LG has long since folded out of the smartphone market, though luckily for us, the company’s display arm continues to make advancements by bringing innovative panel designs to market. To that end, the screen-maker has announced it will start mass production of 17in Foldable OLED displays designed for laptops.
The latest 17in Foldable OLED panel was last teased at its ‘unfold the future‘ event in Las Vegas back in March 2023 alongside another innovative 8.03in, 360-degree, bi-directional foldable OLED designed for implementation in the latest bendy phablets.
Well, according to LG Display, the Foldable OLED panel is finally ready to market and features tandem OLED technology that previously served in the automotive industry. Except, besides increased longevity, brightness, and overall performance, it incorporates a specialised material the company describes as a ‘thin-film, transistor liquid crystal,’ allowing it to bend seamlessly without impacting visual prowess. Pretty cool.
LG says that the special sauce also minimises creasing, ensuring a smoother, seamless screen when unfolded, unlike conventional foldable panels we have today. Shots fired. In addition, the touted ‘in-folding’ design allows it to fold inwards with ease and the curvature of the folding portion is reduced to a radius of 3mm, resulting in a slim and seamless look when folded in half.
Besides this, the panel incorporates a 2560×1920 QHD+ resolution display promising deep blacks, high contrast ratios and vivid colour reproduction thanks to OLED technology. What’s more, when fully unfolded, the screen features a 4:3 ratio, ideal for maximised productivity, and when at an angle, it transforms into a 12.3in laptop with a 3:2 aspect ratio, transitioning the top half to a ‘main display,’ while the bottom half serves as a touch-sensitive keyboard using fingers or editing with a stylus. Awesome.
We will most likely see these displays popping up in all sorts of creations from partners starting next year. If the company’s previous successful collaborations are anything to go by, then we could see a commercialised foldable laptop from the likes of Lenovo and HP. We’ll keep an eye out until then.
