Intel claims it can cut display battery use in half with new tech

At Computex today, Intel made a brief but potentially momentous announcement: it’s developed new power management technology for mobile displays that can cut battery consumption in half under some circumstances. The company didn’t go into the details of how its Intel Low Power Display Technology works, but it’s a combined effort with Sharp and Innolux, who are manufacturing the 1W LCD panel required for it. Sadly, you wouldn’t be able to retrofit this battery life extender into your existing laptop. Another requirement is that you’d have to use Intel’s graphics instead of Nvidia or AMD’s superior alternatives.

Even with the inevitable caveats, and without assuming that this will magically double the battery life of your future laptop or 2-in-1, this new technology is exciting. Intel rightly points out that the display is the biggest battery drain on any mobile device, so figuring out ways to improve its power efficiency is always a welcome change. Now it’s just a matter of waiting to see exactly how big of an improvement this is in practice with real-world devices.

Intel brought a Dell XPS 13 that’s got one of the new low-power displays fitted to it, and the claimed improvement in battery life for that laptop is between four and eight hours.

Photo by Vlad Savov / The Verge