Global smartphone display resolution is improving quickly, with...

growth are the adoption of LTE, application processor development and display cost reductions, he said. China Mobile, the largest telecom operator in China, said its sales target for 4G mobile phone devices is 100 million this year, he said. China Mobile changed the LTE specification and LTE models must now support five modes, including TD-LTE, TD-SCDMA, GSM, LTE FDD and WCDMA, he said. To meet that requirement, smartphones “will need more components, requiring” a larger printed circuit board assembly, he said. That means 4G smartphones will use displays of at least 4.5 inches, he said. With such a large display, smartphone makers prefer to use HD for mid-range LTE smartphones and full HD resolution fabrication will be increasing even faster, he said. Prices of 5-inch HD a-Si TFT LCD have fallen by 16 percent since the end of 2013, while 5-inch FHD LTPS LCD prices fell by 13 percent, he said. To meet the requirements of mid- and low-end smartphones, most driver integrated circuits (ICs) for HD and full HD resolution don’t include RAM to increase outputs and reduce cost, he said. Most HD and full HD driver ICs are manufactured in 8-inch semiconductor foundries, but those fabs also produce fingerprint sensors, CMOS image sensors, 4K TV driver ICs, touch controller ICs and some analog ICs, he said. If the demand from those other ICs is too large, it may “reduce the output volume of mobile phone driver ICs, which despite having high volume, do not provide high profits compared to the other ICs,” he said.