A transflective display is a type of LCD that combines transmissive and reflective technologies. This unique combination allows a transflective display to be readable under direct sunlight or in low light conditions, which is a significant advantage over standard LCDs.
Transflective displays have dual-mode functionality, i.e., they can operate in both transmissive and reflective modes. Under bright light or sunlight, they reflect the ambient light to make the screen visible (reflective mode). In low light or darkness, they use a backlight for visibility (transmissive mode). The primary advantage of transflective displays is their excellent visibility in various environments, where traditional LCDs often struggle.
Transflective displays have high energy efficiency. In bright conditions, transflective displays can rely on natural light instead of high-brightness backlight to show content, reducing the total power consumption. This makes transflective displays more energy-efficient compared to purely transmissive displays.
Transflective displays have similar stackup structure compared to regular LCD panels. The liquid crystal material which modulates light to produce images, the polarizes on both sides to control the direction of light, and the color filters and electronics to generate actual colors and control the pixels. The difference is that transflective displays use the backlight unit to illuminate the display in transmissive mode, while they use a reflective layer to reflects ambient light in reflective mode.
Several companies have been involved in the manufacture of transflective displays, though the market is not as extensive as that for standard LCDs. Some known manufacturers other than BOE include Sharp, NEC, Sony and Hitachi.
Nowadays transflective displays still hold a niche due to their unique properties, especially in devices requiring outdoor visibility, like GPS devices, outdoor kiosks, and certain smartphones and laptops.
