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Interactive screens and technology is not new, but using it for better communications and experiences will be something we’ll see more of in the future.

If you need a hint to where digital signage is heading, your best bet is to look at retail. They were one of the first industries to add large digital signage displays to shop windows and to understand the power of using these displays for more than just advertising.

As well as providing value to the customer (hopefully the number one aim of all signage displays) this is also a powerful tracking message for brands. Brand Diageo used beacon technology as part of its out-of-home campaign with Pimms to track how many people were around various transport hubs during rush hour in London. How did it do it? By counting the number of smartphones in the area using beacons installed in nearby pubs.

The idea is that checkout screens in supermarkets and gas stations scan the faces of customers to determine age and gender. From this, the screen can then show more targeted advertising displays. Herein lies the super thin boundary between helping customers to see stuff they’re actually interested in and not encroaching on privacy and consent.

Similarly, the school uses different social media feeds for different classes and year groups, then displays them on screens outside lessons. These feeds are updated by the teacher of those lessons sending a tweet (from wherever they are) and the students can automatically see lesson times, room changes and class notes just by viewing the screens.

In education, where process often gets in the way of innovation, these simple displays are revolutionizing what information can be shown and shared.

Ever heard of those fashion shows where designers try to make a statement by including some sort of display or screen on accessories or the dresses themselves? While those eccentric designs are limited to runways, for now, they could also be a preview of our near future. Some companies would paint a future that revolves around the metaverse, but it’s more likely that we will live in a world filled with screens everywhere. Not just on billboards or walls, mind, but on almost everything that can hold a display panel. And if stretchable displays like LG’s ever become commonplace, you can bet it will only be a matter of time before you’ll see patches of screens on clothes as well.

It might sound like yet another crazy invention that’s looking for a problem to solve, but it admittedly has more flexible applications, pardon the pun, beyond foldable laptops and rollable TVs. Because of the way these displays can stretch even for just a little bit, they’re perfect for use in industries such as textile, automotive, fashion, mobility, furniture, and the like. You can imagine clothes that can display not just logos but animation, which sounds both cool and dystopian at the same time, well in line with the start of a cyberpunk era.

At the same time, however, that also means that there will be an even greater amount of information overload and distractions in our foreseeable future. It will be a sweet opportunity for advertisers, with all the concerns that it would entail. That said, this LG stretchable display is still at an early stage, so it’s too early to tell whether it will become a standard artifact of our near-future.

Screens in private use are already highly diverse; in terms of size alone, they range from smartwatches to huge flatscreen TVs. And with many innovations on the way, the number of different formats and device types will increase significantly in the coming years. This includes virtual and augmented reality glasses, folding screens, 3D holograms, and direct projections, e.g. onto car windscreens. Consumers will be able to use these displays to control their appliances as much as for enjoying media content. New screen types will also influence the presentation of the content itself: Storytelling, camera style, and content length will adapt to each format. In addition, stakeholder behavior – from hardware manufacturers to consumers and advertising agencies – will also shape developments.

Successful innovations, groundbreaking business decisions, consumer behavior: Where exactly these aspects are going remains an open question. The future of displays cannot be predicted with any accuracy, so how can companies decide on sensible preparations for the uncertainties of the future? The Deloitte Center for the Long View has made the scenario analysis approach its own and refined it. The Center experts analyze and extrapolate the most important drivers, then use these to develop four strikingly different foundational scenarios for the year 2030 and assess the likelihood of their occurrence. The results should not be considered forecasts, but plausible narrative reference frames for strategy planning, implementation, and monitoring.

For more than a decade, smartphone designers have stuck closely to the humble rectangular slab. Yet of late, manufacturers are experimenting with wilder forms. We"ve seen devices with multiple displays, phones of different shapes, and handsets of varying sizes. Last year, Samsung and Motorola made clamshell-shaped flip phones that opened up to look like normal smartphones. Even Microsoft waded into the weird end of the pool with the Duo, a book-like phone with dual displays connected by a vertical hinge in the center.

The biggest barrier to widespread adoption of phones with these new designs is their high price. Samsung"s first foldable phone launched in 2019 for $1,980. Last year"s Z Flip cost $1,380, and Microsoft"s Surface Duo sells for $1,400. However, these technologies will start to get a little more accessible this year according to industry analyst Patrick Moorhead, founder and President of Moor Insights & Strategy.

