Samsung confirms to showcase stretchable OLED this week

Samsung’s display panel subsidiary will unveil world's first stretchable display during the US display conference at the Los Angeles Convention Centre this week, the company confirmed in a statement to The Yonhap news agency.

Samsung display will be showcasing a 9.1-inch stretchable organic light-emitting diode (OLED) at the Society for Information Display (SID) 2017, which will run from May 23-25 in Los Angeles, US.

The Stretchable display is said to be the most advanced flexible display so far as it could be put to use in different fields, including automobile and wearable markets.

“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 told Yonhap news agency.

When pressed, the stretchable display is dented up to 12mm, like a balloon, and then reverts back to its original shape, Samsung's Display firm added.

However, the technology is still in the early research and development stage and may not be commercialised anytime soon.

IHS Markit, a London-based research firm predicted that stretchable display market will evolve into bendable, foldable and rollable display in the coming years. They estimated the sale of the flexible display market to rise to $15.7 billion in 2020 from $5.3billion this year.

Looking at the current bezel-free display marker, a Samsung Display’s engineer earlier this year had said that the foldable display market still has some technical challenges to be addressed due to which foldable phone may not be commercialised until 2019.

Additionally, the Korean tech giant will be unveiling its glass three-dimensional OLED and ultra-high-definition liquid crystal display (LCD) at the conference. These technologies will then be used to for virtual reality, augmented reality and holograms.