Top Tech Day 7: Flexible OLED Screens
Flexible OLED screens have been promised for a number of years now, with earliest prototypes showing up as early as 1992 in academic papers. The dream of using them for lightweight, flexible, flat panel displays goes back to at least the mid 1990s, but the first OLED TVs didn’t show up on the market until 2013. Manufacturing processes needed to be developed to a sufficient point, as did a number of other supporting technologies.
The first two OLED screens to the market in the United States were the LG 55″ OLED Smart TV with a 4K resolution, and the the Samsung 55″ OLED Smart TV with 4K resolution. Both TVs are curved-it is not clear if this brings additional benefit, or if it is a ‘statement’ to make it more attractive to early adopters who are showing off with it. All the same, it means that these screens will begin entering the market, and the price is likely to drop over time.
In addition to the big screen TVs, both companies have announced smartphones using the technology as well. Samsung has announced the Galaxy Round, and LG has announced the G Flex. While they will still have mostly rigid frames, there are a number of benefits to these phones using OLED screens. Non-rigid screens mean that hitting the ground won’t shatter the screen, whether on a corner or face down. Samsung has released that the 5.7″ Round will have 1920×1080 resolution, though other specifications are unknown.
There are any number of reviews of both the TVs and the phones around the internet as well as on youtube, so we’ll refrain from giving our impressions. All four items are seeing positive reviews on Amazon-for what few units have been sold.
And if that’s not enough for you, here’s a video of a Samsung AMOLED screen getting hit with a hammer: