Chinese e-ink manufacturer Dasung just launched the Paperlike 103, a 10.3-inch e-ink display that boasts a 60 Hz refresh rate, lifting e-ink screens to par with many LED screens on the market in terms of refresh rate. According to Chinese tech outlet Sina (machine translated), this new portable device offers a 1,874 x 1,404 pixels resolution, giving it a 4:3 aspect ratio which is great for productivity tasks like reading and typing. It also sports a front light with adjustable brightness and color temperature, helping you avoid eyestrain when looking at the screen for extended periods.
Dasung has been working on other fast-refresh e-ink displays and monitors, and it has already introduced a 25.3-inch curved black and white e-ink screen with a resolution of 3,200 x 1,800 pixels. Aside from that, it was the first in the world to offer a color e-ink monitor, back in 2023, and it also started offering a 12-inch portable color e-ink touchscreen monitor in the U.S. last year.
However, these displays usually only had refresh rates of around 30 Hz to 40 Hz, which can make using them feel less responsive, especially if you’re used to higher refresh rates. The introduction of the Paperlike 103 will hopefully solve this issue, as its 60 Hz refresh rate is the standard that most ordinary LED TVs use today.
This might not sound like much of an achievement, especially as many affordable portable devices now use 90 Hz and 120 Hz displays, and high-end gaming monitors and TVs can already reach refresh rates of 360 Hz or more without outlandish prices attached. But you should note that these emissive displays that can cause optical stress and suck far more power.
In contrast, e-ink displays use so much less power, and they can even retain the last viewed information on the screen without power. Furthermore, these screens are not backlit or light emissive, meaning you need ambient light to see them. While some may consider that a disadvantage, those who are used to staring at a screen for several hours daily might consider this a godsend.
Despite these advancements, e-ink screens are still way behind LED (or even CRT) display technology when it comes to color accuracy, HDR, and several other features. However, the introduction of 60 Hz refresh rates should go a long way towards making e-ink more useful for productivity use — like writing or working with spreadsheets — alongside its more common application in e-readers.
