Mass production

Two 'Mass production' stories September 2013 - October 2013

Report claims ‘LG Z’ with flexible OLED display will debut later this month

Samsung might have planned on being the first to market with a flexible OLED screen with a special edition of its Galaxy Note 3, but it looks like LG too will soon be launching its first smartphone to incorporate curved display. According to a translated report from ZD Net (via UnwiredView), LG is prepping an “LG Z” smartphone that will be the company’s first to utilize that flexible display technology it’s been working on.

We don’t get many details from the report, but it does claim that the device is already in mass production and could debut as early as this month.

It’s worth pointing out that we still don’t have any real official details on either of these curved devices from Samsung or LG, but we’re guessing the first generation of flexible display smartphones will likely sport a rather rigid casing that will make the product appear curved, opposed to actually being flexible in one’s hand.

Samsung announces new ‘ISOCELL’ image sensor tech for premium smartphones & tablets

Samsung announced today that it is introducing a new advanced image sensor technology that will improve image quality and the user experience for camera systems in premium smartphones and tablets:

Building on these past advances and continuing the push toward higher quality image sensors for mobile devices, Samsung has developed ISOCELL the next generation of pixel technology, which is patent pending. ISOCELL technology forms a physical barrier between neighboring pixels – isolating the pixel. This isolation enables more photons to be collected from the micro-lens and absorbed into the correct pixel’s photodiode minimizing undesired electrical crosstalk between pixels and allowing expanded full well capacity (FWC).

The result, according to Samsung, will be “higher color fidelity to reproduce the original color with sharpness and richness,” even in low lighting conditions. It will also offer a greater dynamic range compared to back side illumination pixel technology. The company says ISOCELL will help reduce the height of the camera module in smartphones and tablets, which could lead to even slimmer hardware.

Samsung plans to make the new image sensor technology available for mass production by Q4 2013:

As the first Samsung image sensor to adopt this new technology, the S5K4H5YB 8Megapixel imager utilizes a 1.12um ISOCELL pixel and has a 1/4inch optical format. The S5K4H5YB is currently sampling to customers with mass production scheduled for Q4 2013.