"There is a price issue. I see that coming down this year," Moorhead says. "If there could be some penetration pricing done to get the entry level to $1,000, that would start to drive some considerable volume." Moorhead also expects we will see more of these foldable designs at the Mobile World Congress tradeshow in June. (MWC usually takes place at the end of February in Barcelona, but the show was pushed back to June due to the Covid-19 pandemic.)

From Fremont Street in Las Vegas to China’s giant outdoor billboards and mind-blowing corporate lobbies, large screen displays are getting bigger and more immersive as brands and venues compete for audience eyes and memorable impact with next-level visual experiences. As the technology becomes more cost effective and easier to install and use, artists are also waking up to the potential of the medium and using large format LED screens as canvases to create mesmerizing experiences in museums and galleries.

SNA Displaysis known in the industry for building some of the world’s largest LED installations, including the 32m screen in the Salesforce lobby at 50 Fremont Street in San Francisco, and the enormous wrap-around installation at 20 Times Square, New York. The company’s Director of Design Solutions Paul England explains that as the digital signage industry grows, screens are getting bigger, pixels are getting smaller, and the content displayed on video walls is getting more elaborate and exciting.

“New ideas and designs—both in display hardware and content — are emerging rapidly,” he says. “In the last several years, display installations have gotten much bigger, much more complex, and in many cases are woven into the fabric of the surrounding space. This is due to many factors including lower costs, relaxed local regulations, incredible artistry and creativity of content creators, and a general recognition that large-format video is worth the spend.”

“In the early 2010s, the most advanced large-format displays in Times Square featured 10mm pixel pitches,” says Paul. “In 2016, we introduced the first large-format 8mm exterior LED display at 20 Times Square, and we have recently built the Square’s first large-format 6mm display for a well-known retailer. We’ve already begun introducing 2.9 mm and 3.9 mm exterior LED boards, which of course will continue to change the game.”

Pixel pitch is a key area of focus for the industry today, but every part of the technology is being developed and transformed, including the types of LEDs used and the supporting components for the screens. “Other advances will include transparent LED display technologies and slimmer designs, which allow for more seamless, integrated installations that blend with or are part of the architecture,” says Paul.

There has been a great deal of hype in recent years around the use of various optical illusions such as forced perspective or anamorphosis that make content on large format displays appear three dimensional—in particular using installations that wrap around the building like that at 20 Times Square. The advantage of the wrap-around design is that content can be used to create the impression that the screen is a large cube that has been cut out of the building. Action can then take place on this “stage” area that appears to extend back into the structure. If the stage area is smaller than the screen, objects can be made to appear as though they are moving out of the display.

Illusions like this one have created the impression that a new 3D technology is at work. Paul sets the record straight. “The ‘3D LED screen’ craze seems to have taken the industry by storm, but of course it’s important to note that anamorphic content on these displays is just that: content. While these kinds of images are striking and memorable, which is great for the video display industry as a whole, the effects have little to do with the LED technology and hardware other than the general importance of product quality and good design.”

In the coming years Dave anticipates advancements in how content is delivered to large screen displays, and what kind of content is used. He predicts an evolution of digital signage networks from dedicated point-to-point infrastructure to delivery over IP networks. “Many digital signage management software platforms will be disintermediated, as screens just become an endpoint in a larger content and control network that includes other types of screens, such as desktop,” he says. “There will also be much more reliance on real-time, data-generated and triggered content, like dashboards, as opposed to video files rendered and just pushed out as finished pieces to target screens.”

Dave also predicts that the mass manufacturing of LEDs will lower the price even further—especially for microLED, an emerging technology that uses microscopic LEDs and is currently very expensive. At some point in the future microLEDs will be embedded in glass, transparent film and other surfaces. “This will mean a re-think on what we know as displays,” he says.

The next step in the evolution of light projection technologies is the hologram. True hologram technology hasn’t hit the market yet, despite many vendors claiming that their products are holograms. “Spinning rotor blades with LEDs on them, Pepper’s ghost projections and transparent LCDs are all called holograms—but are not,” says Dave. “One day, a full scale visual of, let"s say, a person, that you can walk around and interact with, will come. That will be interesting.”

Most modern computer monitors, and even televisions, have an edge-lit LCD display that’s fundamentally similar to the first such displays sold decades ago, but that’s not where the future is headed. The twin threats of Mini-LED and OLED want to conquer the world of PC displays for themselves.

Which will win, and where is the future headed? I spoke with Ross Young, CEO of Display Supply Chain Consultants, and David Wyatt, CTO of Pixel Display (and inventor of Nvidia G-Sync), for the inside scoop.

