Sony explain why new PS Vita uses LCD not OLED screen

There’s a new PS Vita gaming handheld on the way from Sony. Set to be cheaper and lighter, it’s got those two marketing check boxes ticked off – essential when touting new tech.

However, not every point on the new Vita’s spec sheet sounds like an improvement though. Most notably, the 2013 PS Vita will be ditching the original’s luscious OLED display in favour of inferior LCD technology. Why?

“The main reason is that the LCD panel can now realise an image quality as high as that of the OLED panel,” Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Andrew House told Nikkei Electronics.

Hmm. Though LCD tech has come on leaps and bounds of late, we’d still argue that OLED has the edge. Contrast levels and viewing angles, as well as colour vibrancy still seem miles ahead on OLED, hence why so many premium smartphones employ them.

House went on to explain that the use of LCD panels makes it easier to shrink the overall thickness of the Vita by 25%.

As you’d expect of course, the main reason for the swap however is likely financial – the yield rate from LCD manufacturing is still higher than that of OLED, with the PS Vita’s OLED touch display particularly prone to failure at the manufacturing stage. The use of LCD results in less waste, and less waste saves money, ultimately bringing the Vita’s cost down for everyone.

Hitting Japanese stores on October 10, the new-look PS Vita doesn’t have an international launch date yet. Considering how hard Sony are looking to push the Vita as a companion product to the PS4, we’d say it’s only a matter of time before worldwide release dates are revealed.