Sharp said Monday it has started production of 5-inch full-HD (1,080 x 1,920 pixels, 443 ppi) LCD panels for smartphones with a pixel density among the highest in the world. Production began at the end of September at Mie Plant No. 3 and full-scale production will begin this week, the Japanese company said.

This LCD panel employs CG-Silicon technology, a new pixel design, and a new production process to achieve the same number of pixels in a smartphone-size screen as there are in a full-HD LCD TV. Developed jointly by Sharp and Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd., CG-silicon is a variant of the LTPS process using laser annealing to get larger domains. The process allow the development of high resolution, small formats panels with far fewer layers so that manufacturability and yield surpass those of the LTPS processes.

The new panel has approximately 1.3 times the pixel density of Sharp's currently available 4.3-inch HD LCD (1,280 x 720 pixels, 342 ppi.)

Sharp is among the suppliers of the 4-inch LTPS, IPS touch-panel display of Apple's iPhone 5 smartphone. Analysts had blamed a shortfall in supplies of display for Apple with too few iPhones to meet high demand at its launch this month. However, Sharp claims that it makes adequate volumes of such displays, meaning that the company has achieved high yields.

Apple also buys screens from Japan Display and Korea's LG Display.