Did you know that Qualcomm has been trying to get into the display business for years? The company first showed off their “Mirasol” displays in 2009 (see video below), but they’ve had limited success in the market. Why? Because the technology is too weird. As someone who has seen a Mirasol display in person, I can tell you that it’s far better than an electronic ink display, but it’s total garbage compared to an LCD or AMOLED panel. The whole point of Mirasol is to provide LCD-like color reproduction, but with electronic ink battery levels due to a lack of backlighting.

Unfortunately, consumers have decided that it’s better to charge their phones every night.

With that, here’s today’s news: Qualcomm showed off a 5.1 inch Mirasol display at Display Week in Canada that pushes 2,560 x 1,440 pixels. That’s a ridiculous 577 pixels per inch. Sadly, Engadget says that it’s going to be a few years until said display is commercially viable. By then, who knows, maybe Samsung will figure out how to make a 4K AMOLED smartphone? Don’t laugh, we all thought 1080p displays were overkill, but now we live in a world where they’re commonplace.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfgG2kaHi-I