HTC announces Super LCD displays for smartphones

HTC announced on Monday that it will be introducing a new type of LCD display to help it meet demand for its current handsets.

The company said the Nexus One and HTC Desire will ship with the Super LCD (SLCD) screen later this summer, replacing the active matrix OLED (AMOLED) offering currently found on both handsets.

HTC said in its statement that the new SLCD display technology "offers an exceptional natural balanced colour, clear contrast, broad viewing angles and improved power efficiency", and that it offers "a comparable visual experience to HTC's current 3.7-inch displays".

According to Peter Chou, the chief executive of HTC, the company has been experiencing high-demand for its 3.7-inch-screened handsets and the switch to Super LCD "enables us to ramp up our production capabilities quickly to meet the high-demand".

LG and Samsung are the only suppliers of AMOLED panels for smartphones and, despite significant investments in new facilities, current demand cannot be met, according to market analysts iSuppli.

An HTC spokesperson confirmed to ZDNet UK on Monday that the SLCD-equipped Nexus One and HTC Desire will be sold under their original monikers when they hit the market later in the year, but could not confirm any future devices that will use the SLCD display at this time.

Rival phone-maker Apple also recently announced a move towards a new display technology that provides a broad viewing angle and improved power efficiency — used in the iPhone 4, the 'retina display' provides the highest-yet resolution for smartphone screens, at 960x640 pixels.

Meanwhile, LG chief executive Kwon Young-Soo announced on Monday that his company was unable to keep up with the demand for iPad displays. LG won a $500m (£323m) contract to supply Apple's LCD displays last year.