11K RESOLUTION IS NOW A REALITY!!

Forget 2K and 4K: Samsung’s 

working on 

an 11K screen for smartphones

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If you thought 2K phone screens were overkill, you’re going to be positively disgusted by this: Samsung is working on an 11K screen with a 2,250 pixel-per-inch density and a resolution of 11,264 х 6,336 pixels. The screen will measure 5.75 inches, and could grace future smartphones.

Based on a 16:9 aspect ratio, an 11K display with that pixel density would measure 5.74 inches diagonal, with a resolution of 11,264 х 6,336. The screen will also reportedly display content in 3D. "Because 11K is able to show screen colors in detail, it is able to show 3D-effect," the report says, which seems to imply the screen will be able to produce 3D images that won't require special glasses.

Development reportedly began last month on June 1. Samsung Display won't be working on development of the 11K display alone — it's collaborating with the South Korean government, which has invested $26.5 million in the project, and 13 other companies to produce the display within five years.

And Samsung seems to be making real progress on the development of the 11K screen. The company and its partners could even show off a prototype of the 11K screen at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.

With more pixels to push, higher resolution displays usually suck more power. Let's hope Samsung figures out how to make the display energy-efficient or invents a battery breakthrough by the time it's ready to launch.

Some Disadvantages:

Why high resolution displays are the wrong idea,

First and foremost, every pixel in a mobile display requires power to operate. When you ramp up the pixel counts, you increase the amount of power required to operate the panel, while simultaneously decreasing the amount of light that can pass through the tiny gaps in the display and actually reach the end-user.

Companies have continued to innovate around these problems, to be sure, but an 11K display would pack approximately 9.25x more pixels than a current 4K panel. In order to keep power draw constant compared to 4K, we’d have to reduce total panel power consumption by roughly 90% from present levels. That’s going to be extremely difficult, particularly when you consider the need for GPU technology that can actually drive the panel.

16-bit color vs. compressed 8-bit

Modern high-end GPUs from AMD and Nvidia can drive 4K above 30 FPS with system power consumption of 280-350W and hundreds of GB per second worth of memory bandwidth. While Wide I/O should be available by the time Samsung hopes to debut its technology, keep in mind that 11K is more than 9x the pixels of 4K, and driving 4K successfully requires the most expensive GPUs you can buy today. A 74-megapixel display on a 5-inch device would need far more GPU firepower than we can build into desktops or can reasonably expect to build into desktops. Keep in mind that since the absolute best human visual acuity tops out around 690 PPI, we’re still talking about PPI densities that no one can actually see.

There are better ways to add detail and increase image quality.

There are other, better ways to improve visual quality. Higher-quality color reproduction. Better wireless standards that allow for less image compression. Redesigned display standards that consume less power and allow for longer viewing, or better, more even backlighting — all of these options would improve what people see when they reach for a smartphone or tablet. And they’re all a better idea that shoving pixel density out the point where you literally need better-than-human vision to see differences.

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