Future foldable mobile phone? Uncover the mystery of a flexible display

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According to foreign media reports, Samsung, LG and other companies have shown their flexible display (flexible displays). Before they were all in the prototype mobile identity debut, now flexible display will start to open the road to commercialization ...

The advent of Samsung Galaxy Round mobile phones has brought us many questions: What is a flexible display? What does a flexible display really mean? What advantages can flexible screens offer for smartphones or other devices?

1) What is a flexible display

The "display" is commonly referred to as the smooth surface you see when you look at your phone and do the operation. From a more professional point of view, the display is "hidden" in the glass or plastic shell of electronic materials, responsible for lighting the phone.

Samsung and LG's flexible display is an organic light-emitting diode (or OLED) located under a glass shell, made of flexible materials such as plastic, rather than hard glass. Companies such as Samsung and LG have been developing flexible displays for years, while Samsung Galaxy Round handsets represent the first time a mobile phone maker has brought a flexible display into the market.

2 The difference between the Samsung Galaxy Round flexible display and the Galaxy Nexus Flex screen

Samsung Galaxy Nexus and Nexus s promote a slightly folded display that is closer to your cheeks. It uses a wave-like glass rather than an OLED material in substance.

3) can Samsung Galaxy Round be bent?

The answer is No! Samsung Galaxy Round uses a 5.7-inch Full HD Super Flex AMOLED display, but it does not mean that it can be folded by hand. Although this device display a certain radian, but the entire phone is still hard, so can not bend.

4 Why do people call it a flexible display?

Part of the reason may be that people define "flexibility" differently. As mentioned above, "bending" can mean OLED (or LCD), or glass, or both.

In addition, there are many other forms of flexible display, such as "wave shape." In the case of Samsung Galaxy Round, the display has a certain radian, not straight, which will better fit the user's face. Companies making such devices bend the display in some cases, such as Samsung Galaxy Round. But other parts of the phone are fixed.

Another type of flexible display is "flex". Think of the bank cards in our wallets, which can be slightly curved, but not folded completely. The third type of flexible display refers to the "collapsible display" we often refer to. The last is the "roll display", which is often called the "flexible display" of the upgraded version.

5 Why is the flexible display so popular?

In fact, the advantages of the current surface display, such as the Samsung Galaxy Round, have not yet been demonstrated. However, the flexible display has several advantages. For example, they are more durable (especially against the fall), mainly because they may use plastic material rather than glass data. At the same time, the use of plastic materials can also make the equipment lighter and thinner. At the same time, mobile phone manufacturers can also break the standard rectangular screen tradition, creating different shapes of mobile phones. But if the force is too strong, the plastic screen can also be broken. At present, glass manufacturers are also designing a flexible glass

But the durability issue poses another problem: why not produce plastic display phones? Experts say flexible displays can do things that other screens can't. Imagine if you could use a mobile phone or a flat folded pocket, or lengthen the display, as a map. Flexible displays can even be used as clothing or jewelry. If you can overcome difficulties, flexible display will be "promising".

6 barriers to the production of flexible screen smartphones

Developing flexible mobile phones is not easy. At present, batteries and other circuit structures are still "straight to the". There are still problems with the durability and internal parts of foldable handsets. Depending on the design of a flexible screen phone, you may need a flexible display, covering material, a flex battery, and a stretch of silicon material.

Some of the required materials are already in development. LG had previously released a new battery technology that could bend the battery and squeeze it into a small space.

In addition, the device can be designed to have a hard "spine" that can store parts that cannot be folded. These different flexible designs are possible, according to the concept machines shown by Samsung and other manufacturers.

Another big challenge in producing flexible display screens is the problem of mass production. New mobile phone in the market, the cost is undoubtedly higher than the standard mobile phone, but when the production efficiency increases, the implementation of the amount of postpartum, the cost will gradually decline, the price will fall.

Even if the Samsung Galaxy Round display is curved, rather than collapsible, its mass production will be a big challenge, which is probably why Samsung currently only publishes the phone in South Korea.

7 Flexible OLED and LCD, which is better?

The flexible, foldable display displayed by handset makers uses OLED. Of course, LCD can also be curved, but not as easily as OLED bending.

LCD as a common display, it is made up of two pieces of glass, sandwiched in the middle of liquid crystal material, you can adjust the brightness. LCD needs a light-emitting chip. Although the LCD can bend, but very difficult, because the distance between the two layers of glass must always be consistent.

OLED does not need a light-emitting chip, it only needs a piece of glass (or glass, metal) to serve as the bottom. OLED makes the screen glow by depositing carbon material on the surface that bends. Handset makers will also add a second piece of glass to protect the bottom.

8 does the Samsung Galaxy Round screen consist of glass?

It is not known yet, because Samsung does not disclose the concrete components of the screen. It is speculated that Samsung uses plastic polymer materials in the phone. Samsung, however, uses more like a thin, curved glass.

9 Do people want plastic displays?

Plastic display can make the device truly "flexible", but there are problems with plastic materials. Plastics are different from glass, which means that manufacturers need to find new ways to use plastic materials without sacrificing the quality of their display images.

Another big problem is that plastic materials are permeable and can bring air and water into the device. To prevent this from happening, handset makers can "coat" a layer of plastic or use glass-plastic mixes.

"Many problems can be solved through investment development," said Sriram Peruvemba, chief marketing officer at Cambrios, Silicon Valley's flexible touch display technology company. ”

9 Folding Glass

A year ago, CNET first saw Corning Willow Glass, a very thin, flexible glass. Corning said the glass could be used for display materials.

10 flexible display has other uses?

Although we do not yet know whether foldable smartphones are practical, the touchscreen technology is now well practiced, such as an arc-touch display on smart watches or other wearable devices.