E-paper: A new kind of display

• Features

• 15/10/2025

If you have been operating in the AV industry for a while you will be familiar with the uneasy truce that has been established between the three main forms of display technologies. LED, projection, and flat panel displays have reached a point where their benefits and deficiencies are clearly known. Any AV professional worth their salt is able to look at the requirements of an application and select the right option for the purpose of providing visuals.

Martijn van der Woude, who served as the VP of global marketing and business development at PPDS, talks about the somewhat uneasy equilibrium that exists in the market: “Displays have always been the cornerstone of visual experiences across spaces, be it workplaces or museums and even more so for modern attractions. The type of display is dictated by the experience. How you envision the space dictates the position of the display and to simplify matters this dictates what type of display you will deploy. Whether it is flat panels, projection mapping, or LED, they all have a part to play in creating experiences.”

State of display

Van der Woude goes into further details regarding the niches that the different display technologies have carved for themselves: “If you want to go big and wow audiences, then LED or projection mapping is the way to do it. The impact both can create is impressive and both enhance spaces in their own unique ways.”

LED in particular is suited to situations where you want to be bold and impactful. Projection mapping in general is able to better handle immersion, interaction, and applications where a subtle touch is required.

Van der Woude talks about how LED was able to claw market share away from incumbent display technologies: “With micro LED we have seen LED advance quite a lot. Add COB advancements to that and you have a product that has significantly evolved. LED used to be high price and highly positioned in the past. It was only suitable for very premium spaces or applications where the investment was possible. While LED today retains that premium feel, it is now within the reach of a wider set of applications due to the reduction in price made possible with technological advancements. And I foresee further price drops as we continue to improve the technology.”

Van der Woude continues discussing the intricacies of the market and the interplay between display technologies: “Flat panels are not really significantly affected by the rise of LED. Sure the market for flat panels has been impacted by the popularity of LED, but flat panels retain certain technological advantages. Picture quality for example continues to be improved when it comes to flat panels. But the real advantage they have in the market today is refresh rate. You can get 240 frames per second reliably with Philips’ flat panels and that kind of performance is hard to get from LED.”

He continues: “Projection has been impacted the most, but it still retains dominance in areas such as cinema. You need very good picture performance, and you also have audio to take into consideration. You need the right certifications and projection already possesses these. I think cinema will remain with projection for a while. And with new markets for cinema and entertainment opening up in places like the Middle East, I think it is too early to say that projection will be phased out.”

And so we circle back to the ‘uneasy truce’ we mentioned at the start of this article. Each of the three display technologies has its ‘strongholds’, applications that their technological characteristics are particularly suited to. And each of the three display technologies is continuing to improve and evolve to gain market share from the others.

This state of affairs can change drastically if a new contender arises. And a future with a fourth display technology is what was glimpsed at ISE 2025 with the introduction of new e-paper products. The big talking point from the show in Barcelona was the fact that e-paper displays had reached the 75-in size, opening up the possibility of signage applications. But we are jumping ahead in the narrative. If we are to consider whether e-paper could be a fourth competing display technology we have to seriously consider and evaluate the product vertical.

Enter e-paper

As with most technologies, it takes a consumer application to add a dash of feasibility and application. E-paper is most popularly known as the display technology that makes the Kindle, and other e-readers, possible. The benefits of e-paper can be gleaned simply by looking at what the display of the Kindle does well.

Legibility and readability, especially in black and white, are the strong suit of e-paper. Power efficiency of e-paper is also great, which means that the display technology scores high marks for sustainability and green outcomes. The downsides of e-paper can be similarly extrapolated. E-paper struggles with colour reproduction, and with video content.

Van der Woude chimes in: “There are two major challenges that need to be addressed if e-paper is to find traction in the wider market, especially in commercial applications. The first one is size. We need a wider variety of display sizes if e-paper is to be applicable to a variety of scenarios. And the second is colour. We need to be able to deliver more accurate colours.”

When it comes to the commercial realm, out of home advertising and signage applications seem to be the first stop in e-paper’s expansion plans. Taking into account the existence of analogue or paper-based advertising and signage that still exists, e-paper seems like a natural step towards digitisation. And with sustainability and green considerations coming to the fore, maybe e-paper can have a wider impact in digital signage and wayfinding applications.

