Sharp's new display could mean new shapes for mobile devices

06-19-2014 • dvice.com

Sharp, however, may just have made the technological breakthrough that will allow the screens of our gadgets to come in different shapes. Calling it "Free-Form Display" technology, Sharp has found a new way of organizing the circuits on liquid crystal displays. Traditionally, the circuit drivers run around the outside of the LCD screen where the circuits are organized through the pixels of the display. Here's how Sharp describes it:

"Conventional displays are rectangular because they require a minimal width for the bezel in order to accommodate the drive circuit, called the gate driver, around the perimeter of the screen's display area. With the Free-Form Display, the gate driver's function is dispersed throughout the pixels on the display area. This allows the bezel to be shrunk considerably, and it gives the freedom to design the LCD to match whatever shape the display area of the screen needs to be."