Iljin Display, a South Korean, company developed a small laser video projector module that can fit into portable gadgets like mobile phone or digital cameras.

Iljin Display demonstrated various prototypes of mini-size projectors, which use its Single LCD Panel technology. Using the technology, users can project photos and video images on the wall from the built-in projector, making a seven-inch, full-color screen. The smallest of the demonstrated prototypes was about the size of a packet of cigarettes, and the company explained that it could be reduced to the size of a matchbox by the end of the year. The LCD panel itself is only 0.24-inch wide, which can easily fit into mobile phones.

Traditional projectors contain three separate LCD glass panels, one each for the red, green, and blue components of the video signal. But Iljin's new technology reduced it to a single panel, by switching the light signal between three colors within one millisecond. Though the projected images continually change between the three base colors, human eyes only recognize them as one natural-color image as the speed they change is so fast.

„About a half of mobile phones sold these days are equipped with a digital camera. In the future we expect many mobile phones will have built-in projectors too", said Park Seung-gwon, CEO of Iljin Display.

The first phones from Samsung and LG sporting this functionality will probably be released next April.