(Yicai Global) May 19 -- The world's high-end smartphone market is likely to welcome an emerging flat-panel display technology called micro light-emitting diode by 2024, according to an executive of a global industry organization.

The technology should be widely available across different handset segments by 2026, Zhang Wenda, senior director of Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International, said at a press conference yesterday. But it could enter wearables earlier than most handset models, according to market predictions.

The emergent display technology is touted to replace organic LED and liquid-crystal displays with better power efficiency and brightness. But right now, the price tag is still unappealing.

Due to the current high cost, micro LED should be most likely to be applied to small or mid-sized screens, including augmented reality, virtual reality, and in-vehicle entertainment systems, but that rules out TVs and perhaps tablet personal computers too, said Zhang.

A mobile phone LCD costs about USD20 but a micro LED one should be priced at about USD300 at the moment so chipmakers and display manufacturers need to work on lowering the cost to about one-tenth of the current price within the next five to 10 years, Zhang added.

China's new infrastructure, fifth-generation wireless networks, and the Industrial Internet of Things, are inseparable from the screen manufacturing sector so developing new technologies, such as micro LED and printed OLED, is encouraged, Hu Chunming, executive deputy secretary-general of an LCD brand of the China Optics & Optoelectronics Manufacturers Association, said at the same event.

Editor: Emmi Laine