The LCD monster has stopped evolving, notes longtime industry observer Bob Raikes, as Merck has confirmed that they no longer have any major R&D projects earmarked for LCD TV panels.

LCD TVs have for years been built on either VA or IPS panel types with very little development in the core – the liquid crystals.

Improvements to picture quality and performance in "QLED" and "miniLED" LCD TVs in recent years can instead be ascribed to other components such as the LED backlight. These are expected to continue to evolve for some time still.

Merck, which is the dominant supplier of liquid crystal (LC) materials for use in LCD panels, has confirmed that it no longer has any major R&D projects in the area.

- "So at Display Week this year, I asked EMD (which is the US name of Merck KGaA and is by far the dominant supplier of LC materials), what they were doing to push LC materials for displays on to the next stage. They told me that they have no major R&D for LC materials in larger displays, although there is some work with reactive mesogens in the VR/AR field. They are developing LCs for privacy windows and antennas, but they told us that ‘there is no pull from clients’ for significant development in LC materials," wrote Bob Raikes, Display Daily.


The LCD monster
The most recent development in LCD panel technology came with a refinement of IPS known as IPS Black, developed by Merck for LG Display and BOE.

The statement from Merck is not surprising considering that leading display manufacturers such as LG Display and Samsung Display already have, or are very close to having, abandoned production of LCD panels, leaving the Chinese to it who are also increasingly turning their attention to OLED in the near term and more exotic display technologies in the long term.

Bob Raikes likes to refer to it as "the LCD monster" as LCD has over the years completely eradicated cathode-ray tube (CRT), plasma, and even prospective display technologies such as SED.

LCD has had an amazing run but with OLED, QD-OLED, direct-view LED and other promising display technologies there is reason to be even more excited about the future of displays.

- Source: Display Daily