In 2023, I wrote about NanoLED -- a new type of display technology which uses direct-view quantum dots to form the basis of the screen. While other competing types use quantum dots to help a backlight produce color, in this case the dots are actually self illuminating -- they are the display. This tech, which is so new it doesn't have an official name, promises thinner, brighter and more colorful displays than what's possible even with quantum dot-enhanced OLED.
Also known as QDEL (and ELQD and QD-LED), we're still a few years away from seeing this technology in real products, but it's interesting to see how quickly things are moving. It was just 2 years ago I saw an early prototype which was just 6-inches. Now there are working 14-inch screens in a laptop and monitors up to 18.2-inches. Here's why that's exciting.
Electro-what?
A cutaway diagram of a nanoLED pixel.
We've talked about electroluminescent quantum dots a few times, in This Top-Secret Prototype Display Will Blow Your Mind, What Is NanoLED? The Next Big Screen Tech Explained, and The Quantum Dot Powered TV of the Future Takes a Big Step Forward. Here's the tl:dr of why this tech is so interesting and might potentially be the next big thing in displays.
All displays, be it on your phone, laptop or TV, need two basic things to create an image: light and a way to manipulate that light into something usable. With all LCD-based TVs, which is the majority of the TV market and currently anything that's not OLED, those two aspects are separate. There's a backlight that creates the light, and then a liquid crystal layer that manipulates it into an image. With OLED displays, both are incorporated into one. Each pixel creates its own light and can be manipulated to create an image. There are pros and cons of each tech which we cover in OLED vs. LED vs. MiniLED vs. LCD: What's the Best?.
A cross-section of how different technologies create light. Note that the star rating is subjective and from a manufacturer.
Most mid- and high-end modern TVs use quantum dots in this mix. Quantum dots are microscopic particles that are able to convert one wavelength of light (one color) into another. Blue light becomes red or green, for instance. Because of their efficiency at this, quantum dot based TVs can be cheaper to build, brighter and more colorful.
Vials of glowing quantum dots lit by a UV flashlight.
Up until now all quantum dots used in displays were photoluminescent, as in, they use one color of light to glow a different color. For example, blue LEDs are used to create the TV's blue light and, via different sizes of quantum dots, also its red and green light. Electroluminescent quantum dots create light with electricity directly, taking out the middleman so to speak. QDEL displays potentially offer the picture quality of OLED TVs, less complexity than LED LCDs, with theoretically lower production costs than either. The tech isn't quite to that level yet, but several companies are working towards that possibility, several of whom showed off their latest at SID Display Week.
Bigger and bigger
Understandably, most companies don't publicize their prototypes and research. I was one of the first journalists to see the QDEL prototype in 2023, and I wasn't able to reveal at the time who the manufacturer was (it was Sharp). Their more visible partner, Nanosys, I'd covered for years. They're still one of the biggest manufacturers of quantum dots, and I toured their factory last year (it looks like a microbrewery). While Sharp wasn't publicly showing new developments at this year's Display Week, behind the scenes they had a 1.39-inch display with 326ppi, which is similar resolution as many phone screens. They also had a 12.3in 167ppi display, which is roughly laptop screen resolution.
TCL's QD-EL (their name for the tech) laptop screen prototype. It has a resolution of 2880x1800, with a claimed brightness of 350 nits and a variable refresh up to 120Hz. It was built using inkjet printing, which has the potential of being an extremely inexpensive means of production.
Laptops are the least surprising initial use for QDEL screens, since there are high-end laptops that feature the latest tech and no "high-end" tablets that do the same (even Apple only put an OLED in a tablet this year). Along those lines, TCL CSOT, the manufacturing arm of the company that makes some of our favorite TVs, was showing off a 14-inch display envisioned as a laptop screen. TCL is saying this is 2-3 years from production. The potential is for even thinner, lighter laptops, possibly with longer battery life, all with better picture quality than current LCD screens.
Samsung showed off a huge (for the tech) 18.2in monitor:
Samsung Display, the manufacturing arm of Samsung, showed off what they're calling QD-LED. At 18.2-inches, this is a huge display for this next-gen tech. It has a resolution of 3200x1800 and a claimed brightness of around 250 nits. Like the TCL screen above, it was built using inkjet printing.
Inching forward
You can't buy products with QDEL just yet, but progress continues behind the scenes. Many of the biggest names in display manufacturing are investing a lot of R&D into this tech, and it's easy to understand why. They all see the potential of displays that perform as well or better than current tech, while being easier and cheaper to manufacture. In many cases it even leverages some experience and expertise used with the quantum dot tech used in current TVs.
Eventually we'll see phones and hopefully, eventually, "paper thin" TVs and more. I wouldn't be surprised if even larger models are shown publicly at CES 2025 in the next few months. I can't wait.
As well as covering audio and display tech, Geoff does photo tours of cool museums and locations around the world, including nuclear submarines, aircraft carriers, medieval castles, epic 10,000-mile road trips and more.
Also check out Budget Travel for Dummies, his travel book and his bestselling sci-fi novel about city-size submarines. You can follow him on Instagram and YouTube.