This week there are two semi-big mobile events going on. There’s CTIA which is mostly a carrier event and has been a pretty big snoozefest this year. There’s also SID, which is where LG and Qualcomm and others are this week.
LG is showing off their 5-inch flexible plastic OLED display. Because it’s made of plastic, it allows the display to be both bendable and unbreakable, which are two things we love to see. LG is also touting that the display will debut in a smartphone before the end of this year. We’ve heard rumors of it being in the Optimus G2 coming this fall, but that’s not confirmed just yet.
This panel is made from plastic substrates. Which are more flexible and cheaper to manufacture than their glass counterparts. LG is saying that cost-effectiveness seems to be the chief objective overall. This will definitely benefit those that drop their phones often or are accident-prone. Typically the glass above the screen would break, but with this OLED panel, it would stay in tact. Which in turn would result in lower repair costs.
At LG’s booth, they are allowing attendees at SID take a hammer to the standalone display and twist it every which way. And it did indeed withstand these torture tests. Engadgetwas on the show floor and got this hands on demo for all of us to check out. The LG rep there also told Engadget that the panel could sport a bigger or smaller size when it debuts in a smartphone later this year. The resolution could probably be higher as well.