It’s becoming more and more clear that virtual reality is going to the be the driver to push the spec race in smartphones to the next level. This week, Samsung demonstrated a new smartphone display designed specifically for VR and likely headed to a future Samsung smartphone. According to a report from UploadVR, the 5.5-inch panel packs 3840 x 2160 pixel resolution, making it a 4K class screen. It has a staggering 806PPI, 350 nit brightness level, and can reproduce 97 percent of the color gamut.
Samsung is far from the first display maker to pack 4K resolution into a phone-sized screen — Sony released the Z5 Premium last year with such a panel — but it is the maker of some of the most popular phones on the planet and often leads the way in display quality. UploadVR notes that the company was also demonstrating a new display tech called "Bio Blue" that supposedly emits less blue light than Samsung’s own AMOLED screens.
The 4K display is labeled as a prototype for now, but it likely won’t be long before it shows up in a high-end Samsung phone. The Galaxy Note 7, perhaps?
This post first appeared on The Verge.
