u/Green-Following-6294

This is something I've been thinking about for a while and wanted to discuss here.

The common answer when you ask why E Ink tablets are expensive:

"Niche market. Innovation costs money. Premium product."

Partially true. But there's a bigger, less-discussed structural reason most people don't know about.

E Ink Holdings has a near-monopoly.

E Ink Holdings (a Taiwanese company) owns 2,000+ patents on electrophoretic display technology. Every manufacturer — Kindle, reMarkable, Kobo, Onyx Boox — pays royalties to E Ink on every device sold.

Those royalties significantly inflate the price you pay.

Here is the Rough breakdown (estimated):-

Current situation:-

· E Ink panel (with heavy royalties): ~$60-100 (₹5K-8K)

· Other hardware: ~$80-100 (₹6.5K-8K)

· Manufacturing: ~$20 (₹1.6K)

· Company margin: ~$40-60 (₹3K-5K)

· Final price: $300-500 (₹25K-42K)

If royalties dropped to standard industry rates (3-5%):-

· E Ink panel (reduced): ~$30-40 (₹2.5K-3.3K)

· Everything else: same

· Estimated final price: $150-200 (₹12K-16K)

That gap is paid by you, the consumer, every time.

Is there an alternative?

Yes — DES (Display Electronic Slurry), developed by Good Display (China). A fundamentally different e-paper approach that doesn't rely on E Ink's microcapsule method.

It could potentially challenge this monopoly. But it's been in development for 8+ years and still isn't mainstream — because navigating 2,000+ patents is slow, expensive, and legally risky even for well-funded companies.

What I'm not saying:-

· E Ink is doing anything illegal (they're not)

· Patents are inherently bad (they're not)

What I am saying:-

· A significant portion of what you pay goes to royalties, not hardware

· Limited competition = limited price pressure

· Most consumers don't know this structure exists

Questions for discussion:-

· Did you know about E Ink's patent situation before this?

· Would you buy an E Ink tablet at $150-200 (₹12K-16K)?

· Do you think DES will eventually challenge this?

Happy to discuss further.

I have tried every step gemini tells from basic to advanced but the sync of all not happening in my same browser cross platform and even android to android. Why? Are you facing this too? I want to know why and how to fix it if it can be fixed?

I want to gift a chromebook to my sibling, who is 12 years old. So, I want to know if chromebooks are sufficient for him and before going to college? Or should I go for windows and even should I use linux then on it?

I want live experience from chromebook users.

I am thinking of buying a snapdragon windows laptop because of its excellent battery life and performance even without a plug in.

But I want customisation and openness, flexibility and no lock in that is why I love linux and thinking to install linux on it after buying but as I know that linux distros was built for x86 architecture not ARM, that is why I am wondering that if it works in that laptop.

So, please if anybody has any experience based on it, then share with me.

I want to know as we have experienced drawing in laptop via input devices, installing drivers in computers which has Intel/AMD with x86-64bit architecture. So, I want to know if drawing tablet drivers works reliably in snapdragon laptops too? If no then how much and if yes, then how much?

I want to know because I want to purchase a windows laptop which has better battery life so I am thinking of buying snapdragon based but I have to do drawing too, that is why I am holding myself before going to purchase.

I want real lived experiences. If someone has experienced with snapdragon laptops please let me know.

Hey, I just heard in global news that wired earphones are becoming popular again and wireless ones are less prioritized gradually, is that correct or misinformation because 'firstpost' (news channel on YouTube) already uploaded a video on it.

So, I want to know if wired is becoming popular and mainstream again then why and if wireless ones are less prioritized by people then by whom and why?

What do you prefer wireless or wired? Me- wired any day.

OnePlus is making great flagship tablets since the OnePlus pad and promoting them as iPad killer and also galaxy killer. I really appreciate that they are giving such high specs and a great oxygen OS experience in their tablets with long term updates too!

But I have a question and also worry about the OnePlus future or in general chinese tablets which is their stylus (Oneplus called it stylo) the nib availability is their weakest point, they do not have the same long term nib availability like apple or samsung while they show the different use cases & greatness of their stylo.

I think OnePlus should use EMR digitizer instead of proprietary and also use EMR pen (like S pen) using standard nib design for long term nib compatibility and confidence otherwise this is like a high end car with an affordable or aggressive price points want to compete with rivals and also consumers love it because they are getting value for their money but it lacks the long term reliability issue for their aesthetic customers (pen first users) which care about reliability, longetivity, repair parts (nibs) available everywhere online & offline.

Iqoo should make their tablets, right?

Iqoo should make their own tablets too like Oppo and Oneplus, xiaomi & redmi, right?

Who is stopping them from making iqoo pads or iqoo tabs globally?

What is your opinion on this? Should iqoo not expand their product lineup, only stuck in smartphone only brands forever?

Vivo should make their own tablets too like Oppo and Oneplus, xiaomi & redmi, right?

Who is stopping them from making vivo pads or vivo tabs globally?

What is your opinion on this? Should vivo not expand their product lineup, only stuck in smartphone only brands forever?

OnePlus is making great flagship tablets since the OnePlus pad and promoting them as iPad killer and also galaxy killer. I really appreciate that they are giving such high specs and a great oxygen OS experience in their tablets with long term updates too!

But I have a question and also worry about the OnePlus future or in general chinese tablets which is their stylus (Oneplus called it stylo) the nib availability is their weakest point, they do not have the same long term nib availability like apple or samsung while they show the different use cases & greatness of their stylo.

I think OnePlus should use EMR digitizer instead of proprietary and also use EMR pen (like S pen) using standard nib design for long term nib compatibility and confidence otherwise this is like a high end car with an affordable or aggressive price points want to compete with rivals and also consumers love it because they are getting value for their money but it lacks the long term reliability issue for their aesthetic customers (pen first users) which care about reliability, longetivity, repair parts (nibs) available everywhere online & offline.

Can I ask an Indian specific question related to xiaomi? Can I ask for another country's xiaomi products too?

Or only xiaomi global products are the only discussion topics?

Do you not think that without a stylus a tablet is just 50% of the experience no matter how much great specs it has? For a complete tablet experience users must consider styluses too.

I have seen so many e-paper tablets (writing one) but they are so pricey + color e-ink display unnecessary for my use case which is just reading & writing.

Later I noticed that Huion has an e-paper tablet too which has a digitizer (for writing) but I got to know that Huion is mainly a drawing tablet brand not a traditional e-paper tablet brand like remarkable, Kindle, Boox etc.

The device by huion I am talking about is Huion kamvas e-ink tablet model EB1011. As I have seen it's specs are very good from e-paper pov and also this is around 40k inr (usd 400) in India. So should I get that for my reading and writing purpose. Is it still good even though Huion is primarily a drawing tablet brand? Please help me

I have seen so many e-paper tablets (writing one) but they are so pricey + color e-ink display unnecessary for my use case which is just reading & writing.

Later I noticed that Huion has an e-paper tablet too which has a digitizer (for writing) but I got to know that Huion is mainly a drawing tablet brand not a traditional e-paper tablet brand like remarkable, Kindle, Boox etc.

The device by huion I am talking about is Huion kamvas e-ink tablet model EB1011. As I have seen it's specs are very good from e-paper pov and also this is around 40k inr (usd 400) in India. So should I get that for my reading and writing purpose. Is it still good even though Huion is primarily a drawing tablet brand? Please help me