This year's news from Samsung and LG Electronics indicates what the development of displays will look like in the near future. The central theme is energy-efficient, low-cost production, high resolution and flexibility.
Flexible displays are not a completely new thing, but only now can we talk about an emerging trend and truly high image quality. Until now, large electronics manufacturers have faced the demand for increasing the display quality of traditional fixed flat displays, and only in the last two years have they managed to meet the expectations of the most demanding clients. We are talking mainly about Super AMOLED, IPS LCD and P-OLED technologies.
Today, we have the opportunity to meet several types of curved color displays, with only one of them also allowing active flexibility. The solution from Samsung used in the Galaxy Round smartphone is curved, but not flexible. The famous electronic paper is flexible, but black and white. With a fully flexible, colorful, energy-friendly and also shockproof display, LG Electronics came up with the 6-inch G Flex smartphone. You can bend and straighten this curved smartphone without worrying about it being damaged. This is thanks to the progressive synthetic materials used to protect the active part of the display and its technology itself with a certain degree of flexibility.
According to Ondřej Oubrecht, key account manager at LG Electronics, flexible displays have a very positive future ahead of them, not only in the mobile phone industry for end customers, but also for companies and even cities. “There is a great demand for these displays across markets and designers,” says Oubrecht, continuing: “The future also includes flexible displays on public lighting poles, for example. Then cities can return their investment in lighting faster thanks to renting displays for advertising.” He also adds that the upcoming trend of improving and using flexible displays should not be a short-term issue, like 3D displays were.
The development and subsequent reduction in the cost of manufacturing flexible and/or curved displays will affect a wide range of different industries that we have until now considered more like science fiction. With gradual progress, we will likely see lightweight, flexible, durable and energy-efficient solutions suitable for use on food packaging and other products, as a complement to printing or in the aforementioned advertising industry.
Small, flexible (or at least curved) displays will also find application in the gaming industry and virtual reality. Just a few days before the end of this issue of the magazine, the world was informed that Facebook had acquired Oculus, a company that develops virtual reality headsets. For an incredible two billion US dollars. It is in these “VR headsets” that flexible displays could represent a significant evolutionary leap.
Flexible displays and the companies that develop and market them could be a lucrative space for investment. After all, this has been the case for technology corporations and even startups for several years now, and it doesn't look like this trend is going to change in the coming years.