Samsung shows foldable AMOLED display
updated 03:55 pm EDT, Fri May 13, 2011
Technology productization still off in future
Engineers at Samsung's Advanced Institute of Technology have designed a prototype AMOLED display that folds in half yet appears seamless when opened. The key breakthrough of the design is that two panels can be joined together and folded and unfolded many times without creating a crease. The Samsung technicians tested the prototype through 100,000 cycles without any problems. Although AMOLED technology has been around, commercialization of the prototype is still years off.
“Our method has the advantage that mature, high-quality AMOLED display panels already exist,” said Hong-Shik Shim, co-author of the research paper describing the technology. “But for real commercialization, some new processes and new materials must be developed, which takes about one to two years.”
A truly foldable display would have many applications including cell phones, portable games tablets and laptops. The technology may also one day find its way into large-sized flexible displays.
Samsung had hoped to leverage AMOLED in its next generation of Galaxy Tabs. However, the company recently indicated that the technology would not find its way into products until 2012 at the earliest. [via PhysOrg]
