flexible lcd display technology brands

3In contrast to the standard flat screen displays used in several electrical gadgets, a flexible display or bendable display is an electronic visual display manufactured by flexible display brands. Several consumer electronics firms have expressed enthusiasm in using this display technologies in e-readers, smart phones, and other electronic goods in recent times. Such screens may be rolled up like a scroll without distorting the image or text. Electronic ink, Gyricon, Organic LCD, and OLED are among the technologies used to create a bendable display.

With the flat panel screen having been extensively used for more than 40 years, many desirable advances in display technology have been made, with the goal of creating lighter, thinner products that are simpler to carry and store. Scientists and engineers think that flexible flat panel display innovation has a large commercial possibility in the future, thanks to recent advancements in flexible display technique.

Flexible displays offered by the flexible display brands are still somewhat costly as contrasted to their rigid equivalents, and visual quality is frequently sacrificed. When the screen is bent at a specific angle, this is extremely evident. However, in comparison to standard displays, flexible screens have a shorter lifespan.

Current models should endure a long time for the majority of users’ demands. However, most flexible display brands still require tackling this issue, particularly given the rising pricing of flexible display devices.

views itself as a supplier of intelligent vertical systems underpinned by premium display technology as an optoelectronics specialist. The company’s vast expertise, innovative skills, and corporate sustainability set it apart and set it out from the competition.

In terms of display as a networking and communication interface, AUO offers a wide range of alternatives in retail, healthcare, transport, and other industries, with the goal of forming eco-systems with partnerships across all sectors and ushering the world into a new smarter lifestyle.

is critical to advancement in both the sectors it shapes and the planet it shares. They use materials science to create life-changing technology. They are at the core of how the world communicates, performs, educates, and lives because of their technical and production competence, insatiable curiosity, and devotion to meaningful creativity.

Through its novel panel-centric and vertical integration operation style,unifies the product production supply chain and offers clients with full solutions. Innolux has a clear emphasis on handling technology and elements, as well as superior administration skills, in addition to a solid TFT-LCD basis and manufacturing quality. Innolux develops standards, sets market trends, and offers a comprehensive product portfolio and services to their suppliers’ clients in the data and electronic goods industries. ​

Japan Display Incorporateddevelops, designs, manufactures, and sells displays where a user interface is required to transmit a large amount of data in a short amount of time and to a worldwide market. They design engaging settings that go above and beyond the ordinary, enrich people’s lives, and stir their hearts.

LG Displayis the world’s top inventor of display technologies, comprising TFT-LCD and OLED screens, as well as the worldwide leader in OLED lighting. The firm makes display screens in a variety of dimensions and standards for usage in televisions, laptop computers, desktop workstations, and other purposes, such as tablets and mobile phones. It also manufactures OLED light screens for the automobile and interior decorating industries.

Visionoxis the globe’s renowned provider of sophisticated display systems that are both integrated and interactive. The company’s objective is to lead China’s OLED industry via technical innovation” and its ambition is to “push limits to enrich the experience of eyesight.

FlexEnable’s glass-free organic LCD (OLCD) delivers high-brightness, long lifetime flexible displays that are low cost and scalable to large areas, while also being thin, lightweight and shatterproof.

OLCD is a plastic display technology with full colour and video-rate capability. It enables product companies to create striking designs and realise novel use cases by merging the display into the product design rather than accommodating it by the design.

Unlike flexible OLED displays, which are predominantly adopted in flagship smartphones and smartwatches, OLCD opens up the use of flexible displays to a wider range of mass-market applications. It has several attributes that make it better suited than flexible OLED to applications across large-area consumer electronics, smart home appliances, automotive, notebooks and tablets, and digital signage.

OLCD can be conformed and wrapped around surfaces and cut into non-rectangular shapes during the production process. Holes can be also added to fit around the functional design of the system – for example around knobs and switches.

As with glass-based LCD, the lifetime of OLCD is independent of the display brightness, because it is achieved through transmission of a separate light source (the backlight), rather than emission of its own light. For example OLCD can be made ultra-bright for viewing in daylight conditions without affecting the display lifetime – an important requirement for vehicle surface-integrated displays.

OLCD is the lowest cost flexible display technology – it is three to four times lower cost that flexible OLED today. This is because it makes use of existing display factories and supply chain and deploys a low temperature process that results in low manufacturing costs and high yield.

Unlike other flexible display approaches, OLCD is naturally scalable to large sizes. It can be made as small or as large as the manufacturing equipment used for flat panel displays allows.

The flexibility of OLCD allows an ultra-narrow bezel to be implemented by folding down the borders behind the display. This brings huge value in applications like notebooks and tablets where borderless means bigger displays for the same sized device. The bezel size allowed by OLCD is independent of the display size or resolution. In addition, OLCD can make a notebook up to 100g lighter and 0.5mm thinner.

OLCD is the key to the fabrication of ultra-high contrast dual cell displays with true pixel level dimming, offering OLED-like performance at a fraction of the cost. The extremely thin OLCD substrate brings advantages in cost, viewing angle and module thickness compared to glass displays. At the same time OLCD retains the flexibility required for applications such as surface-integrated automotive displays.

Due to its unique properties, OLCD has the potential to transform how and where displays are used in products. The videos below give a glimpse into this innovative technology.

OLCD brings the benefits of being thin, light, shatterproof and conformable, while offering the same quality and performance as traditional glass LCDs. The mechanical advantages of plastic OLCD over glass LCD are further enhanced by the technology’s excellent optical performance, much of which originates from the extreme thinness of plastic TAC substrates compared to glass.

Foldable and flexible displays have been making the rounds in recent years. Numerous phones, monitors, and other devices have been making headlines for incorporating this new and innovative spin on electronic displays.

Manufacturers are also pouring tons of money into research and development, with an apparent belief that they’ll be the next big advancement in display technology. But are they?

