A 12-inch high-resolution stretchy display from LG that is equipped with free-form technology that can be stretched, folded, and twisted without distorting or being damaged is a first for the industry. With a display that is 20% stretchable, 100 PPI (pixels per inch) of resolution, and full-color RGB, LG is paving the road for wearable advertising by promoting the commercialization potential of their flexible display. The folding revolution has expanded thanks to LG’s “Bendable” Gaming Monitor and the World’s First Foldable MicroLED TV by Austrian audiovisual pioneers C SEED.
The stretchy display is reportedly made possible by LG Electronics using a very durable film-type substrate composed of specialized silicon based on the same material used for contact lenses. As a result, the 12-inch display’s “rubber band-like flexibility” allows it to expand to 14 inches. In a press release, LG emphasized the display’s free-form design as a “cutting-edge solution” that is “unlike the typical linear wiring system,” sending a message to other folding and rollable screens on the market. Customers may be assured of the exceptional endurance and dependability of the Stretchable display thanks to its flexible S-form spring wired system’s ideal structure, which can withstand repeated modifications to its form.
Additionally, the extendable screen has a micro-LED light source with pixels that are extremely close together—less than 40 micrometers—providing a resolution that is on par with that of current monitors as well as “durability to withstand significant external impacts”—durability that enables the Stretchable display to provide “next-level versatility for various daily scenarios.” According to LG, these panels will cover “curved surfaces,” increasing the marketing potential of sectors like fashion, wearable technology, mobility, and gaming.
LG’s Stretchable display is the outcome of a significant national R&D initiative that the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy (MOTIE) of South Korea gave the firm back in 2020. Twenty additional organizations joined LG and the industrial-academic sector of the nation to advance South Korea’s “next-generation display industry.”
“We will successfully complete this project to enhance the competitiveness of Korean display technology while continuing to lead the industry’s paradigm shift,” remarked Soo-young Yoon, Executive Vice President, and CTO at LG Display.
LG already provides ultra-stretched panels to companies for use in presenting information and advertising, among other uses. However, due to their extreme width or height (depending on their orientation), these screens can only be installed flat. You might have also seen the recent increase in 3D billboards, like the one that Circles recently put up. February, life atop Melbourne’s Emporium. Even though those screens are undoubtedly spectacular and much more interesting than a billboard broadcasting a film, they are not nearly as effective at covering more unusual surfaces.
However, at only 12 inches (extended to 14 when stretched), it’s a little too small to compete with billboards given that it has a resolution similar to that of the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, which has an even higher pixel depth of 264ppi. The Stretchable display is different from the 144-inch foldable screen from C-SEED unveiled at CEDIA Expo 2021 in that it is intended to physically stretch across a surface, turning it into a display itself, as opposed to using a series of five enormous MicroLED foldable panels to produce a much larger display.
The white E ink panels wrapped across a BMW SUV at CES 2022 are an example of where the Stretchable Display might succeed. Stretchable displays may be installed on any vehicle to provide a mobile advertisement without running the danger of the screens being seriously harmed in an accident. We probably won’t see these out on the streets very soon unless the Stretchable display is upgraded to higher resolutions with improved pixel depth. Although it’s possible that the fashion industry may use this technology to create wearable advertisements, hopefully doing away with the lucrative brand-tattoo business. Please stop doing that!