Van der Woude says: “Take digital out of home applications, essentially advertising. The brands are paying to represent themselves. And brands would like to be represented accurately. When it comes to Coca-Cola not just any shade of red will do, it has to be the exact shade of red that is associated with the brand. When it comes to e-paper, we are not there yet.”

He continues: “We have started to see larger sizes of e-paper displays, and Philips has been keeping an eye on them, but we are not convinced. The larger sizes address one of the requirements of the market, but their performance is not up to scratch at the moment. You can use them in sunny environments and outdoors, but they cannot be used indoors. Since the display does not have its own lighting, they need to be in a well-lit environment.”

Van der Woude adds: “The idea of including edge-lighting has been floated around, but in my opinion it is not worth pursuing. One of the strongest value propositions of e-paper is the fact that it does not consume energy [while displaying a static image] making it very sustainable. Adding any form of extra lighting to the display directly counters this.”

What’s on the market

Manufacturers like PPDS, E Ink, and Samsung are at the forefront of e-paper development. Their products are looking to address the challenges with regards to performance that e-paper must surmount.

After ISE 2025, it is clear that the 75-in mark for e-paper display size has been achieved. The Samsung Color E-Paper EMDX models are available in 13-in to 75-in models. Similarly E Ink offers its Kaleido display in a 75-in model as well. The issues with sizing seem to be on their way to be resolved.

Which leaves us with the issue of colour. A lot of the 75-in models of e-paper displays making their way onto the market from different use a colour filter attached to the panels. This is not an elegant solution.

Speaking with PPDS revealed that the E Ink Gallery+ display is capable of handling CMYK colours. But due to it being used for notebooks, production capacity is fully utilised and panel sizes are limited. The E Ink Spectra 6 display can handle more than 60,000 colours but will take a few more years to get the Pantone Validated accreditation.

Colour reproduction is still a stumbling block for e-paper. As Van der Woude highlighted, to be seriously considered as a technology ready for signage applications the colour reproduction has to match the requirements and specifications of brands. Unless this can be achieved, e-paper will not be progressing from its current market share.

Further challenges

If we dream bigger, the ideal scenario for e-paper would be to make its mark in the digital signage realm and continue its march toward corporate, enterprise, education, and more. For the purpose of exploring the viability of e-paper in a wider range of commercial applications, we talked to a range of consultants from the Asia Pacific region which included Mradul Sharma from 3CDN.

E-paper does find its way into congress and workplace applications. Nametags for congress systems make use of e-paper displays as do certain room signage applications in workplace room booking systems. But in general, e-paper is not something that is being considered as a viable option for deployment when it comes to workplaces and wider commercial spaces.

Consultants from APAC report that sustainability considerations and green outcomes are becoming increasingly important. While clients are willing to invest dollars in pursuit of more sustainable systems, they are not willing to compromise on performance. E-paper displays might be extremely power efficient and environmentally friendly but the compromise on performance at the moment is not something clients are willing to absorb.

The real stumbling block for e-paper’s feasibility in the corporate and education sectors is video. As Gen Z and Gen Alpha are primed to become the majority of users their preference for video content is changing how visual systems are being conceived and deployed. Sharma from 3CDN in particular elaborates how content creation and dissemination is making corporate clients consider broadcast systems to fully own the process.

The preference for video essentially puts e-paper out of the conversation. Low refresh rates and the requirement for ambient light essentially mean that video is something that e-paper is unable to deliver to the quality expected by viewers at this moment in time.

E-paper definitely made an impact at ISE 2025 and the fact that we are having a conversation about it means that the technology is progressing. Manufacturers like PPDS, Samsung, and E Ink are cognisant of the challenges that must be overcome and the performance levels that must be hit for e-paper to become an actual contender in the display market. Now, it is a just a matter of figuring out how to get there.

Author's Note: Martijn van der Woude’s comments are drawn from an interview conducted by the author at ISE 2025. Following Martijn’s sudden passing in April 2025, and in consultation with PPDS, Inavate felt it was important to continue with this piece to honour his memory and his lasting contribution to the industry.