Flexible screens are an exciting take on the traditional flat-screen display. And in a sense, they seem like the logical next step in display technology. But this seemingly newfound concept is actually a lot older than you might think. Enter: Xerox PARC.

Xerox PARC, the company that pioneered many of today’s technologies, such as the laser printer and Ethernet standard, also developed the concept of a flexible electronic display way back in 1974. The concept was developed into an “electronic paper” called Gyricon.

Since then, there have been many big changes in the development of display technology behind the scenes. But possibly the biggest one that makes modern flexible screens possible is OLED technology.

Due to the nature of OLED screens, which don’t need separate backlighting to function, it’s now possible to create displays thin enough to bend and flex. Combined with advancements in screen and glass technologies, you have the modern form of bendable and flexible screens and displays.

Modern problems require modern solutions. And while flexible displays are anything but new, novel twists using the technology can showcase how it can be viable going forward and why we could be on the cusp of the next big thing.

Samsung is a manufacturer pushing boundaries with their flexible and foldable phones, but they are not focused solely on the mobile market. Samsung’s Odyssey Ark is a 55-inch curved display able to rotate, pivot, and tilt with Samsung’s proprietary Height Adjustable Stand (HAS). Combined with the curved, densely packed mini LED arrangement, the Odyssey Ark provides unique viewing that fills viewers’ peripheral vision to create a more immersive experience. The Odyssey Ark also gives users full customization by vertically or horizontally orienting the display. One of the Odyssey Ark’s features, Flex Move, allows users to adjust the screen size and ratios to tailor their viewing experience further.

If you’ve watched videos or played games on a mobile device, you know that having a bigger screen can be much easier on the eyes. And this is one space where flexible and foldable displays are looking to revolutionize the tech industry.

Folding phones can also allow us to have larger screens without making them unwieldy. The Galaxy Z Fold 4 boasts an impressive 7.6-inch display but folds down to a mere 6.2-inch phone-sized device that packs a tablet-sized wallop. And as companies continue to work out the kinks in foldable and flip phone designs, we could see phones that fold multiple times to allow for even bigger screens.

Smartphones seem to be leading the revolution of flexible screens, with folding phones first making their debut in 2018. But laptops would soon join the fold with the release of the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold in 2020.

In any case, it’s usable as a laptop and showcases how the future of laptops could use folding screen tech. With its 16-inch model folding down to a modest 12 inches, it’s not too far-fetched to think that we could eventually see 20+-inch laptops hitting the market with this technology.

Curved monitors are nothing new in the PC space and have made it to the mainstream. With the push for larger displays, having a curved screen allows for better immersion and utilization of the extra screen real estate. And so, unsurprisingly, flexible display technology is also making its way into the home as well.

You may have heard of the recently announced Corsair Xeneon Flex. If not, it’s essentially a new 45-inch flexible OLED gaming monitor that allows you to adjust the screen’s curvature.

This makes it ideal if you want a multipurpose monitor where you can choose between a flat or curved panel based on what you’re doing. For productivity-oriented tasks, a flat display might suit you more, while when gaming, having a curved display can create a more immersive environment.

However, while it’s a first in the PC display space, large flexible screens aren’t entirely new. In fact, they date back to at least 2014, when Samsung and LG unveiled a couple of massive flexible TVs during that year’s CES.

Curved and flexible TVs have been a much harder sell than their smaller computer monitor brethren, likely because they don’t work so well in the living room context. But what about rollable TVs?

Much like rollable smartphones, rollable TVs are probably the most interesting use of flexible display tech so far, allowing you to have a monstrous screen that can completely hide away with a simple push of a button.

The 64.5-inch LG OLED R debuted in 2021 and is the world’s first commercially available rollable TV. Of course, it’s not something you or anyone is likely to actually purchase, thanks to its eye-watering $100,000 price tag. Nevertheless, it’s an intriguing take on where flexible screens can possibly lead us to in the future of televisions.

Flexible screens present a number of advantages to their rigid counterparts that could reshape how we think of smartphones, computers, and televisions in the future. But right now, we’re in the awkward early stages where there are still plenty of kinks to work out.

Chief among them is the price. It’s understandable – as, with all new technology, lofty prices are the norm in the beginning. Go back 50 years, and you can see equally (if not more) eye-watering prices for early home computers (devices that are now significantly less capable than even the cheapest computers today).

Nevertheless, flexible display devices costing thousands make it a hard sell for most consumers. Comparable, non-flexible alternatives are available for much less, making them even less compelling.

Durability is another important factor for adoption. Display tech over the last 20 years has been rather frail, and consumers are keenly aware of this. Plastic and ultra-thin glass screens are highly susceptible to damage, and the addition of mechanical action – another potential point of failure – to primarily electronic devices makes for a justifiable concern, further hampering adoption.

OLED is an emerging display technology that enables beautiful and efficient displays and lighting panels. OLEDs are already being used in smartphones, laptops, wearables, tablets and TVs, and many of OLEDs are flexible ones.

A flexible OLED is based on a flexible substrate (usually polyimide). The first generation of OLEDs produced on these were not really flexible from the user perspective. The device maker bends the displays, or curves it - but the final user is not able to actually bend the device. These first-gen flexible OLEDs are adopted many premium smartphones, for example the Samsung edge-type Galaxy phones or Apple"s latest iPhones. A plastic-based OLED has several advantages especially in mobile devices - the displays are lighter, thinner and more durable compared to glass based displays.

Second generation flexible OLED displays can be bent by the user - these can be used for example to create foldable smartphones - the first range of which started shipping in 2019. Rollable OLEDs are also now entering the market for both TVs and smartphones.

While several companies (including Samsung, LG, BOE and others) are producing OLED displays, it is not straightforward to find a good and reliable supply of these displays.

If you are interested in buying a flexible OLED panel for your project or device, look no further. Our OLED Marketplace offers several flexible OLEDs, which can be ordered through us with ease.

