LG Shows Off Flexible OLED Prototype

LG Display and its U.S. partner Universal Display Corporation have cooked up improved flexible OLED screens for this year's SID exhibition, demonstrating rapid advances in the technology.

Although manufacturers like LG are gearing up to produce larger OLED sets in the distant future, it looks like the screens may be making more progress toward getting flexible than getting bigger. Partners Universal Display Corporation and LG Display Company announced Tuesday that they would be demonstrating a flexible active-matrix OLED display at this year’s Society for Information Display (SID) exhibition.

The tiny four-inch screen boasts only QVGA (320 x240) resolution, but is able to bend and flex thanks to the thin metallic foil it’s built on. Although both companies showcased a flexible OLED prototype last year, the new version steps it up a notch with enhanced brightness, improved color saturation, broader color gamut and a one-sided electrical interconnection.

“Continuous collaborative efforts by UDC and LGD have resulted in another big step forward in flexible AMOLED,” said In Jae Chung, LG Displays’ Chief Technology Office, in a statement. “Great teamwork between two companies has yielded consistent quality upgrades of flexible AMOLED in a short period and we expect more technological achievements in the future for realizing its full potential in real world applications.”

Flexible OLEDs may not have much use in home theaters, as many enthusiasts who watch OLED technology hope for, but in the future, developers see many other novel uses for them, such as wrist-mounted PDAs and devices with roll-out displays.