LG has announced a flexible 5-inch OLED display suitable for smartphones. It will unveil the "unbreakable" screen this week at the SID's Display Week 2013 in Vancouver, Canada.
"For the first time to the public, the company will unveil an unbreakable and flexible 5- inch plastic OLED panel for mobile devices. The development comes at a crucial time when smart devices are being used more than ever and at increased risk for damage from drops, hits, and other accidents," LG wrote in a press release.
A flexible 5-inch display is the perfect size for smartphones, and it's likely the tech can be sized up a bit for tablets. No word on a size limit, yet, so we'll see if there's a market for flexible flat screen TVs.
Depending on the thickness and features of this new flexible display tech, it could be perfect for large, wall-sized screens that can be rolled up and put away. Or many surfaces could end up coated in resilient OLED displays with touch interactivity.
"Recent trends indicate that the small- and medium-sized display market is moving towards high resolution and low power consumption, and the large panel market to OLED and Ultra HD," said Dr. Sang-Deok Yeo, CTO and Executive Vice President of LG Display. "With the resulting rapid need for new display advancements, LG Display, at the forefront of these trends, is well positioned to lead the market with its differentiated and cutting-edge technologies."
LG has plenty of other screen technologies on display this week. Consumers can take a look at the 55-inch curved OLED television, as well a quadruple-HD laptop panel with a 2560x1440 resolution.
In addition to the flexible display, LG is showcasing rigid 5-inch and 7-inch TFT LCD displays that are thinner than typical displays and use less power. Speculation about flexible displays had previously centered on plastic TFTs, though that could still be a possibility in the future.