When you’re going to create a product and sell it to somebody, you typically don’t enlist the help of your future client in designing and creating the product. As anybody in the tech world will tell you, however, there are exceptions to this rule; tech products like smartphones and computers have a long and proud history of mavericks who listen to fans when making products, and many a video game studio takes fan input on board during development. Further up the ladder, we find LG Display, who is looking to make fold-out OLED panels to sell to Google, Microsoft, and Apple, among others. In a bid to beat Samsung to market with such a product and secure rapport, they have gone to those three tech firms to ask for help in making the panels, and it seems that they have obliged.
Reportedly, LG already has prototypes of foldable displays up and running for buyers to check out. Google is up to a myriad of things in the tech world, as are Apple and Microsoft, so it’s only natural that they would be among the first partners for LG’s adventures in foldable display mass production and marketing. They are also listed among the first ones who will have the rights to buy early stocks of these displays from LG once they start producing them in market-worthy capacities.
LG has revealed foldable displays in the past, and even rollable ones, but so has their rival, Samsung; the race is on for both firms to get their displays fully integrated with actual products and into the market before the other. Samsung has massive pockets and synergy between their display division and smart device arms, while LG has help from Google, Microsoft, and Apple, who will be among the first to get a shot at buying the products. With those three on board, LG’s displays promise to hit the ground running, with availability across products and ecosystems, though Samsung should not be counted out that easily. At this point, it’s anybody’s race, and industry insiders and consumers have a front row seat to watch the emerging technology find its feet and hit the market with compelling use cases from big names right out of the gate.