Plastic Logic sees iPhone flexible display opportunity

Plastic Logic sees iPhone flexible display opportunity

The Cambridge-based company has developed the daylight readable display technology for applications such as e-readers and smart labelling.

This potentially lucrative new application is adding additional “always-on” displays to smartphones, and the company has deals with accessory suppliers covering both Apple and Android smartphones.

Plastic Logic has a technology and product supply partnership with iPhone accessories supplier, popSLATE for their iPhone Always-On 4-inch second screen displays.

The first product from the joint development will be an accessory for the Apple iPhone 5 and 5S, incorporating a secondary electrophoretic display (EPD) from Plastic Logic.

EPD technology is ‘always-on’ in the sense that an image is retained and power only required to write a new image.

Plastic Logic’s EPD technology combines an organic TFT backplane with reflective E Ink display technology.

Accessory supplier popSLATE has embedded Plastic Logic’s EPD display into the phone case, which allows users to customise their case with the images and create dashboards.

The company is also working with artists to create dynamic content, so users can move images to the backs of their phones.

According to popSLATE CEO Yashar Behzadi, the companies are building “the lightest, most durable, and thinnest ePaper second screen solution in the world.”

“Our flexible EPD technology is proving ideal for smartphone accessory applications, and we are glad to be working with popSLATE in this market,’ said Plastic Logic’s Mukerjee.

The company is also seeing its display technology incorporating a daylight readable integrated E Ink screen used in a flip cover for Samsung and HTC smartphones.

Called the CoverReader and supplied by Pocketbook Readers of Lugano (Switzerland), it will use Plastic Logic’s flexible EPD product; the 4.8in display will be manufactured in the company’s Dresden facility.

“We are excited to be working with Pocketbook on a number of projects and this smart mobile accessory application is a market segment with huge potential, for which our technology is ideally suited,” said Indro Mukerjee, CEO Plastic Logic.

PocketBook is a manufacturer of e-book readers based on E Ink technology, it also makes Android-based tablet computers.

Last year Plastic Logic scored an important win in the consumer display market when Epson based its controller-driver module for flexible E Ink-style displays around Plastic Logic’s organic thin-film transistor (TFT) arrays.

Except for TFT gate drivers, the module (S1D13541) combines the blocks needed to control electrophoretic displays (the technology behind E Ink) from 1-5in.

There are four display pipelines, which can be used in parallel to represent up to 16 levels of grey, 480 TFT source driver outputs, waveform memory, DC/DC boost circuit to generate “all required display voltages”, said Epson, and a temperature sensor.

Display resolutions up to 480×854 are supported. “In combination with an external TFT gate driver, it allows display technology from Plastic Logic to be used in a broad range of applications, including healthcare and automotive applications, as well as in mobile devices and smart cards,” said Epson.

According to Plastic Logic, it can manufacture flexible plastic monochrome and colour electrophoretic displays from 1 to 20in, which are under 400µm thick and bendable down to 15mm radius. “In recent years Epson has concentrated its development on electrophoretic displays controllers for eBook customers. Our next objective is to expand our product range to include industrial and other applications,” said Manfred Wittmeir, IC department manager at Epson.