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Consumers throughout the world are rapidly adopting mobile consumer electronics devices such as wireless handsets, personal media players, portable gaming devices and digital still cameras. In 2008, analysts forecast over 1.2 billion wireless handsets will be sold, making them the most widely adopted mobile devices today. Similarly, the number of personal media and MP3 players sold annually has continued to increase, with over 240 million units forecast for 2008.

Growth in unit shipments of mobile devices is driven primarily by two factors: new users and the replacement of current devices by existing users. To attract new users and to cultivate the replacement cycle, mobile device manufacturers must continue to frequently introduce new products with innovative technologies and applications.

While early wireless handset models were primarily used for voice communication and early media players focused almost exclusively on music playback, usage patterns have shifted rapidly to include visually oriented data- and content-driven applications. Such applications require high resolution, rich-color displays. These newer applications, including mobile TV, MP4 playback, and enhanced gaming, drive increased use of the graphics processor and display, with the result being higher power consumption and shorter battery life. Thus far, the evolution of battery technology has not kept pace with these power requirements.

With an increasing number of mobile device models available to consumers, manufacturers have realized that display quality has significant potential to differentiate their product from competing devices. However, they also understand that even with the best looking display, the user experience will be severely compromised if the device must be recharged too frequently. Therefore, the market demand for semiconductor solutions with lower power consumption is anticipated to remain strong.

Leadis is committed to developing analog and mixed signal semiconductor solutions that provide an optimized balance of high performance and low power. Our proprietary display drivers are highly integrated, customized, analog-intensive system-on-chip solutions engineered to enable rich, vivid, high-contrast video images. With the introduction of our PowerLite™ line of LCD driver ICs, we’re taking power savings to the next level with an embedded dynamic backlight control algorithm that saves up to 50% of display module power compared with standard solutions.

Leadis’ LED driver solutions work in concert with our PowerLite™ display drivers to provide “just enough” current to optimally illuminate the display, thereby saving precious battery power. Our 1.33x line of LED drivers increases efficiency further with the incorporation of an additional 1.33x pump mode that operates between the traditional 1x and 1.5x modes. When 1x mode becomes insufficient to drive the LED, 1.33x mode is invoked in place of 1.5x, resulting in less energy loss and battery life extension up to an additional 10%.

Finally, our audio solutions introduce new patent-pending amplifier technology to the portable market, enabling best-in-class sound quality while reducing power consumption by over 60% versus comparable devices. Additional benefits include decreased external parts count, elimination of large and costly DC blocking capacitors, and a smaller solution footprint. With the proliferation of our feature-differentiated, power-optimized analog and mixed-signal semiconductor portfolio, Leadis is continuing to demonstrate our dedication to empowering our mobile and consumer electronics customers with best-in-class solutions enabling meaningful end-product differentiation.