LG to Show Off 5-inch Flexible OLED Screen

LG Display said on Monday that it plans to reveal a new 5-inch flexible OLED plastic display at the Society for Information Display's (SID) Display Week 2013 in Vancouver, Canada from May 19 to May 24, 2013. The screen should lead to a number of innovative designs, let alone reduce the number of problems stemming from glass-based displays in smartphones.

The company is also showcasing a 5-inch HD Oxide TFT panel that sports a 1.0-mm bezel which will enable ODMs to produce borderless smartphones that are lightweight and emit significantly less heat. There's also a larger 7-inch version that enables "superior" touch functionality in thin and lightweight mobile products thanks to the company's touch function-embedded technology.

"LG Display will introduce 5-inch and 7-inch HD LCD panels based on Oxide TFT, seen as the next generation TFT technology as it offers high investment efficiency in producing thin, high transparency, and low power consumption displays," the company said. "LG Display, which utilized this technology in its large-sized OLED displays for the first time in the world, will expand its expertise to LCD panel development thereby leading the market."

Also on hand will be the 55-inch curved OLED HDTV we nearly stole at CES 2013 (obviously, it wouldn't fit in the backpack), the world's first Ultra HD panel for 23.8-inch monitors, a 14-inch Quadruple HD (2,560 x 1,440) panel for laptops, and the world's first 7-inch Full HD panel for tablets that exceeds 300 pixels per inch (PPI). LG Display will also present a new type of LCD which can depict the highest level of color reproduction ratio for implementation across "various industries."

"The company will also spotlight its commitment to heightened design standards based on borderless technology with a 5-inch HD LCD panel for smartphones with 1.0-mm bezel, as well as products boasting the world's most narrow bezels including a 13.3-inch Full HD LCD Neo Edge panel for laptops with 1.5-mm bezel, a 23.8-inch Full HD LCD Neo Blade panel for monitors with 3.5-mm bezel, and a 55-inch LCD panel for video walls with 5.3-mm bezel," the company said.

Last month Yoon Bu-hyun, LG's vice president of mobile, said that the company plans to launch a smartphone with a flexible OLED screen sometime in 4Q13. The LG exec did not say where this device will be offered, and what features it will have outside of the unique screen offering. However, LG Display previously said that it was on track to hit mass production in the second half of 2013, but the capacity would be limited, offered to only one or two ODM customers outside LG's own line of products.