While the development of a prototype for bendable screens is now possible, mass manufacturing with suitable screen material is still uncertain, researchers say.
Although prototypes have featured at recent electronic shows and exhibitions globally, the affordable manufacture and device adjustability of the product is still under question.
Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) screens still seem to be the top choice in material for the development of the bendable screen.
However, LCDs pose the challenge of backlight and double glass requirements which significantly increases the weight of the device.
“Most of the weight in a tablet is the glass structure in the display and the support structure around it to prevent it from cracking,” Kevin Morishige, former engineer at Cisco Systems Inc, Hewlett-Packard Co and Palm, told Reuters.
Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLED) displays are slowly catching up, with the added advantages of improved colour contrast and a wider viewing angle without backlighting necessity.
Layered printing is also possible with OLEDs.
On the other side more flexible, lighter versions of glass, such as Gorilla glass, is being produced.
Gorilla glass is expected to be implemented in mobile devices in 2013 already with curved glass edges.
A similar alternative called Willow glass is paper thin in density and posses the ability to be wrapped around devices as a layered cover for protection, such as solar panels.
By design it is also intended for mobile gadgets.
Glass, as favourable fabric, is not flawless either, as Adrian Burden, a consultant holding patents in the field of display technology said.
“You can bend it, but you can’t keep flexing it,” Burden commented.
Curved displays will then benefit from glass, while foldable screens will be made from plastic, despite its lacking in toughness.
“As soon as you introduce plastic substrates you have all kinds of issues with sensitivity to the environment,” Burden explained.
While essential accompanying technologies are under development, bulk creation is still uncertain.
Jonathan Melnick, display technology analyst for Lux Research said: “Prototypes can be made, but that’s a long way from mass production as many of the processes and material in these devices face big yield and scaling issues.”
Despite its general unavailability to the broad public market at present, the industry is estimated to be worth US$72 billion by 2016, according to DisplaySearch.
The flexible screen is multifunctional in its uses, featuring surface application, rolling and stretchable characteristics.
