By Warren Miller, contributing writer

It seems as if all forms of consumer electronics are evolving into multimedia platforms from phones and MP3 players to home digital assistants and smart TVs. Obviously, electronic displays are essential to any multimedia experience. Here are five of the biggest trends in commercial technology currently affecting the display market, according to a report by the Society for Information Display (SID) .

AI and machine learning

Getting back to digital assistants for the home and/or office, AI and machine-learning tech is one of the most rapidly growing markets in consumer electronics. Most of the world’s biggest tech conglomerates have made forays into this sector, with giants like Amazon and Google leading the way. Amazon’s newest iteration of its digital assistant, the Echo Show, is capable of streaming TV shows, making video calls via Skype or other similar applications, and even displaying digital photos. Streaming video seems to be an integral component of all commercial electronic devices, both now and in the future.

Image source: Pixabay.

Virtual and augmented reality systems

Virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR, respectively) systems are another swiftly expanding area in consumer electronics, requiring the most detailed and vivid displays to create a world for their users to not only see but experience. Not just limited to gaming, VR and AR provides opportunities to take virtual tours of potential real estate purchases or virtual test drives of automobiles.

Self-service stations

Interactive self-service stations and kiosks are also becoming ubiquitous at airports, shopping centers, and hotels. Video displays and touchscreens guide users through procedures that no longer require human interaction — the proliferation of this kind of automation seems inevitable, so much so that it doesn’t seem far-fetched to check in and out of a hotel without ever encountering a living, breathing employee in the near future.

Automotive displays

Displays are being incorporated more frequently into automobiles, both of the autonomous and more traditional variety. Family-sized vans and SUVs with video displays in the rear sections, ostensibly for kids to zone out and watch movies/TV while their parents enjoy some merciful downtime, have been available for years. Now automotive manufacturers are incorporating video displays into center consoles and dashboards, possibly acknowledging that the future of autonomous driving will necessarily include mechanisms to divert the attention of passengers while they sit back and let the cars do the work.

Electronic schoolbooks

Education is another realm in which video displays, be they on laptops, tablets, or electronic readers, are being more commonly incorporated. China has been at the forefront of using electronic textbooks, or eSchoolbooks, in educational environments. Although there’s some debate over whether staring into a digital display could be harmful to the developing eyes of young children, the “flat” backgrounds offered by eReaders like the Amazon Kindle may provide a solution. Digital writing surfaces are also being used more frequently to teach art and design because they provide a more portable and sustainable alternative to more traditional materials.

It doesn’t take an explosion of imagination to foresee a future in which almost everything powered by electricity, be it a home appliance, a piece of wearable technology, or even a child’s toy, will incorporate a video display. As all consumer electronics move closer and closer to becoming immersive multimedia platforms, digital displays will be in anything and everything.