SAN FRANCISCO—Qualcomm continues to gain traction with its ultra-low power display technology, mirasol, with two mobile device manufacturers signing up to use it in a waterproof MP3 player and headphones with an integrated music player.
Qualcomm already has design wins to use mirasol on phones, with Taiwanese manufacturers Hisense and Cal-Comp Electronics. And Taiwan’s Foxlink and Qualcomm will build a fabrication plant in Taiwan to manufacture the next-generation mirasol displays, scheduled to open next year.
The design wins announced at the CTIA Wireless I.T. and Entertainment show are with Freestyle Audio to use mirasol in a waterproof MP3 player with a color screen and with Skullcandy to use color mirasol displays in future headphones with integrated music players.
Mirasol uses microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology for displays. MEMS uses reflected light rather than back light for screen illumination, greatly cutting down on power consumption. Qualcomm said traditional phone screens consumer as much as three-fourths of the total power used by handsets.
