Samsung to reveal “stretchable” display tomorrow, report claims

Thomas McMullan Read more May 22, 2017

Samsung could lift the lid on a new, stretchable display design tomorrow – paving the way for smartphones screen that can be pulled and squeezed into different sizes.

Samsung to reveal “stretchable” display tomorrow, report claims

The report comes from Yonhap News, which believes a 9.1in stretchable OLED panel will be shown off tomorrow, during the Society for Information Display 2017 event at the LA Convention Center.

The site claims the company told them that the new display will be able to stretch “as much as 12 millimetres when pressed, and yet still maintains a high degree of resolution”. The thinking is that this could be used to help prevent screens from cracking, but also be used for screens capable of changing dimensions.

The claim is backed up by another report in The Korean Herald, which says the new screen will be used in everything from wearable displays to car dashboards, and that it can be deformed before snapping back to previous dimensions “like a balloon”.

“While current flexible OLED is able to be transformed in only one side, this stretchable OLED can be transformed – whether curved, bended [sic] or rolled – in both sides, above and below,” a Samsung Display spokesperson reportedly told the site.

A foldable Samsung smartphone is thought to have been in the works for a couple of years now. While the company has showcased early demos of the tech, it has yet to announce anything in the way of a specific, foldable product. This malleable display technology is still at a nascent stage, but the continued rumours and reports around bendable screens suggest Samsung is putting its chips on flexible displays as an important factor in the future of its design.

As well as the stretchable screen, Samsung is expected to reveal a glassless three-dimensional OLED, and a 1.96in Ultra HD (3,840 x 2,160) VR-ready display that would feature 2,250 pixels per inch.