This week, LG Display announced that it has successfully created an 18-inch flexible OLED paper-thin panel that can be rolled up like a newspaper. The company also revealed a transparent screen that boasts a transmittance (clarity) level of 30 percent.
According to the company, the 18-inch flexible OLED panel has a 1200 x 810 resolution, nearly 1 million megapixels, and a curvature radius of 30R. As previously mentioned, the panel can also be rolled up to a radius of 3 cm without affecting what’s displayed on the screen. The company reports that this new panel paves the way for “rollable” TVs of more than 50 inches in the future.
“LG Display used high molecular substance-based polyimide film as the backplane of the flexible panel instead of conventional plastic to achieve the maximum curvature radius,” states the press release. “The polyimide film also helped reduce the thickness of the panel to significantly improve its flexibility.”
LG Display also announced this week that its transparent OLED panel reached 30 percent transmittance thanks to the company’s transparent pixel design technology. The company managed to lower the haze down to a level of 2 percent; existing transparent LCD panels are around 10 percent.
“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 percent 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 Center at LG Display.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen flexible displays, although this is likely the first of its kind to be larger than a smartphone. Sony revealed a 4.1-inch OLED display with a 432 x 240 resolution back in 2010. More recently, LG Display competes with Samsung in the bendable panel race. The company released its G Flex phone on November 13, 2013, while Samsung’s Galaxy Round rolled into Korea in October 2013. They also compete against each other in the curved TV space.
“LG Display pioneered the OLED TV market and is now leading the next-generation applied OLED technology,” In-Byung Kang adds.
