The technology deployed in smartphones continues to evolve, bringing new features, new designs, much improved device specifications, including smartphone display technology.
Lately a number of smartphone manufacturers are working on their latest flagship device whose screen can be folded. There is a rumor that the first smartphone to have this folding design screen will be commercially available this year. And based on the latest predictions mentioned that OLED folding screen will be a trend that is applied in future smartphones.
A technology research institute in Taiwan has released a 72-second video uploaded to YouTube entitled “ITRI Foldable AMOLED Prototype” which shows a prototype device equipped with a flexible AMOLED display that can be folded in such a way.
The flexible AMOLED display is manufactured by the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) in Taiwan. In the video does not explain more about what devices are equipped with flexible AMOLED screen. But from the designs that appear, it is clearly a prototype of folding smartphones. ITRI said that they are currently finalizing the product, and currently the device is approaching “commercial standards”. And this implies that will be introduced in the near future.
The video looks like a man sitting while playing a device that looks more like a 7 inch tablet. He folded up the tablet’s screen, into two equal parts. And use the device into smartphone mode with smaller screen size to check for notifications, by enabling always-on display mode even under folded display conditions. The device is provided with a hinge similar to that of the Lenovo Yoga Book (which can also be folded).
It is mentioned that the flexible glaze screen should have abrasion resistance and have a fold resistant at least more than 200,000 folds with a 3mm fold radius. If the average user checks / checks his device about 150 times per day, that means the flexible panel is predicted to last for nearly 4 years. This prediction is considered quite reasonable, and not too bad if we look at consumption patterns and lifestyle smartphone users who the majority will replace their devices after 2 or 3 years of use.
