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DISPLAYS
30
The future of displays
What does the future hold for displays? Stefan Sommer, Director of Marketing
& Business Management Europe at MMD, which exclusively markets and sells
Philips branded LCD displays worldwide, looks at recent developments.
of contrast and colour so that images
seem to have more depth – great news for
video, graphics and entertainment apps.
Later this year, we will launch a product
line dedicated to entertainment, which will
include HDR.
Q:
How do you see the future of virtual
reality devices? Will they replace
monitors or coexist alongside them?
Stefan Sommer:
VR is already gaining
traction in professional fields such as
architecture and design, medicine and
geoscience. What’s holding it back in the
home user sector – which is where the
big growth will be – is the lack of great
content. Performance is also an issue:
any artificiality or slight judder in image
rendering is a stumbling block to wider
adoption.
Ultimately, we are likely to see a trickle-
down effect from the high-end professional
sectors. As soon as the technology is
advanced and affordable, with great
content to attract users, VR will take off.
As VR is essentially just another
display format, I do not expect it to
replace conventional displays. The two
types will coexist, because of their very
different applications – it is still easier
to collaborate in front of a display than
through VR!
Q:
How do you expect the monitor
market to change over the coming
years?
Stefan Sommer:
We expect the market
to evolve in a few directions. What
we have seen with curved displays
so far is just the start, and over the
next few years we expect this market
to pick up pace and become more
established in the mainstream.
Displays are likely to become
more specialised, with highly
specific features designed for a particular
target group e.g. high res 21:9 format
displays for banking and finance
professionals. Alongside this trend,
today’s high-end features will enter the
mainstream, bringing near-professional
quality to users in the B2C sector.
As mobile connectivity grows in
importance, Easy USB docking makes it
quick and easy for users to attach their
preferred device. MMD is already a leading
provider of USB Docking monitors and will
further enlarge this segment.
These connectivity features will be
even more important in the B2B sector,
where we also see opportunities for smart
features to make offices more efficient.
Philips displays with a Power Sensor, for
example, can sense when someone is at
their desk and automatically turn off when
no one is present.
With hackers becoming ever more
inventive, privacy and security are
becoming more important. Recognising the
potential risk exposure through webcams,
MMD was first to launch a monitor with
a pop-up webcam. With a stream of
innovative products like this emerging from
our labs, we are prepared for any market
developments.
Q:
What for you are the key trends we
are likely to see in displays over the next
few years?
Stefan Sommer:
Digital media platforms –
PCs, notebooks, smartphones and the like
– are converging and mobile connectivity
is growing in importance. Increasingly,
the display will act as a platform for
streaming content from a range of devices
– everything from mobile phones to set-top
boxes and PCs – while also serving as an
interface for ‘smart home’ control centres.
This is generating demand from both
B2B and B2C markets for bigger screens
and better quality resolution and brilliant
colour.
Take display sizes, for example. A
couple of years ago, sizes above 27 inches
used to qualify as expansive, but demand
is now growing in this size range and
above, as users come to appreciate the
greater sense of space. Users are keen to
go higher in resolution too; 4K will extend
well into the mainstream in the next few
years and professional users will move to
even finer resolutions. The first 8K displays
are already on the horizon.
Exciting developments are underway
in colour as well. Along with Quantum Dot
colour technology, MMD is pushing ahead
with UltraWide Color across the entire
range, bringing a broader gamut within
reach of all our users. I expect a colour
gamut of >85% NTSC to be standard soon,
as opposed to 72% now.
High Dynamic Range (HDR) technology
is another innovative feature we will see
in more displays. This expands the range
MMD’s new USB docking monitor is a great solution for
ultra-book type devices with limited connectivity.As well
as letting users display content from a mobile device
on a more spacious screen, the display connects to the
Internet or Intranet through a single SuperSpeed USB
cable and gives access to peripherals connected to the
monitor through a hub with three USB 3.0 ports.
4K will extend
well into the
mainstream
in the next
few years and
professional
users will move
to even finer
resolutions
Stefan Sommer
