global laptop-makers but declined to elaborate on their names and specific deal conditions.
LG Display, the world’s biggest display-maker by sales, is also a market leader in laptop touch screens. In the third quarter this year, the company is expected to claim 27.7 percent of global market shares.
Taking advantage of the growing trend of convertible PCs that work as both a laptop and tablet, touch-screen laptops made up 10 percent of total laptop sales last year, according to IDC, a market research firm. The figure is expected to surge to 30 percent by 2019.
LG Display especially pinned high hopes on the upcoming launch of Microsoft’s Windows 10 operating system, which supports diverse touch functions. It also plans to develop laptop screens that react to a touch pen.
“Our AIT technology is the best solution to lead the touch-screen laptop market,” said Kim Byung-koo, executive director of the company’s IT and mobile development unit. “We will ramp up R&D efforts for new products.”
By Lee Ji-yoon (
jylee@heraldcorp.com)
Caption: LG Display’s new laptop touch screen LGD