Extrapolating the technology from its unique G flex curved screen smartphone, LG has revealed an 18-inch flexible and transparent OLED display at an unnamed event in South Korea. Furthermore the firm promises that a 60-inch rollable 4K TV will be successfully developed by 2017.
With curved TVs starting to become popular in the market, the South Korean tech giant has been working on an even bigger innovation, creating this 18-inch OLED panel which is flexible enough to roll into a tube that measures just 3cm in diameter. "This proves that LG Display can bring rollable TVs of more than 50 inches to the market in the future," LG claimed in a statement.
The 18-inch prototype has a 1200x810 pixel resolution. It substitutes the conventional plastic backplane of a display panel with a thin high molecular substance based polyamide film. This material can increase the display's curvature radius and reduces the overall thickness of the panel.
The new technology opens up a future possibility of the commercial production of portable pop-up displays and LG is promising bigger rollable panels within the next three years. An added bonus of the new tech is that the current prototype boasts 30 per cent transmittance, compared to the 10 per cent of existing transparent LCD panels, meaning that images can look much clearer and more vivid.
"We are confident that by 2017, we will successfully develop an Ultra HD flexible and transparent OLED panel of more than 60 inches, which will have transmittance of more than 40 per cent and a curvature radius of 100R, thereby leading the future display market," said In-Byung Kang, Senior Vice-President and Head of the R&D Centre at LG Display.
Can readers suggest any innovative applications they would like to see LG's rollable and transparent displays used for?