The Global Flexible Displays Market size is expected to reach $31.5 billion by 2025, rising at a market growth of 25.9% CAGR during the forecast period. Flexible displays are mainly OLED and AMOLED displays that are curved, bended, or fully foldable. Consumer electronics manufacturers have offered numerous smartphones, TV sets and other display devices in a rigid curved form factor in the current market scenario. Although these displays are curved in comparison to traditional rigid flat displays, these displays do not give the end-users true versatility.

Growth is driven by increased demand for display-based consumer electronics coupled with consumer inclination towards energy-efficient, flexible gadgets. Technological advances in display technology have resulted in the introduction of advanced flexible displays, creating opportunities for growth for the market"s key players. In terms of portability, non-fragility and weight, the superior features offered by flexible displays make them an attractive option for consumer electronics manufacturers. In addition, the adoption of flexible displays based on Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) is experiencing exponential growth in high-definition content and high-performance applications. In addition, market demand is propelled by high growth in the smart wearable market.

Based on Type, the market is segmented into OLED and Others. Based on Application, the market is segmented into Smartphone, Smart Wearbles, TV, E-reader, Automotive & Transportation and Others. The segment of smartphones and tablets was the largest market share in 2018. Smartphones have LED-LCD and OLED-based display panels, tablets are extended shape of smartphone and are mainly equipped with LED-LCD display panels. Due to the high demand on the consumer market, various smartphone and laptop manufacturers and suppliers have reached the tablet market. These are made more durable by using flexible displays in smartphones and tablets, as they provide sleek designs and better ergonomics to operate these devices. Based on Material Type, the market is segmented into Plastic, Glass and Others.

Based on Regions, the market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America, Middle East & Africa. The presence of a large number of consumer electronics manufacturers and massive customer base is boosting the regional demand for flexible displays. Countries like Japan, South Korea, China, and India are the leaders in flexible display growth. China is the world"s largest producer of flexible OLED displays.

The major strategies followed by the market participants are Product launches and Partnerships & Collaborations. Based on the Analysis presented in the Cardinal matrix, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (Samsung Group) and LG Corporation are some of the forerunners in the Flexible Display Market. The market research report covers the analysis of key stake holders of the market. Key companies profiled in the report include LG Display Co., Ltd. (LG Corporation), Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (Samsung Group), AU Optronics Corporation, Corning, Inc., Sharp Corporation, Kateeva, Inc., BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd., Royole Corporation, E Ink Holdings, Inc. and Visionox Technology, Inc.

Nov-2019: Sharp introduced a 30-inch 4K flexible organic LED (OLED) display in cooperation with Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK). This display has world’s largest color-filter-less (RGB light emission method), high-definition 4K flexible OLED display, and flexibility of film substrate that allows the display to be stored as a compact roll.

Oct-2019: Visionox Technology announced that it has collaborated with Peratech. In this, both the companies have started working on different integrations of Visionox’s AMOLED displays and Visionox’s AMOLED displays for fulfilling the needs of users for display-based interactive interfaces.

Aug-2019: E Ink partnered with AU Optronics for developing thin, impact-resistant, and feather-light e-paper solutions. These solutions support OTFT backplane (Organic Thin Film Transistor) as the display driver. The OTFT backplane technology is suitable for the development and introduction of soft display products including smart clothing and wearable devices.

May-2019: BOE Technology announced its collaboration with Himax Technologies in which Himax launched flexible OLED automotive display driver and timing controller for BOE Technology Group. This technology of Himax has been adopted by BOE in its 12.3-inch three-unit curved flexible OLED automotive displays for cockpit areas with only 0.99 mm bezels.

Dec-2018: Royole partnered with Airbus in order to develop aircraft-cabin applications. In this partnership, both the companies will investigate the commercial opportunities and use of sensors and flexible displays on passenger aircraft.

Dec-2018: Visionox Technology and IDEX Biometrics collaborated on exploring the development of next-generation IDEX’s unique off-chip biometric sensors for smart cards that uses Visionox’s flexible LTPS TFT backplane technology. The collaboration is focused towards the development of feature-rich and cost-effective smart card systems supporting both biometric and display technologies.

Oct-2018: Visionox Technology teamed up with Hefei municipal government for constructing the factory that can produce 30,000 substrates per month. These substrates will be used in sixth-generation active matrix organic light emitting diode displays. Both are thinking of establishing a Joint Venture for building and operating the plant.

Apr-2019: LG Display acquired DuPont"s OLED business as well as its R&D and production facilities. The OLED technology uses an inkjet printing method for adding a soluble material to a panel, thus producing the high-performing displays in an economical manner and reducing the material waste.

Nov-2019: Visionox Technology announced the launch of a foldable clamshell smartphone and a rollable OLED panel hinting, two foldable clamshell prototype. The 6.47" big AMOLED display has been used for this prototype with on-cell technology.

Aug-2019: AU Optronics introduced most advanced 8K Ultra-HD display, which delivers full-area local dimming (FALD) backlighting solution and peak brightness.

May-2019: Corning announced the launch of Corning® Astra(TM) Glass, a new glass substrate optimized for mid-to-large size; immersive displays in notebooks, high-performance tablets, and 8K TVs. This glass has been engineered to enable the higher-pixel density of high-performance displays, which are required by panel makers in order to meet the customer demand for faster, brighter, and more lifelike images.

Apr-2019: Sharp unveiled organic light-emitting diode panels for foldable smartphones. This display has foldable 6.18-inch OLED screen, which can be folded 3, 00,000 times without any damage. The new OLED panels will be produced at Company"s display factory in Sakai.

Feb-2019: Sharp introduced four new models of its 4K Ultra-HD resolution commercial LCD display line. These displays will be ideal for business, retail, and hospitality sectors. This helps the customers to see subtler textures and finer details in photos and videos.

