LG Display announced on Oct. 7 it has already completed the development of flexible AM OLED (active matrix organic light emitting diodes) display panels for smartphones and has begun to mass-produce the latest technology.
“LG Display is launching a new era of flexible displays for smartphones with its industry-leading technology,” said Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer Dr. Yeo Sang-deog of LG Display. “The flexible display market is expected to grow quickly as this technology is expected to expand further into diverse applications including automotive displays, tablets, and wearable devices. Our goal is to take an early lead in the flexible display market by introducing new products with enhanced performance and differentiated designs next year.”
LG Display’s flexible OLED panel is built on plastic substrates instead of glass. By applying film-type encapsulation technology and attaching the protection film to the back of the panel, LG Display made the panel bendable and unbreakable. The new display is vertically concave from top to bottom with a radius of 700 mm, opening up a world of design innovations in the smartphone market. At only 0.44 mm thin, LG Display’s flexible OLED panel is the world’s slimmest among existing mobile device panels. What’s more, it is also the world’s lightest, weighing a mere 7.2 g even with a 6-inch screen, the largest among current smartphone OLED displays.
In March 2012, LG Display developed the world’s first 6-inch Electronic Paper Display (EPD) based on e-ink, which utilizes a plastic backplane. Having previously showcased the world’s first curved 55-inch OLED TV panel at CES 2013, today’s announcement highlights the company’s leading position in advanced flexible display technologies.
According to research firm IHS Display Bank, the global flexible display industry will see dramatic growth and become a $1.5 billion market by 2016, exceeding $10 billion by 2019. LG Display plans to advance flexible display technologies and bring innovation to consumers’ daily lives with the introduction of rollable and foldable displays in various sizes.
The latest display panel, which adopts plastic TFF and film-type encapsulation, can be bent easily by attaching a protective film on it instead of glass, but it can also endure outside shock. Its thickness is one-third of glass ones and it weighs as little as 7.2 g.
LG Display CTO Yeo said, “With the unveiling of the flexible OLED display panel, LG Display has proved its technological prowess once again. We’re going to disclose flexible OLED products with reinforced functions and design.” He went on to say that the flexible display market and technology now are in an early stage, but the segment will likely be expanded to cover interior displays for automobiles, essentially for ensuring safety, tablet PCs, and watch smartphones as well as other mobile gadgets in a short time.
In the meantime, Samsung Electronics is expected to release smartphones fitted with flexible display panels soon.
World’s First Intel2®WiDi Enabled LCD Panel for Monitors
LG Display, the world’s leading innovator of display technologies, has developed the world’s first LCD panel for monitors featuring the Intel2® Wireless Display (WiDi) technology in collaboration with Intel Corporation.
This new 23.8-inch LCD panel is the latest improvement that allows users to stream wirelessly their laptop and desktop content to their TVs and monitors in a more seamless manner. LG Display succeeded in developing a panel that provides the Intel2® WiDi solution by building a key chipset directly into the LCD module.
With this cutting-edge LCD panel embedded with the Intel2® WiDi solution, LG Display enables users to enjoy quality images with an easy and convenient access to Intel2® WiDi technology without the use of additional devices, as well as facilitate OEMs and monitor makers nimbly and cost-effectively to adopt this advanced technology.
“LG Display’s latest development brings us closer to the N-Screen era,” said Kim Sang-yeol, vice president of LG Display’s IT and Mobile Product Planning Division. “Through our close collaboration with Intel Corporation, we look forward to pioneering the age of wireless devices with our global partners.” LG Display’s 23.8-inch Intel2® WiDi solution-enabled LCD panel debuted at the 2013 Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco.
