At the SID Display Week 2016 trade show in San Francisco last week, Samsung stole the spotlight with its latest advancement in display technology: a flexible screen that can be rolled into a 10 mm radius tube.
Samsung has been experimenting with flexible screen technology for several years now, and some of their efforts have been introduced to the general public, such as the “Edge” products with their curved displays. However, the company pushed the concept beyond its conceivable limits with the creation of “rollable” technology.
At Display Week 2016, Samsung showed off the new 5.7 inch display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080 and a pixel density of 386 pixels per inch. The entire product weighs only five grams.
The tech is not perfect or even complete at this time. The screen does not yet have a touch layer or a battery, which will ultimately add to the size and weight of the final commercially available product. It is also unclear how many “rolls” the panel can handle before it cracks or breaks.
These display panels are not yet commercially available, however, and Samsung may have a long way to go before it can mass produce “rollable” displays.
SID’s Display Week is the premier event for the electronic display industry. It is where the newest breakthrough technologies are introduced as exhibitors and attendees representing the greatest display-engineering talent from all over the world gather to share ideas. While about 50% of the largest U.S. trade shows take place in Las Vegas, Chicago, and Orlando, the San Francisco Bay Area is the ideal location for such an event as SID’s Display Week as it remains the world’s hub for the tech industry as a whole.