Jan-2019: Samsung Display introduced its first 15.6-inch OLED panel for the notebook market. This panel delivers brighter colors and deeper blacks over 4K LCD-based screens.

Oct-2018: Royole introduced the Royole FlexPai, a commercial foldable smartphone, a combination of tablet and mobile phone with flexible screen. This smartphone is based upon Royole"s Flexible+ platform; this can be easily combined into a number of products and applications across different industries.

Aug-2018: Samsung extended its curved display line-up with the launch of new CJ79 (Model name: C34J791) monitor. This monitor has the feature of Intel’s Thunderbolt™ 3 connectivity and is designed for business and creative audiences that are seeking efficient and comfortable work experience through powerful connectivity.

Aug-2019: LG Display expanded its reach to China by developing a new production line. This factory is established in Guangzhou for producing 60,000 OLED sheets in 55 inches and above and focuses on the transformation of TV landscape.

Sep-2018: Sharp expanded its reach to Asia Pacific region by launching 70X500E, its 8K professional display panel in India. This panel was incorporated with Sharp"s wealth of Ultra-High-Resolution Monitor technologies for high brightness and wide color gamut.

A flexible display or rollable display is an electronic visual display which is flexible in nature, as opposed to the traditional flat screen displays used in most electronic devices.e-readers, mobile phones and other consumer electronics. Such screens can be rolled up like a scroll without the image or text being distorted.electronic ink, Gyricon, Organic LCD, and OLED.

Electronic paper displays which can be rolled up have been developed by E Ink. At CES 2006, Philips showed a rollable display prototype, with a screen capable of retaining an image for several months without electricity.pixel rollable display based on E Ink’s electrophoretic technology.flexible organic light-emitting diode displays have been demonstrated.electronic paper wristwatch. A rollable display is an important part of the development of the roll-away computer.

With the flat panel display having already been widely used more than 40 years, there have been many desired changes in the display technology, focusing on developing a lighter, thinner product that was easier to carry and store. Through the development of rollable displays in recent years, scientists and engineers agree that flexible flat panel display technology has huge market potential in the future.

Flexible electronic paper (e-paper) based displays were the first flexible displays conceptualized and prototyped. Though this form of flexible displays has a long history and were attempted by many companies, it is only recently that this technology began to see commercial implementations slated for mass production to be used in consumer electronic devices.

The concept of developing a flexible display was first put forth by Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Company). In 1974, Nicholas K. Sheridon, a PARC employee, made a major breakthrough in flexible display technology and produced the first flexible e-paper display. Dubbed Gyricon, this new display technology was designed to mimic the properties of paper, but married with the capacity to display dynamic digital images. Sheridon envisioned the advent of paperless offices and sought commercial applications for Gyricon.

In 2005, Arizona State University opened a 250,000 square foot facility dedicated to flexible display research named the ASU Flexible Display Center (FDC). ASU received $43.7 million from the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) towards the development of this research facility in February 2004.demonstration later that year.Hewlett Packard demonstrated a prototype flexible e-paper from the Flexible Display Center at the university.

Between 2004–2008, ASU developed its first small-scale flexible displays.U.S. Army funds ASU’s development of the flexible display, the center’s focus is on commercial applications.

This company develops and manufactures monochrome plastic flexible displays in various sizes based on its proprietary organic thin film transistor (OTFT) technology. They have also demonstrated their ability to produce colour displays with this technology, however they are currently not capable of manufacturing them on a large scale.Dresden, Germany, which was the first factory of its kind to be built – dedicated to the high volume manufacture of organic electronics.plastic and do not contain glass. They are also lighter and thinner than glass-based displays and low-power. Applications of this flexible display technology include signage,wristwatches and wearable devices

In 2004, a team led by Prof. Roel Vertegaal at Queen"s University"s Human Media Lab in Canada developed PaperWindows,Organic User Interface. Since full-colour, US Letter-sized displays were not available at the time, PaperWindows deployed a form of active projection mapping of computer windows on real paper documents that worked together as one computer through 3D tracking. At a lecture to the Gyricon and Human-Computer Interaction teams at Xerox PARC on 4 May 2007, Prof. Vertegaal publicly introduced the term Organic User Interface (OUI) as a means of describing the implications of non-flat display technologies on user interfaces of the future: paper computers, flexible form factors for computing devices, but also encompassing rigid display objects of any shape, with wrap-around, skin-like displays. The lecture was published a year later as part of a special issue on Organic User InterfacesCommunications of the ACM. In May 2010, the Human Media Lab partnered with ASU"s Flexible Display Center to produce PaperPhone,MorePhone

Research and development into flexible OLED displays largely began in the late 2000s with the main intentions of implementing this technology in mobile devices. However, this technology has recently made an appearance, to a moderate extent, in consumer television displays as well.

Nokia first conceptualized the application of flexible OLED displays in mobile phone with the Nokia Morph concept mobile phone. Released to the press in February 2008, the Morph concept was project Nokia had co-developed with the University of Cambridge.nanotechnology, it pioneered the concept of utilizing a flexible video display in a consumer electronics device.London, alongside Nokia’s new range of Windows Phone 7 devices.

Sony Electronics expressed interest for research and development towards a flexible display video display since 2005.RIKEN (the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research), Sony promised to commercialize this technology in TVs and cellphones sometime around 2010.TFT-driven OLED display.

In January 2013, Samsung exposed its brand new, unnamed product during the company"s keynote address at CES in Las Vegas. Brian Berkeley, the senior vice president of Samsung"s display lab in San Jose, California had announced the development of flexible displays. He said "the technology will let the company"s partners make bendable, rollable, and foldable displays," and he demonstrated how the new phone can be rollable and flexible during his speech.

