Tech
LG gets extra weird with 360-degree folding phone display concept
The OLED touchscreen display can fully close in either direction and can survive 200,000 folds.
LG Display showed off a bunch of funky foldables that we can only hope will make it to market one day. Of the concepts displayed at SID 2022, LG Display’s smartphone screen that folds completely back in either direction feels like it could be the one to shake up the foldable market the most. The display definitely earns its “360-degree Foldable OLED” name since it can bend completely inward or outward.
LG Display isn’t the first to offer such a concept, since TCL already gave us a look at its “360-degree Ultra Flex” concept earlier this year. Unfortunately, TCL’s track record for actually releasing a foldable smartphone to market is non-existent. That being said, it’s not exactly clear if or when LG Display will get its 360-degree display into our hands, but it seems like a safer bet than TCL.
Sparse details — The Korean display maker was pretty light on details about the innovative display, but it revealed a short demo and some details. The conceptual display is an eight-inch OLED touchscreen that Gizmodo reported has a resolution of 2,480 x 2,200.
The 360-degree foldable display “uses a special folding structure to minimize creasing” and can survive 200,000 folds, according to LG Display. The number of folds it can withstand matches that of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3, but we can’t really tell if there will be a noticeable crease, since LG Display’s concept has a different hinge mechanism.
Foldable everything— Besides the smartphone display, LG Display also showed off its bendable OLED Gaming Display that can curve up to 1,000R and its 17-inch Foldable OLED Laptop that can switch from its default form factor into a tablet or portable monitor.
LG Display didn’t give us any idea of when these displays could potentially come to market, so don’t hold your breath. As cool as these are, there’s a chance that we’ll have to wait years or may not even get a chance to see them in action.
But, we are seeing more phone makers are catching onto the foldable wave including Vivo, Oppo, Honor. We’re just waiting for Apple to jump on the craze before we start seeing more foldables out there in the wild.
