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E Ink Develops New Color E-Paper Display

Don't expect Amazon to use this Print-Color display in a new Kindle any time soon, but we could see Print-Color eReaders in some form by mid-2020.

 & Matthew Humphries Former Senior Editor

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Color eReaders are still not a thing, but E Ink continues to develop its technology and is now ready to unveil its new color e-paper display. It's called Print-Color.

As Liliputing reports, Print-Color retains all the advantages of E Ink's previous e-paper technology, meaning it only uses power when refreshing the screen, requires no backlight, and can be easily seen outdoors. However, it builds on those features with the ability to display black, white, red, green, and blue colors. It can also combine the colors allowing it to perform like a full color screen.

Here's the Print-Color display in action:

This new display technology certainly has the potential to revolutionize eReaders as full color devices, but E Ink is initially targeting business, retail, and educational use cases.

We don't know how much Print Color displays cost, but it's surely going to carry a premium over the non-color E Ink panels, at least initially. Whether we get consumer color eReaders will ultimately depend on how big that premium is.

There's also a question mark over how useful or popular color eReader devices would prove with consumers. Amazon's Kindle is very popular because it allows you to carry around hundreds of books and read them off a paper-like display. A color version would do the same, but would enhance other works, for example, digital comics. Is that enough to get consumers to pay more and switch?

This isn't the first time E Ink has develoed a full color e-paper solution, the company produced a 20-inch Advanced Color ePaper (ACeP) back in 2016.

About Our Expert

Matthew Humphries

Matthew Humphries

Former Senior Editor

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I started working at PCMag in November 2016, covering all areas of technology and video game news. Before that I spent nearly 15 years working at Geek.com as a writer and editor. I also spent the first six years after leaving university as a professional game designer working with Disney, Games Workshop, 20th Century Fox, and Vivendi.

I hold two degrees: a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science and a Master's degree in Games Development. My first book, Make Your Own Pixel Art, is available from all good book shops.

My Areas of Expertise

  • PC components and system building
  • Raspberry Pi
  • Software development
  • Storage technology
  • Video games and gaming hardware

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