A friend and I have had somewhat concrete plans for a Linux (Pine64 SOPINE SoM) based e-Ink tablet for a while, but aren't as involved in supply chain stuff. Are the prices you get for orders of new screens in the same ball park as the old Kindle DX display stock? Are my fears that supply will dry up soon (in part due to new popularity) unfounded?
I've been trying to do some E-Ink stuff lately and prices seem to get higher the bigger you go and then drop off. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places, but my experience is something like:
Huh, the display I'm referring to seems to be less well known than I had thought. At the risk of accelerating its popularity gain: I'm talking about the 9.7" ED097OC1, which costs about 30$. (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33007519185.html).
Sure, you can get a few, but can you get them at this price at volume or will the supply instantly dry up? Are these so cheap because it's old stock, someone got their hands on beyond life span production equipment, there's some special licensing deal with E-Ink ... ? If the price was sustainable, wouldn't everyone use this display? Or is this price what OEMs actually pay for E-Ink displays (seems unlikely)?
ED97 Looks like an ancient Vizplex panel. I would guess 2010s timeframe. Probably fine. Newer EPD controllers are still backward compatible I think.
> Or is this price what OEMs actually pay for E-Ink displays
E Ink is a niche market. In the display industry, anything below 2 million displays per quarter would be considered niche. Amazon is likely the only player in this market that can reach that kind of volume. Their volume is not high enough to justify scaling up a real high volume factory. From what I've heard, E Ink repurposes existing LCD production lines.
