A few days ago, there was a news from Ticonderoga Securities analyst Brian White. The analyst speculated that a pico projector would be a nice thing to have in the next version of Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone 5 to be released in the summer of 2011.
Currently, there are many pico-projectors competing for the huge potential embedded cell-phones on the market. However, to fit into the stringent requirements of a cell-phone, the projector module MUST satisfy the following characteristics:
- Small size : How small is small enough, dimension of 5 cc (cubic-centimeter) is demanded. After DGL (Direct–emitting Green laser), it can be achieved.
- Resolution : According to Apple CEO Steve Jobs, “Everything HD” is what he said when he introduced AppleTV during the Q3 conference call in 2010. Only Microvision has announced that it can do 720P for pico-projector and predict 1080P available in 2012.
- Battery life: PicoP can run on battery for up to 120 minutes. No other pico projector can match its performance.
- Heat dissipation : Since Microvision’s PicoP is using scanning Mirror, only one mirror is needed compared to DLP’s technology which requires a mirror for each pixel. Due to the architectural difference, the laser is on/off for PicoP while DLP needs laser to be on all the time. Obviously PicoP is superior to DLP.
- Color gamut : Only laser-based light source can reach over 90% of color gamut. Apple always ask for the best.
- Always in Focus : Due to the characteristics of laser beam, there is no need for additional control button. "Simplicity" is the design rule for Apple's electronic product.
Looking back to the history of HDTV development, initially DLP and LCOS technologies dominated the market due to cost advantage. However, once the cost is not an issue, also the size/image quality/power consumption all improve a lot along the way, LCD/LED HDTV becomes the mainstream. It's very likely pico-projector will follow the similar path.
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