Japan Display today announced the start of sales of a standard line-up of memory-in-pixel (MIP) reflective-type color LCD modules for wristwatch-type wearable devices which realize ultra-low power consumption. Power consumption of these reflective-type LCD modules is less than 0.5% that of transparent-type LCD modules. In addition, the optimized optical design contributes to bright and crisp reflective-type color images, especially under bright sunlight conditions. Low power consumption is a key factor for wearable devices, to provide long battery life. Since the new reflective-type modules display images by reflecting light, they do not require a backlight, which typically contributes up to approximately 80% of the total power consumption of an LCD module.
Furthermore, since the MIP structure has a static random access memory transistor fabricated in each sub-pixel, in the case of still screen images, once the data is written it is held, resulting in ultra-low power consumption. Japan Display has produced and sold reflective-type color LCD modules for wristwatch-type wearable devices since January 2014. Samples will be available in March 2015 and the start of sales will be in July 2015.
