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Demand for flexible displays is set to undergo massive growth during the next
seven years, with a broad variety of applications -- ranging from smartphones to
giant screens mounted on buildings -- driving a nearly 250 times expansion in
shipments from 2013 through 2020.
Global shipments of flexible displays are projected to soar to 792 million
units in 2020, up from 3.2 million in 2013, according to IHS. Market revenue
will rise to $41.3 billion, up from just $100,000 during the same period.
"Flexible displays hold enormous potential, creating whole new classes of
products and enabling exciting new applications that were impractical or
impossible before," said Vinita Jakhanwal, director for mobile and emerging
displays and technology at IHS. "From smartphones with displays that curve
around the sides, to smart watches with wraparound screens, to tablets and PCs
with roll-out displays, to giant video advertisements on curved building walls,
the potential uses for flexible displays will be limited only by the imagination
of designers."
Generation flex
IHS classifies flexible displays into four generations of technology. The first
generation is the durable display panels that are now entering the market. These
panels employ a flexible substrate to attain superior thinness and unbreakable
ruggedness. However, these displays are flat and cannot be bent or rolled.
Second-generation flexible displays are bendable and conformable, and can be
molded to curved surfaces, maximizing space on small form-factor products like
smartphones.
The third generation consists of truly flexible and rollable displays that
can be manipulated by end users. These displays will enable a new generation of
devices that save space and blur the lines separating traditional product
categories, such as smartphones and media tablets.
The fourth generation consists of disposable displays that cost so little
that they can serve as a replacement for paper.
Starting small
With their thin, light and unbreakable nature, flexible displays initially are
expected to be used in smaller-sized products, such as mobile phones and MP3
players. However, once large-size displays are available, flexible technology
will be used in bigger screen-size platforms, such as laptops, monitors and
televisions.
The largest application for flexible displays during the next several years
will be personal electronic devices. This segment will be led by smartphones,
with shipments climbing to 351 million units by 2020, up from less than 2
million this year.
Flexible stars at SID
Flexible displays were a major topic at the Society for Information Display
(SID) Display Week event in Vancouver in May.
During an SID keynote address, Kinam Kim, president and CEO of Samsung
Display Co., discussed his company's flexible organic light-emitting diode (OLED)
display technology. Kim said that the technology will be suitable for wearable
electronics devices like Google Glass.
Also at SID, LG Display showed a 5-inch OLED panel constructed out of plastic
that was both flexible and unbreakable.
Furthermore, Corning at SID showed its Willow Glass, which can be used as
with both OLEDs and liquid-crystal displays (LCD) in mobile devices such as
smart phones, tablets and notebook PCs. Because of its thinness, strength and
flexibility, Willow Glass could enable future displays to be wrapped around a
device or a structure.
IHS predicts OLEDs will be the leading flexible display technology during
every year for the foreseeable future, accounting for 64 percent of shipments in
2020.
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