Turns Out We're Now Using Swarovski Crystal for Infotainment Displays

However, it doesn't all have to come down to Alcantara and plush. Continental joined this year's CES with something that will probably catch the attention of every Richie Rich quite fast. The company worked with Swarovski for a one-of-a-kind display that includes both a luxurious design and state-of-the-art hardware.

Before delving into details, let me tell you one thing. As a tech enthusiast, I think Continental's idea is fabulous. It mixes microLED technology, whose adoption is rapidly improving in the tech world, with a crystal display. The result is glorious, and while I admit that teaming up with Swarovski sounds great from a marketing perspective, it's pretty much the only way Continental could bring this concept to life.

Here's everything you must know about Continental's idea.

As a leading auto parts manufacturer, Continental is no stranger to innovative technology. This latest project, called Crystal Center Display, started from a simple idea: the company wanted to create a premium semi-transparent display that makes the content on the screen look like it's floating.

Make no mistake, this isn't a transparent screen. The tech world hasn't yet reached the point where transparent panels can become mainstream, and Continental apparently acknowledged the existing limitations. It's why it decided to settle with a semi-transparent display.

Continental says it wanted to turn the display into an "innovative focal point for premium vehicles of the future," so after deciding which way to go, it had to pick the right recipe to make it happen. Swarovski was the obvious choice because it checks all the essential boxes from a premium perspective.

Swarovski joined the project and contributed to the Crystal Center Display with a crystal housing for the 10-inch panel. Designed by Swarovski Mobility, the composed crystal body offers a partial see-through look that helps Continental achieve its goal of semi-transparency on the dashboard.

Now that the design part of the project was ready, Continental had to take care of the hardware. The choice isn't surprising, and if you're a tech-savvy person, you can already guess what the company did next.

Continental used a microLED panel "suspended" into the crystal body. The goal was to make the content look like it's floating – I think that's wishful thinking, and while I didn't see the concept in person, the semi-transparent (or semi-opaque, as it depends on how you look at the project) body doesn't completely eliminate its edges (which in turns still makes the housing easily noticeable).

However, the display still looks out of this world, and the microLED is a great choice for a high-quality piece of technology. If you wonder who else uses microLED in the tech world, here's a little rumor that's been swirling around for nearly a year. Apple wants to go all-in on microLED displays, with the Apple Watch expected to adopt them in 2025.

microLED panels are more efficient than any other display technology while also offering more vivid colors, improved brightness, and better contrast. Overall, a microLED display feels more "alive" than the existing alternatives, and it's why premium device makers choose the technology for their future models.

As you can see, the common bit in the adoption of microLED is premium, and Continental was seeking the same objective when choosing the technology for the Crystal Center Display.

The big question is who will adopt Continental's idea on a production model. Continental's solution won't be cheap, and the company says from the very beginning that its objective is to release it to premium carmakers (I know, you're probably tired of hearing premium over and over again, but Continental wants to make it clear that it's not building this display for "any" car).

Offering a luxury interior has been the primary focus of many carmakers, and while Continental didn't share any names, you can already guess that the likes of Rolls Royce, Bentley, and probably others are the obvious targets of the display produced in collaboration with Swarovski.

While the microLED panel is a great choice from a tech perspective, a 10-inch display isn't necessarily a major selling point. The car industry seems to be more focused on large displays, sometimes turning the entire dashboard into a screen, so Continental might be onto something here, though it might not check all the essential boxes. The company says it wants the Crystal Center Display to be part of future luxurious models, but you don't have to be a rocket scientist to guess that the next-generation cars, be they luxurious or not, will bet big on gigantic displays.

Time will tell if Continental is chasing the right idea with this Swarovski collaboration, but you can enjoy an early version of the display in real life at this year's CES. As for the production model, that's still uncertain. Continental is likely to share more details when the first carmaker adopts its idea.