Samsung and LG showcase the next generation of foldable screens at the annual Display Week conference in California from May 10-12.
Next-generation foldable screens move from the current one-off foldable designs to twofold foldable and foldable screens.
South Korean giants introduced revolutionary displays including bi-directional extended displays, new foldable displays for gaming, and the most advanced quantum dot display technology for the large screen market.
And Samsung demonstrated for the first time its expandable screen measuring 12.4 inches with a panel that expands the screen horizontally from both ends.
Samsung also showcased the Flex G screen that folds inward twice like a wallet folds three times, and the Flex S screen folds inside and out like a paper map.
The company’s 6.7-inch expandable product also debuted at the ever expanding Display Week conference. This is in contrast to the expandable screens of today’s mobile devices that expand horizontally.
The company said this capability is useful for creating documents, as well as social media posts.
The company also showcased a Gaming Foldable OLED display that allows the controllers to be connected from both ends. It can also be folded in half.
Samsung and LG start a war
LG revealed a completely new form of foldable OLED technology this year. The company presented an 8-inch OLED screen that can be folded at a 360-degree angle with a resolution of 2480 x 2200 pixels.
This screen folds freely in both interior and exterior directions, similar to TCL’s Ultra Flex concept.
The design allows for a single foldable screen that acts as an internal screen (as with the Galaxy Z Fold 3) and an external screen (as with the Huawei Mate XS).
The screen can be folded more than 200,000 times without compromising its performance thanks to the unit’s stable structure. The company said it also uses a special foldable chassis to reduce wrinkling, providing a comfortable and advanced user experience.
Devices equipped with this screen can avoid the need for an internal and external screen in favor of just one large screen.
LG also introduced the next generation of OLED solutions with the 97-inch OLED.EX screen, the largest of its kind, for the first time to the public.
The company showed off a 42-inch Bendable OLED Gaming monitor that features a curvature of up to 1000R, or a radius of 1,000mm.
Future foldable phones could move from the current foldable once to twice foldable designs, use screens that fold in and out, or even use extended screens to expand outward if manufacturers adopt the new foldable screen technologies the two companies are offering.
Both companies are also investing heavily in in-vehicle infotainment screens. As well as screens designed for games.
LG Display and Samsung Display do not produce consumer devices. But as they provide screens for some of the world’s consumer tech companies, Display Week products give us a look at the trends in the coming years.