During Samsung"s CES 2013 keynote presentation, two prototype mobile devices codenamed "Youm" that incorporated the flexible AMOLED display technology were shown to the public.OLED screen giving this phone deeper blacks and a higher overall contrast ratio with better power efficiency than traditional LCD displays.LCD displays. Samsung stated that "Youm" panels will be seen in the market in a short time and production will commence in 2013.

The Flexible Display Center (FDC) at Arizona State University announced a continued effort in forwarding flexible displays in 2012.Army Research Lab scientists, ASU announced that it has successfully manufactured the world"s largest flexible OLED display using thin-film transistor (TFTs) technology.

In January 2019, Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi showed a foldable smartphone prototype.Xiaomi demoed the device in a video on the Weibo social network. The device features a large foldable display that curves 180 degrees inwards on two sides. The tablet turns into a smartphone, with a screen diagonal of 4,5 inch, adjusting the user interface on the fly.

Flexible displays have many advantages over glass: better durability, lighter weight, thinner as plastic, and can be perfectly curved and used in many devices.glass and rollable display is that the display area of a rollable display can be bigger than the device itself; If a flexible device measuring, for example, 5 inches in diagonal and a roll of 7.5mm, it can be stored in a device smaller than the screen itself and close to 15mm in thickness.

Flexible screens can open the doors to novel and alternative authentication schemes by emphasizing the interaction between the user and the touch screen. In “Bend Passwords: Using Gestures to Authenticate on Flexible Devices,” the authors introduce a new method called Bend Passwords where users perform bending gestures and deform the touch screen to unlock the phone. Their work and research points to Bend Passwords possibly becoming a new way to keep smartphones secure alongside the popularization of flexible displays.

Flexible displays using electronic paper technology commonly use Electrophoretic or Electrowetting technologies. However, each type of flexible electronic paper vary in specification due to different implementation techniques by different companies.

The flexible electronic paper display technology co-developed by Arizona State University and HP employs a manufacturing process developed by HP Labs called Self-Aligned Imprint Lithography (SAIL).

The flexible electronic paper display announced by AUO is unique as it is the only solar powered variant. A separate rechargeable battery is also attached when solar charging is unavailable.

Many of the e-paper based flexible displays are based on OLED technology and its variants. Though this technology is relatively new in comparison with e-paper based flexible displays, implementation of OLED flexible displays saw considerable growth in the last few years.

In May 2011, Human Media Lab at Queen"s University in Canada introduced PaperPhone, the first flexible smartphone, in partnership with the Arizona State University Flexible Display Center.

At CES 2013, Samsung showcased the two handsets which incorporates AMOLED flexible display technology during its keynote presentation, the Youm and an unnamed Windows Phone 8 prototype device.Galaxy Note Edge,Samsung Galaxy S series devices.

LG Electronics and Samsung Electronics both introduced curved OLED televisions with a curved display at CES 2013 hours apart from each other.The Verge noted the subtle curve on 55" Samsung OLED TV allowed it to have a "more panoramic, more immersive viewing experience, and actually improves viewing angles from the side."

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From the company that created the world’s first folding phone comes an open-source kit to help anyone build their own products with flexible displays!

Royole has shown an incredible ability to find the right niche and pivot at the right time with their technological offerings. The company arguably built the first-ever flexible smartphone – the FlexPai – outpacing even Samsung, and their RoKit now aims at helping democratize the fully flexible display (FFD), so creatives and designers can tinker with it, building their own products too.

The kit comes packaged in a pretty impressive aluminum briefcase, containing everything you need to bring your unique tech idea to life. The upper part of the briefcase houses Royole’s 3rd Generation Cicada Wing 7.8-inch fully flexible touch-sensitive display, while the lower half of the briefcase contains a development motherboard running Android 10, an HDMI adapter (in case you want to connect your flexible display to an existing computer like a Raspberry Pi, smartphone, laptop, or any other gadget), and a bunch of power cables for good measure.

The idea behind the RoKit, says Royole Founder and CEO Dr. Bill Liu, is to “invite every industry to imagine and design with flexibility in mind, unfolding new possibilities for creators and accelerating the development of flexible solutions in all walks of life.” Envisioned as the world’s first open platform flexible electronics development kit, the RoKit allows other creators to do exactly what Royole did with the FlexPai in 2018 – create electronic products that the world has never seen before.

To show how limitless their flexible displays can be, Royole’s even created a few conceptual products that highlight exactly how folding screens can make products sleeker, smaller, and better. The examples include (as shown below) handheld gimbals/cameras with slide-out displays, a slick monolithic computer that transitions magically from keyboard to screen (I wonder where they got that idea from), and even a helmet with a rear display that contours perfectly to the shape of the head, allowing you to communicate efficiently with drivers behind you.

For now, the RoKit is available for purchase on the Royole website in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, and China. Priced at $959, it definitely isn’t cheap, although one could make the case that it’s just about affordable for being able to test out and prototype a product before you actually develop it with mass-produced flexible displays.

For decades, rectangular pieces of glass or plastic have been the norm in most consumer electronics. But that’s changing as foldable, bendable, and curved display technology is poised to make breakthroughs in durability, design, and performance.

Over the past ten years, flexible display technology has gotten more advanced in applications across industries. Azumo’slight guide film, for example, can be as thin as a piece of paper at 30 microns, which means you can wrap it around any curved surface and still get the same quality.

Flexible display technology isn’t new to smartphones. The iPhone X has a bendable display to bend around the edges, and theSamsung Galaxy Roundpioneered a curved smartphone design back in 2013 for improved ergonomic use.

The design makes displays much larger than the standard fixed display size and more portable. For convenience, some consumers want the form factor to be as small as possible and the display to be as large as possible for an optimal viewing experience, which is possible with a rollable phone.

Another key benefit of a flexible display in smartphones is that it makes the device more durable. Phones with this type of surface illumination technology can flex under impact, as opposed to the easily shatterable glass displays we’re used to.

