On Monday, E Ink Holdings introduced the E Ink Mobius, a new flexible electronic paper display (EPD) technology. It will be the first flexible display technology that will go into mass production for a large format digital paper product based on Sony's own flexible Thin Film Transistor (TFT) tech.
"We have been working with Sony for over 10 years, and we are extremely happy to bring this technology to mass production," said Giovanni Mancini, director of product management for E Ink Holdings. "Development of this new digital paper product by Sony confirms our belief that the ePaper market is still strong."
According to the company, Mobius displays can weigh less than 50 percent of the weight of an equivalent glass-based TFT. This is particularly important for ODMs who want to provide larger displays in their mobile devices. Thus a 10.7-inch LCD-based display weighs an average of 1.44 pounds, whereas a larger 11.4-inch E Ink display with a plastic TFT and similar internal components can weigh only 17 ounces.
"The ruggedness and lightweight characteristics of Mobius are due to the TFT being constructed on a plastic substrate rather than traditional glass," the company said. "The technology was developed by Sony specifically for use with EPDs in cooperation with E Ink. Sony has now transferred the technology to E Ink for mass production."
The company also said that with devices that use glass-based displays, the TFT itself is often the component that fails when dropped, rather than the top pane of glass. A plastic TFT can significantly reduce display failure as a result of those drops.
E Ink Holdings said it will start mass production of the world’s first 13.3-inch flexible EPD display in 2013.
