Sharp to Supply IGZO Displays to Nintendo
by Anton Shilov on August 7, 2019 11:00 AM EST
In a surprising move, one of Sharp’s top executives revealed that the company will supply its IGZO displays to Nintendo. Usage of IGZO screens promises to reduce power consumption of Nintendo’s game consoles, though it is unclear which model will get a new type of LCD first.
Katsuaki Nomura, an executive vice president of Sharp, told the Wall Street Journal that the company would supply its IGZO displays to Nintendo. The exec did not disclose specifications of the panel or which of Nintendo’s consoles will get IGZO displays first.
The game console maker is about to release a handheld-only version of its Switch game console as well as a new version of the fully-fledged Switch. Both new devices could benefit of Sharp’s IGZO displays because of their lower power consumption and potentially higher image quality, but it remains to be seen whether Nintendo decides to shift both of its upcoming game consoles to a new type of LCDs.
The upcoming versions of Nintendo’s Switch promise considerably longer battery life when compared to existing Switch consoles while using similar batteries. One of the key reasons why the new units feature lower power consumption is believed to be a new SoC from NVIDIA.
Sharp and Nintendo have a long history of working together as the former designed auto stereoscopic display for the latter's 3DS console.
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Source: Wall Street Journal
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brakdoo - Wednesday, August 7, 2019 - link
Let me add that this is a very questionable source that you are citing.Why don't you inform yourself instead of spreading BS you read on a site that is obviously wrong on so many things? Even if you know nothing about displays you could just click on those other articles on that site to know that this site is ridiculous.
brakdoo - Wednesday, August 7, 2019 - link
Here two pics showing properties:https://www.displaydaily.com/images/2016/March/Wag...
https://cdn57.androidauthority.net/wp-content/uplo...
willis936 - Wednesday, August 7, 2019 - link
It's nintendo. They have a long history of conservative component selection in handhelds. Hell z80 was 13 years old when the gameboy came out, and then they continued to use that architecture in their handhelds for another 12 years.The switch was never intended to compete in terms of high-tech features. It was meant to be kid-proof, cheap, and good enough to run the games they want, with a very mild goal of being a platform for their experimental toys (joy-con related stuff, labo, etc.).
zepi - Wednesday, August 7, 2019 - link
Switch is not kid-proof at all. Joycons are breaking left and right, even in gentle use.Xyler94 - Wednesday, August 7, 2019 - link
Haven't broken mine, going on my 3rd year now with the switch. And it's been traveling, played, and used lots. :)0siris - Wednesday, August 7, 2019 - link
You are a sample size of one. Nintendo has a support program going for broken joy cons, so it is a statistically significant problem, not some rare occurrence.ph00ny - Wednesday, August 7, 2019 - link
Maybe the trade war between Japan and Korea may have impacted their decision to go with IGZO over AMOLEDTams80 - Wednesday, August 7, 2019 - link
OLED is still expensive and there is still the issue of burn-in. Neither great for a console.dropme - Thursday, August 8, 2019 - link
People need to stop linking all the things to Japan-Korea dispute. Nintendo has been using LCD displays and never used OLED display in their product.More importantly, what Japan's doing is just realigning their prioritized countries, that's all. The term "trade war" is not right since Japan hasn't raised a single tariff on Korean products nor actually blocked their product from exporting to Korea.
ph00ny - Thursday, August 8, 2019 - link
You're kidding me right? You don't think the timing of the white list removal from export just after korean court ordered corporations involved with forced labor during japan's occupation of korea to compensate victims is odd?Again IMPORT/EXPORT = trade. Anything that changes the trade dynamic between the two country negatively either direction = trade conflict.
I guess nationwide boycott in korea in retaliation of the white list removal impacting semiconductor material import crucial for OLED production isn't it