Samsung to showcase ‘stretchable’ display

Samsung Display will unveil its stretchable display for the first time at the US display conference, the company said on Monday.

The Korean display maker said it is showcasing 9.1-inch stretchable organic light-emitting diode panel at the Society for Information Display 2017, which kicks off on Tuesday at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Stretchable display is the most advanced flexible display -- among bendable, foldable and rollable -- which can be stretched to be used for various high technologies, including wearable display, Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and automobile display.

“While current flexible OLED is able to be transformed in only one side, this stretchable OLED can be transformed -- whether curved, bended or rolled -- in both sides, above and below” a Samsung Display spokesperson said.

When pressed, the stretchable display is dented up to 12 millimeters, like a balloon, and then reverts back to its original shape, the company said.

The technology, however, is still in the early stage of research and development so the firm is not sure when it will be commercialized.

Although it may take long, the flexible display market -- mostly are curved only now -- will continue to evolve into bendable, foldable, rollable and stretchable in the coming years, London-based research firm IHS Markit predicted.

IHS estimated that sales of the global flexible display market will rise to $15.7 billion in 2020 from $5.3 billion this year, with the advent of the more advanced flexible display.

Alongside the stretchable display, Samsung Display will also show off its glassless three-dimensional OLED at the conference. The firm said its 5.09-inch display realizes real objects in panel which are seen slightly differently based on the viewer‘s position. This technology can be utilized for 3-D pop-up books, 3-D games and virtual reality.

Samsung Display will also unveil ultra-high-definition liquid crystal display, which can be used for virtual reality, augmented reality and holograms. The 1.96-inch display has a UHD resolution of 3840 x 2160 with a pixel density of 2250 pixel per inch. The panel with 780,000 pixels provides more hyper realistic video than 5-inch QHD smartphone display with 50,000 pixels.