Flexible Displays Landing in 2012, But Not in Apple Gear
Phil Lelyveld
Entertainment Technology Center
[Wired]
…In early March, Samsung announced it would be mass-producing its flexible OLED displays, like the one seen above, by the end of this year. Now flash-forward to this Monday: According to a report from the Korea Times, Samsung is seeing “huge” orders for this display, and Apple is “likely” to be one of the major players.
Such a display could be useful in a number of applications, such as in a device with a gently curved screen. Ultimately, the display could even be deployed in a flexible, bendable phone or tablet. But that’s probably not on the horizon — especially Apple’s horizon — anytime soon. …
Samsung’s flexible OLED display certainly has some advantages over current display tech. For one, it’s basically unbreakable because it doesn’t use glass, but rather a type of plastic called polyamide. …
Colegrove said there are two reasons why Samsung’s flexible OLED is attractive to device manufacturers. First, the display is thin, lightweight and difficult to break — this offers immediate design benefits. Second, any type of new, novel technology offers marketing benefits. You can hear the commercial spiel now: “We have the first flexible AMOLED display devices in human history!” …
And if you’re looking to find a flexible display in an iDevice, you’ll probably have to wait until the 2013-2014 time frame, says Colgrove — with truly bendy iDevices appearing in 2015 at the earliest.
See the full story here: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/05/apple-flexible-displays/