Advances in display technology have made the first two possible thanks tofrontlit reflective LCDand longer battery life. But some wearables, especially those intended for medical and not purely aesthetic or practical reasons, are not always comfortable on a body in motion if they rely on a flat screen.

With flexible displays, we may start to see body-conforming designs incorporated into watches and other devices that curve around the body, instead of just a flat display attached to a wristband or wrap. This can make people who stand to benefit from wearable devices more inclined to use them.

Theautomotive industryis ripe for display technology innovation. Flexible displays in particular can transform one of the most important curved surfaces in every car: the steering wheel.

There have been several developments in steering wheel displays over the past decade. Back in 2012, BMW released a sports steering wheel with anOLED, while more recently, Teslafiled a patentfor a steering wheel with several touch-sensitive panels.

A full touch screen steering wheel may be further off, but steering wheels with surface illumination are now within reach with ultra-thin, flexible light guide films. A wheel with a light display can provide car and environment information to the driver in real time, no need to take their eyes off the road.

Beyond consumer electronics, wearables, and cars, flexible display technology has the potential to disrupt decades-old design norms in all kinds of devices, frommedicaltomanufacturing.

Finally! A flexible OLED display module. This is a super-bright 160x32 pixel, flexible OLED display. This next-generation flexible OLED module is super-cool! It"s highly reflective so taking a photo is rather tricky, but we"re confident once you get one of these displays in your hand you"ll be impressed! We"re hopeful this is just the start of more flexible OLED technology coming to market.

Bright white text on a dark background makes this OLED super readable in most lighting situations. It has an ultra-wide viewing angle, so you can see if from any direction. This display can be bent, but it"s certainly not a foldable display (so don"t try to fold it).

While flexible screens are becoming more popular in smartphones for their ability to be placed on curved displays, they have typically used more expensive OLED technology. Today, Japan Display revealed it has developed a 5.5-inch flexible screen for smartphones that uses the older, but still cheaper, LCD technology.AMOLED vs LCD: Everything you need to know

The normal LCD screen is made of glass, and therefore cannot be made to flex and curve around a smartphone. Japan Display says their flexible screen uses plastic instead of glass on both sides of the liquid crystal layer. While it is not quite as flexible as screens based on OLED, Japan Design claims that its product will still be able to be used on curved smartphones similar to the one found on the Samsung Galaxy S7 edge.

The company added that the new screen will support Full HD resolutions and can support a driving scheme as low as 15Hz in addition to the normal 60Hz driving scheme. It claims this will allow for lower power consumption in smartphones. Unfortunately, it’s going to be a while before this flexible LCD screen starts showing up in smartphones, as Japan Display says it will start mass production sometime in 2018.

The Wall Street Journal adds that Japan Display claims to have already signed up some smartphone makers for its new product, but specific names were not revealed. The company also would like to see its display used in other devices like notebooks and car dashboards.

Samsung has already announced it is going all in with its flexible OLED display technology, and other companies like LG Display are also planning to release similar products for smartphones. It’s more than possible that budget and mid-range smartphones could embrace flexible LCD screens like the one that Japan Display is offering to keep their prices down, while more high-end devices will favor the OLED screens.

During the summer it was my pleasure to work with two interns from local universities. As part of their instruction I asked each of them to pick a topic of their choice, and to generate a patent landscape report on the area. For each project the interns were asked to research the technical aspects of their topic, suggest a patent search strategy for identifying documents, reduce their collections to remove family duplicates, cleanup various data fields, categorize the collection into a variety of facets, conduct relevant analytics on the data, and finally generate both a written report and a PowerPoint presentation to summarize their results. I am excited to publish the first of these projects produced by Riley Collins who did his project on Flexible Electronic Displays. So without further ado here"s Riley"s project:

Unlike traditional flat panel displays OLEDs, one of the more popular types of flexible electronic displays are solid-state devices composed of thin films of organic molecules that create light with the application of electricity. OLEDs can provide brighter, crisper displays on electronic devices and use less power than conventional light-emitting diodes (LEDs) or liquid crystal displays (LCDs) used according to HowStuffWorks.com.  Using glass substrates, flexible technology OLED‘s utilizes plastic substrates, which allow the display to bend and twist. Flexible OLED‘s only need one sheet of substrate while LCD‘s require two and a separate backlight. Because of this, OLED‘s are able to be paper thin and lightweight, a perfect candidate for mobile phones and wearable electronics. The challenge for manufacturers currently is allowing the device to be repeatedly deformed while keeping the internals intact. Currently, electronic flexible displays are being used to make curved phones and televisions. This is possible because while the display may be “flexible”, the internal components remain fixed. Figure 1 shows a diagram of the layers in different types of displays. Samsung refers to their flexible OLED display as FAMOLED.

Electronic paper displays are the oldest type of flexible display. They differ in that they reflect light and have a wider viewing angle. E-paper is used predominately in E-readers and signage because text can be read in direct sunlight without fading. Similar to flexible OLED and LCD, it also uses plastic substrates, allowing display to bend like paper. E-paper displays are not ideal for phones and tablets because they have a very low refresh rate, ghosting problems, and are yet to be mass-produced in color.

As flexible displays become cheaper to manufacture we will likely see new functions of this technology. While curved devices are the first to hit the market, recent patent filings by top display manufacturers suggest that foldable, bendable, and rollable devices are not that far away. Foldable displays will likely come first to accommodate the growing demand for larger displays and the need for portability. As the wearable device market grows, bendable displays could be used to wraparound an individual’s wrist. Finally, displays that can be rolled up may be used in televisions and eventually a tubular device with a retractable roll out display.

Some benefits of flexible displays are better durability, lighter weight, thinner dimensions, and unique software commands. The use of a plastic substrate and the ability to flex locally when dropped makes the device less likely to crack, saving the users the trouble of having their screen replaced or being forced to buy a new device. Flexible devices will also be lighter and thinner than their rigid counterparts because they use plastic instead of glass. The ability to deform the device may allow the user to access a set of commands in their devices user interface. For example, when the device is folded it will go into sleep mode.

Demand for flexible displays is on the verge of a sharp increase. According to a new IHS report, “Global Flexible Display Technology and Market Forecast” (Figure 2 above). It is estimated that the flexible display market will grow to $1.1 billion in 2015 and will continue to develop at rate of 226% to $42 billion by the end of 2020. Units sold are projected to rise from 3.2 million in 2013 to 792 million in 2020. This means that in 2020, flexible display market will have captured 13% of the total display market. Even though smartphones with flexible displays have not yet achieved their desired potential, it is probable that they will soon capture the market by storm.

The search was started by locating as many Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) codes that referred to flexible displays.. A sample of highly relevant documents were used to cross-reference and make sure that no CPC codes were left out.. The codes used were are:

OLEDA family reduction was conducted, but all unique US application numbers were retained. Foreign inventions were reduced to one invention per extended family. This list of CPC codes produced 2156 documents. After manually sorting the files, 177 were on E-Paper, and 1218 were Flexible OLED/LCD technologies. Many of the relevant documents included the key words flex*, deform, roll*, curve, bend* or bent, fold*, and a flexible or plastic substrate.

The objective of preforming this research is to complete an analysis of the Flexible Display IP landscape and assess the position of leading display manufacturers. According to the total number of applications by publication year, the patent filings for flexible displays are increasing at an exponential rate. They increased from 48 publications in 2010 to 566 in 2014/2015. This represents more than a 100% increase on average each year. Even more impressive is that almost 60% of the filings between 2010 and 2015 have came in the past 18 months. An initial look at the top companies by publications shows Samsung with the most at 271, LG with 97, and SEL with 85. Trailing behind are Creator Technology, Nokia, Apple, and Blackberry. Samsung and LG are likely to have the most filings because they are the only companies on this list that manufacturers portable devices and displays. Flexible displays are a relatively new technological field and because of this, the majority of the publications have not gone on to grant yet. It remains to be seen how much legal coverage will be given to these companies. The requirements for protection may still be uncertain and this could lead to lawsuits down the road.

When looking at the patent filings by type, the display component, electronic device, and display panel publications all increased sharply after 2013. Display panel filings surpassed electronic device filings in 2014/2015. Samsung is the clear leader in flexible display panel with 95 publications in 2014/2015 alone. Comparatively, LG and SEL both produced slightly more than 30 in this same time. The story is very similar for the display components except instead of SEL, Nokia trails slightly behind LG. The device patents have increased considerably since 2013 with Samsung going from 11 to 49, LG from 5 to 32, and Apple from 4 to 19. Blackberry has also increased their device patents steadily. The findings suggest that devices are already being specially made utilizing this new display technology. Companies such as Apple and Nokia who have few patents on the flexible display are perhaps exploring future licensing deals if they plan on releasing a device that contains a flexible display.

Samsung, SEL, Creator Technology, and Philips have most of their filings on the display, while LG, Nokia, Apple, Blackberry, Pantech, and Motorola have more patents on a device that uses a flexible display. Some other display-oriented companies include Sony, Sharp, ITRI, Toshiba, Universal Display Corporation, Fujifilm, Kodak, AU Optronics, and Boe Technology. To emphasize how much of a force the top two companies in this landscape are, a chart is included of Samsung and LG combined vs. all other companies. In 2014/2015 the top two combined surpassed all remaining companies in number of publications with 276 vs. 248. This shows the push that the leading display manufacturers are making to protect their intellectual property before this technology is mass-produced.

Charts and graphs associated with these analysis as well as a few other views on the data can be found in a PowerPoint presentation summarizing this research. The presentation can be downloaded by clicking on the following link: Flexible Electonic Displays Patent Analysis.

In January 2013 at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Samsung showcased prototypes of their flexible YOUM brand displays. In October of 2013, they released their first product using a flexible display. It appears that Samsung abandoned the YOUM branding because the Galaxy Round now uses a Flexible Super AMOLED display (FAMOLED). The Korean company then released the Galaxy note edge in September 2013. The note edge utilizes the curve to display information on the side of the display. Samsung’s latest installment of a flexible display device was the Galaxy S6 Edge in March 2015. The S6 differentiates itself from the note edge because it has two curved edges. Samsung announced in August of 2015 that they will be investing $3 billion to expand their OLED plant in Vietnam.

LG showed one of its 6 inch flexible prototypes in June of 2013 at the Society for information Display (SID). They then announced the release of the G Flex, a curved phone, shortly after CES in January 2014. The new and improved G Flex 2 would be released a year later at CES. In a private showroom at CES 2015, LG unveiled a prototype phone with a dual edge display, similar to the Galaxy S6 edge, which was released a few months later. In June 2015, at SID, LG released an 18 inch rollable display prototype at SID. LG has plans to make a 60 inch version by 2017. In July 2015, LG announced that it was investing $905 million into a 6th generation flexible OLED production line in South Korea. The project is said to finish in 2017 and will allow LG to meet the increasing demand for flexible displays in phones and wearable devices.

