Samsung’s popular Edge display might not stay in the limelight for long — Japan Display Inc. is showcasing a “Full Active” display that has an incredibly slim bezel not just on the sides of the phone, but all around it.
Manufacturers have been trying to get rid of bezels on devices — from TVs to smartphones — for quite some time. Sharp is one such example with the Aquos Crystal 2 or Aquos Mini, which nearly have non-existent bezels on three sides of the smartphones. The problem has been that there’s always one side, or even both the top and bottom of the smartphone, that features not-so-slim bezels to pack in components like a front-facing camera, speakers, microphones, and more.
That’s what makes Japan Display’s “Full Active” LCD display special — it’s slim all around. While it’s not bezel-less, it comes extremely close. The prototype the company displays has a 5.5-inch display with a resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 pixels, and the company says it achieved this feat by “adopting a new high-density wiring layout, and new processing and module assembly technologies.”
The company believes its new display will contribute to “entirely new smartphone products,” and is looking to begin mass production by March 2017. The tech isn’t being saved just for smartphones though, as Japan Display says it will develop LCDs for a range of products.
While it’s neat to see a concept for a smartphone with a “Full Active” display, Japan Display hasn’t really mentioned where specific parts like a front-facing camera, speaker, or other components will go. That’s usually what has restricted development for almost bezel-less devices. Sharp’s Aquos Crystal 2, for example, still has a thick bezel on the bottom to house the front-facing camera and other components.
Since Japan Display will ship the screens to interested manufacturers, perhaps the firm expects its recipients to figure that out.
