Even With Many Challenges in Foldable Displays for Smartphones, Consultant Sees Some Coming
Exploiting the unique “form factor” with flexible OLEDs in smartphones or tablets, such as with devices with foldable screens, would be the “most important” way to boost the current low factory “utilization” and poor production yields for those displays, said…
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Display Supply Chain Consultants CEO Ross Young on a Tuesday webinar. “The flexible nature of these products adds some functionality, or a cool factor,” to justify their premium positioning, said Young. Price is the “biggest impediment” to the adoption of flexible OLED displays, he said. Flexible OLEDs cost four times as much as LCD displays fashioned from low-temperature polycrystalline silicon, said Young. “It’s very risky for smartphone brands to adopt these high-priced components.” “Foldable” smartphones or tablets would be the ultimate differentiator, he said. “If you could fold your tablet, and have it serve as your phone, you could see display sizes growing to seven inches or eight inches, or even nine inches.” Despite the “many challenges,” he said that “it appears that production is going to start in small quantities by the end of this year."