It’s no surprise by now that display innovators are working on smartphone-sized 4K displays at smartphone form factors. Sharp’s IGZO panel is one of the most well-known, coming in at 5.5 inches for a PPI of 806. That’s of LCD-ilk, FYI.
But AMOLED still hasn’t quite gotten there yet. We all expect either Samsung or LG to be the first to market with something of that type, but one lesser known company — Everdisplay — has come out with word that they’re developing a 6-inch 4K AMOLED display. This would deliver pixel density of 734 PPI in a world where 577 ppi is the current high mark for this particular display technology.
Let’s get one thing straight here, though: 4K displays on smartphones of these sizes are not just borderline overkill for typical usage — they’re largely unnecessary. You’d be hard-pressed to see a single pixel with the naked eye during typical usage on the Quad HD displays we have now, so doubling resolution wouldn’t bring any practical benefits.
Instead, these things are aimed at smartphones designed to be used in virtual reality headsets, or to be mounted into VR headsets which use a standalone display. Since displays are right in front of your face in these situations we imagine it’s best for the pixel density to be as high as it can go so as to not break the immersion.
Of course, that won’t stop smartphone makers from chucking the things into their devices “just because.” They’d love to be able to claim their smartphone has double the resolution of anything else on their marketing sheets, and consumers will eat it right up if they do.