Nokia and SEL have released a two 5.9 inch foldable OLED prototypes at SID 2014. One of which folds like a book and the other with a tri-fold design. With Nokia and SEL partnering together, a functional foldable device may be released in the near future. http://news.oled-display.net/nokia-showcase-three-fold-oled-displays/

Originally a spin off from Philips Electronics, Polymer Vision was acquired by Wilstron Corp in 2009. The original Polymer Vision patent portfolio is now owned by the Netherlands company Creator Technology. Polymer Vision was trying to release a product called the readius which is essentially an E-reader with a 5 inch roll out display. Creator Technology may become a force in the flexible display industry, especially in regards to roll out displays. http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/03/wistron-reportedly-closes-polymer-vision/

In August 2014, Au Optronics released a 5 inch flexible AMOLED panel at a trade show. They also released a similar prototype in August 2015 that can detect how the user bends it. http://www.androidauthority.com/galaxy-s6-and-zenfone-2-top-charging-test-636708/

Boe Technology has recently created a prototype 9.55 inch flexible display that can be rolled into a tube, they have also created a 55 inch UHD flexible AMOLED display, the largest of its kind. Boe Technology also has an ongoing partnership with Universal Display Corporation. http://company.boe.com/portal/en/chuangxinkeji/boechuangxin/wenzhangxiangqing/dynamic/pecbwd264.html

ITRI is using its FlexUpTM technology to create foldable and rollable AMOLED panels. They displayed some of their latest innovations in August, 2015 at Touch Taiwan. https://www.itri.org.tw/eng/Content/NewsLetter/contents.aspx?&SiteID=1&MmmID=617731531241750114&SSize=10&SYear=2015&Keyword=&MSID=654530737004101325

There are still challenges to overcome before truly flexible devices hit the market, as the machinery behind the display is not meant to be bent. While plastic has its advantages, it is not as good as glass when it comes to encapsulating the thin-film-transistor and other components from moisture, oxygen, and other unwanted particles. Phone technology need to become tough enough to handle the stress of daily flexing over an extended period of time. Another barrier of a flexible device is the battery. Batteries are typically rigid in nature and until these batteries can be manipulated to flex, the notion of a bendable phone is unlikely. Similar to the battery, the silicon circuit board and its components are also not malleable. Device manufacturers will have to find cost effective alternatives to these problems before these new gadgets hit the shelves.

Samsung and LG are likely to be the first manufacturers of the next generation of flexible display devices. They have both proven that they have the expertise to create flexible display devices, as evidenced by the S6 edge and G Flex2. Nokia, Apple, and Blackberry are likely the next manufacturers to produce a flexible device based on their elevated number of patents.  However, they will likely have to license the display technology in order to incorporate their devices. There is currently a need for lighter and thinner devices that are extremely portable and durable, a flexible device that can change its form for convenience appears to be the solution. It is simply a matter of time before manufacturers cross these last barriers and release a new wave of flexible devices that will flood the market.

For decades, displays have been made up of flat pieces of glass or plastic. The flat screen not only breaks and cracks but it dictated the shape of display technology like phones and TVs. Recently, however, engineers have begun developing bendable displays. So how do these work, and what do they mean for the future?

Traditional liquid crystal display screens (LCDs) use light emitting diodes (LEDs). These are made up of a sandwich of two types of semi-conducting material, one rich in electrons, and one poor in electrons. When electricity is passed across the semi-conductor sandwich, electrons flow from the side rich in electrons to the side that is poor in electrons. As electrons cross the junction, they pass through holes in the other side and release surplus energy in the form of light.

More recently, however, engineers have developed a new type of LED. This uses small organic molecules (OLED), or larger molecules called polymers, deposited on glass. A basic OLED is made up of six layers: two layers of protective glass or plastic on the top (the seal) and bottom (the substrate), a negative terminal, a positive terminal and two layers of organic molecules. As the organic molecule layers are thinner than the semi-conductors used in ordinary LEDs, the OLEDs are a lot thinner, lighter and more flexible. They are also brighter and need no backlight, so they use less energy. In addition, they respond much faster than traditional displays and produce truer colours. Most importantly, some types of OLEDs can be printed onto plastic to create a flexible display.

Earlier this year, Samsung announced that it had developed a flexible OLED display panel with an ‘unbreakable’ substrate and seal. According to Samsung, the bendable display passed a durability test that is based on U.S. military standards. Repeated drops from up to six feet caused no damage to the display.

But a bendable display could have advantages far beyond being break-resistant. In the future, it might be possible to make phones or tablets that can roll or fold up to fit in a pocket. Of course, before this can happen, all of the batteries and other rigid internal circuitry also needs to be made bendable. Some of this is already in development. For example, electronic manufacturer LG is working on creating battery packs that can curve, squeeze and contort like a pretzel. Other manufacturers are working on developing laptops that use a flexible screen with a rigid computer.

A bendable display could also make phones easier to carry. Lenovo developed a prototype smartwatch the size of a phone that wrapped around the wrist. Cars could also benefit from bendable screens to create digital dashboards. There are also a host of uses for display screen that can bend and fold. The displays could be incorporated into furniture, appliances, or wearables, such as this clothing and jewellery recently covered here at Springwise. The screens could then connect to a device via Bluetooth to provide a portable large-screen display whenever and wherever it is needed.

Flexible display technology has the potential to revolutionize the way we interact with our devices. These displays, which can be bent, rolled, or otherwise manipulated, offer a level of flexibility that is impossible with traditional displays. Common flexible display technologies include electronic paper displays, organic LED, and LCD.

Flexible displays have the potential to offer a more immersive and interactive user experience, allowing users to manipulate the display in ways that are not possible with traditional displays. Bendable displays are an enabling technology from the perspective of new applications and human-machine interfaces, ranging from foldable smartphones to curved public information displays. Additionally, flexible displays are often more energy-efficient than conventional displays. Because they require less power to operate, they could lead to longer battery life for devices. Last but not least, flexible displays are fabricated on plastic substrates, which makes them shatterproof, unlike glass-based displays.

However, there are also challenges that need to be overcome in order for flexible displays to become widely adopted. One major concern is the durability of these displays. Most flexible displays cannot be bent for many bending cycles before they will see degradation happening. This could make them less appealing to consumers who want their technology to last.

With the exception of printed flexible displays, another issue is the cost of flexible displays. Currently, the technology used to create these displays is expensive, which means that products featuring flexible displays are often priced significantly higher than those with traditional displays. This could make them less accessible to the average consum