Modern OLED displays rarely exceed 1,000 nits of brightness, and when they do, are incapable of sustaining it. LG’s C9 OLED television, for example, can’t sustain a peak brightness above 160 nits (according to testing by Rtings). Mini-LED displays like Apple’s Liquid Retina XDR, Samsung’s Odyssey Neo G9, and Samsung’s QN90A television can hit peak brightness well above 1,000 nits and sustain at least 600 nits.

Wyatt points to this as a key advantage. The best HDR standards call for up to 10,000 nits of brightness. Current consumer Mini-LED displays don’t achieve this, but it’s possible future displays will.

Such brightness is not necessary for computer monitors or home televisions and instead targets demanding niche components, such as avionics displays. Still, it hints that we’ve only seen a sliver of HDR’s real potential – and that Mini-LED and Micro-LED, not OLED, will lead the charge.

Modern Mini-LED displays often claim to rival OLED. Apple’s Liquid Retina Display XDR, for example, lists a maximum contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1. In reality, Mini-LED still noticeably lags the contrast performance of OLED because it can’t light pixels individually. This will remain true at least until Micro-LED, which can light pixels individually, goes mainstream.

Mini-LED improves on traditional edge-lit LCD displays by improving the backlight. The LCD panel itself, however, is much the same as before and retains some flaws common to the technology.

Display quality can shift significantly depending on viewing angle, and significant blur will be visible when displaying fast motion. Both problems are inherent to LCD technology. The liquid crystals do not block light uniformly, so the image looks different from different angles, and require a few milliseconds to respond to a charge, causing blur or ghosting in rapidly changing images.

OLED is different from LCD technology. There’s no liquid crystals to twist or move. Each pixel is an organic element that creates its own light when a charge is applied. The light is emitted in a relatively uniform pattern and can turn on or off extremely quickly, removing the viewing angle and motion performance issues of LCD entirely.

This advantage will likely continue in the near future. OLED pricing is reliant on availability of OLED panels, which are not as widely produced as LCD panels. Companies looking to build Mini-LED displays can design the backlight somewhat independently of the LCD panel and choose panels as needed based on the panel’s capabilities and pricing.

Because of this, there’s more ways for manufacturers to deliver Mini-LED displays in notebooks and monitors, which may lead to a more aggressive reduction in price.

OLED’s big break may come with the introduction of new fabs. Young says they will “lower costs significantly for 10-inch to 32-inch panels, giving OLED fabs the same flexibility as G8.5 LCD fabs, meaning the ability to target multiple applications from a single fab.” The first of these new fabs should start producing panels by 2024.

Affordable OLED seems alluring, but Wyatt champions a different approach. He believes the Micro-LED technology championed by Pixel Display will meld the strengths of LCD and OLED while ditching the weaknesses of both.

Personally, I think Mini-LED shows more promise—when it comes to PC displays, at least. The static images, long hours, and sustained brightness of Mini-LED displays pinches on OLED pain points, which will remain even if pricing becomes more affordable.

Today’s vivid, immersive displays rely on layers of Corning glass to provide a stunning viewing experience. Wherever you look for news and entertainment, chances are Corning glass is there, too. We are the science and engineering powerhouse behind revolutionary display inventions, including glass cathode-ray bulbs for the first televisions and the LCD glass that made smartphones and laptop computers commonplace. We set the standard for the industry with Corning® EAGLE XG® Slim Glass substrates, manufacturing over 25 billion square feet — enough to pave the Great Wall of China 25 times, or cover nearly 390,000 football fields — while eliminating the equivalent of 6,000 truckloads of heavy metals from entering the environment. Today, we continue to enable the display industry and emerging technologies with our three-glass portfolio.

Corning’s latest glass innovation and product is enabling brighter, faster, and more lifelike images. Award winning Corning® Astra™ Glass is a precisely engineered, balanced glass substrate that enables high-performance displays for a variety of applications, including the tablets, notebooks, and 8K TVs.

New design freedoms are taking shape with Corning LotusTMNXT Glass. Thanks to Corning Lotus NXT Glass, devices with OLED displays that curve, flex, or extend edge-to-edge across a device are all within reach.  Flexible OLED devices use a plastic backplane substrate, which calls for Corning’s high-tech display glass to enable the manufacturing process —to date, it"s enabled more than 2 billion OLED devices. Corning Lotus NXT Glass continues to emerge as the leader most-advantaged glass for rigid and flexible OLED panels – outperforming competitors and enabling the designs and performance that consumers love.

