Color

Kobo launched two e-Readers, both of which use E Ink's latest Kaleido 3 color displays. First up is the Kobo Libra Colour, with its 7" color 1264x1680 E Ink Kaleido 3 touchscreen (300 PPI in monochrome, 150 PPI in color). The Libra Colour offers a Dual-Core 2 Ghz chipset, Kobo Stylus 2 support ($69.99 extra), physical page turn buttons and IPX8 waterproofing. The Kobo Libra Color will ship by the end of April 2024, for $219.99.

The Kobo Clara Colour eReader offers a 6" E Ink 1448 x 1072 Kaleido 3 display (300 PPI in monochrome, 150 PPI in color), a Dual-Core 2.0 Ghz chipset and IPX8 waterproofing. The Kobo Clara Colour eReaderw will ship by end of April 2024 for $149.99.

E Ink announced a new collaboration with Hitachi to achieve digital transformation and paperless operations in Hitachi's manufacturing sites at Omika Works. Hitachi deployed eNote devices, developed by E Ink's subsidiary, Linfiny Japan Inc., on Hitachi's IoT platform.  The eNote devices use 13.3" E Ink Kaleido 3 flexible and durable color ePaper displays.

One of Hitachi's most difficult challenges was to reudce paper media. Hitachi says that E Ink's ePaper solutions are very suitable for on-site work and would enable a smooth transition to digitalization without conventional work methods needing to be changed. 

BMW has unviled a new concept car, the BMW i5 Flow NOSTOKANA, that is covered with E Ink Prism 3 panels - and which pays a tribute to the 1991 Esther Mahlangu Art Car. 

Directly inspired by the South African artist Esther Mahlangu, the BMW i5 Flow NOSTOKANA has 1,349 E Ink Prism 3 segments that can be individually controlled.

Smartphone maker Infinix showcased the E-Color Shift, a smartphone rear panel that is covered with E Ink Prism 3 panels that enables users to change (the maintain) the colors of the cover.

Infinix did not yet disclose whether it aims to commercialize such technology in the future.

PPDS launched a new E Ink signage display, the 31.5-inch (16:9) Philips Tableaux 5150I Series using E Ink Spectra 6. This product is the first one to adopt E Ink's new 31.5" Spectra 6 module. The Philips Tableaux 5150I can be used as a standalone solution or as part of a fleet of displays across multiple locations around the world, and can be managed manually, or remotely using third-party or PPDS’s inhouse software.

Due to E Ink’s unique image stability, the 32-inch 5150I model can display static imagery without drawing on any energy source, only requiring low power when content is being updated. Details on availability and pricing will be announced by PPDS in early 2024.

Earlier this year, E Ink announced a partnership with Sharp to bring ePaper posters to the market. Sharp and EIH has been collaborating for three years, and this is the first commercial step in that collaboration. Sharp released the first 42" monochrome E Ink displays (or e-posters as they call them) in the Japanese market in April 2023.

The two companies now announced that Sharp is also introducing color ePoster displays - the company will release 13.3" and 25.3" models in September and October 2023. 

E Ink launched a new generation of its full color Spectra ePaper display technology, called the E Ink Spectra 6. Targeting in-store advertising, indoor signage and paper sign replacements in general, the Specra 6 offers "a level of color saturation and vividness never before seen in a reflective display".

E Ink Spectra 6 offers a resolution (density) of 200 PPI, a contrast ratio of 30:1 and an operating range of 0-50 degrees Celsius. E Ink Spectra 6 will be offered in a variety of display sizes, and can create a partial image flashing effect, called E Ink Sparkle, which enhances the effect of advertising messages through motion.

E Ink recently launched its latest segmented display technology, E Ink Prism 3, which features dynamic color changing capabilities. As part of the launch of this new technology, BMW presented its latest concept, the i Vision DEE car, which is covered with Prism 3 panels:

The i Vision DEE is covered with 240 panels, capable of showing 32 colors according to BMW (a bit strange as E Ink says the Prism 3 offers a palette of 8 colors only). Anyway this is a pretty nice concept, that builds on BMW's iX Flow shown a year before and covered with similar panels, but with monochrome (grayscale) Prism panels.

In April 2022, E Ink announced its latest color ePaper display, the Gallery 3, targeting applications in eReaders and Notes devices. The Gallery 3 is based on E Ink's ACeP (Advanced Color ePaper) platform, where a full-color gamut is achieved through a four particle ink system: cyan, magenta, yellow and white. The displays offer fast refresh rates (350 ms for black and white, 500-1500 ms for color refresh), a substantial improvement over the first generation E Ink Gallery.

E Ink today announced that Gallery 3 has moved into mass production, with customer products from Bigme, BOOX, iFlyTek, iReader, PocketBook, Readmoo, and AOC coming down the pipeline in 2023 and beyond.

E Ink Holdings announced a partnership with Sharp Display Technology Corporation (SDTC) to adopt SDTC’s indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO*2) backplanes for ePaper modules using in eReader and eNote products.

E Ink and Sharp have been working together for two years to bring oxide TFTs for ePaper displays into the market. The two companies will demonstrate the first next-gen IGZO ePaper displays at CEATEC 2022 (October 18) - a 8" 300 PPI display that offers a refresh time of 0.35 seconds (monochrome) / 0.5-1.5 seconds (color).