Electronics

LG Display's latest screen is huge, transparent, and flexible

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A 77-inch flexible screen for your smart desk, sir?
A 77-inch flexible screen for your smart desk, sir?
The technology will be used in retail and marketing first of all

It's an exciting time in display technologies, with flexible and transparent screens popping up regularly, albeit in the lab rather than on our devices. LG just set a new high bar though, with a huge 77-inch OLED screen that you can see through and roll up.

LG is describing it as the first of its kind and we haven't seen anything quite like it before. The screen boasts a 4K resolution of 3,840 x 2,160 pixels and has a 40 percent transparency. And the company says it can be rolled up to a radius of just 80 mm without affecting the function of the display.

If LG can scale up the tech for the mass market then your next ultra HD television set could well roll away when you've finished using it. The displays could also be used in a variety of advertising and retail scenarios, or would perhaps look good embedded in a smart desk.

The technology will be used in retail and marketing first of all

LG has been at this game a long time, unveiling an 18-inch flexible OLED screen in 2014, and a 55-inch transparent OLED panel in 2016. This beats both of those efforts by some distance and shows the company's commitment to "continue to bring innovation to the market," according to Senior Vice President Byung Kang.

Unfortunately LG's announcement was pretty brief and there's not much more we can tell you for now – such as when you might reasonably expect to be able to buy something like this or how much it might cost when you do.

Those details will depend on how well LG can develop the technology for consumer devices over the next few years. ZDNet reports that the project has been backed by the South Korean government and has been in the pipeline for nearly five years.

Source: LG Display

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4 comments
Rustin Lee Haase
The concept of a roll-up display device is HUGE both literally and for the industry. Right now people love big screen TVs especially now that they have become so affordable, but their dimensions are starting to approach that of a sheet of ply-board which is extremely awkward to handle in the stores, and on the way to and at home. I'm a projector fan and love my 12ft wide viewing image so I personally sneer at those huge monsters in the stores, but if I could bring home a 7ft long tube that is 1 ft in diameter and unroll my display device onto the wall, now thats another thing. Make it 3D compatible and 8K and people would never want to go outside again except to go to the store and cover the floor and ceilings with display devices too. This is a heavy hitter.
Bob Flint
What is the cost per square meter?
Imagine a circular large scale ballroom with either mixed reality @40 transparency, or certain sections @ full solid...
MK23666
Nice, can't wait to buy one or two or three.
NormCarlberg
If these clear background displays could be layered wouldn't the display be 3D?