Looking beyond incumbent LCD and OLED display technology, Corning"s display portfolio is finding new opportunities in emerging technology applications, including Quantum Dot, Micro LED and Mini LED. With our proven track record of successfully navigating the display technology roadmap, our proprietary fusion manufacturing platform and reliable supply network, our commitment to our customers and innovation, and our innovative portfolio, we are excited to support the next generation of displays.

Digital store facades are not an entirely new idea. Earlier versions of relatively low-resolution LED displays started supplanting neon and replacing back-lit plastic signs many years ago. The technology had its limitations, though — notably the high cost and maintenance demands of early-version sunlight-readable displays.

Now there are few limits to how LED technology can be used in storefront displays to drive foot traffic and sales and build top of mind awareness and affinity for retail brands.

Outdoor-rated direct view LED, such as the XPR series, is inherently modular in its physical design, so displays can be stacked and tiled in configurations that fill as much of a retailer’s front facade as desired. LED shopfront signage can be vertical, horizontal or both — creating a seamless, full color, full motion canvas that’s unmissable to shoppers. Content can vary from subtle mood-setting animations featuring the store brand, to aggressive call-to-action marketing that can pack far more messaging into a sign than a printed poster.

High-brightness LED-backlit displays in windows allow retailers to maintain the character of their exterior design, and, in some cases, remain aligned with local sign and planning bylaws. Large format displays provide an opportunity to show rich, full HD or 4K visuals for new or featured products, ideally inviting passing shoppers inside. Unlike printed material, which can only show one message at a time, digital displays can be scheduled to run a nearly infinite series of promotional and branding messages.

The high brightness aspect of these screens is important, particularly for retailers operating outside of enclosed malls. Conventional LCD displays are not equipped with the necessary lighting power to cut through the glare of direct sunlight, and they also aren’t engineered to handle the heat load of midday sun. It takes specifically engineered commercial LED storefront signs to handle that task and work happily in that challenging environment.

Screens facing outside can have a big impact on influencing consumers to come inside, but one drawback is the blank metal or plastic backside of these displays that shoppers see when inside the store and looking out. To address that, Samsung has cleverly developed an impossibly thin two-sided display that has a super high-bright display facing outside, and a still bright second screen facing inside, in view of shoppers. Different content can be scheduled to each side.

Fully outdoor-rated displays embedded in storefront walls, on totems and positioned in quick service restaurant (QSR) drive-thru lanes share the engineering qualities of window-based displays, but are also designed to handle extremes in heat and cold, as well as to block airborne dust and grime and prevent moisture from rain or snow seeping inside enclosures and damaging sensitive electronics.

The staple of digital signage in retail has been standalone displays. They’re a more efficient and cost-effective promotional tool than print because of production costs, time and staffing requirements, and carbon implications of continuously printing, shipping and installing material. The beauty of digital is that it can be updated in an instant with software like MagicINFO Cloud, and even automated when predesigned promotions templates are tied into the data from systems handling sales and inventory. Imagine the benefits of automatically removing a sales promotion message as your point of sale (POS) and inventory systems indicate dwindling stocks.

The largest commercial displays are being used for branding and store design, leveraging the visual vibrancy and clarity delivered by supporting technologies like HDR10+ and quantum dots, the enhancement film that turns a standard digital display into a premium QLED display.

Narrow-bezel LCD video walls have been used for years by retailers as feature displays to drive product awareness and set the mood for a store and its shoppers, notably in the fashion sector. Tiling a series of LCDs into an array creates a crisp, ultra-high-resolution visual canvas for store marketers and merchandisers.

As the pitch of indoor direct view LED technology has narrowed and costs have dropped, that fully seamless technology has started finding its way into retail environments where commercial designers are converting entire feature walls — corner to corner, floor to ceiling — into active media canvases. They’re wrapping the four sides of support columns, and introducing gentle curves into video walls that could only be flat with LCD.

Brighten your storefront and inform shoppers with today’smost comprehensive direct view LED portfolioon the market. And find everything you need to know aboutchoosing your LED displaysfor optimal viewing, indoors and out, in this free white paper.

LCD displays in cars have been flat, rectangular and low resolution since the beginning. However, as the cockpit becomes a smart mobile digital assistant, there is increased need for bigger, higher-resolution, more immersive displays. Next-generation cockpit displays are curved and offer high resolution at much larger sizes than current displays. Visteon is one of the largest suppliers of automotive displays to the industry and has multiple years of experience in critical aspects of automotive use cases, such as head impact safety, long life, extreme temperatures, vibrations and reflectivity.