Systems and methods are provided for supporting an external display on a portable device. A system on a chip (SOC) of the portable device provides a first set of graphics data to a graphics controller. The embedded graphics controller renders the first set of graphics data for output using an LCD screen integrated with the portable device. The SOC renders a second set of graphics data and provides rendered graphics data to an external display interface. The external display interface formats the rendered graphics data for output on an external, remote display.