Just a couple of weeks after we heard that Samsung is planning to launch a foldable smartphone this year, news of a flexible display from another company has surfaced.
Japan Display Inc. (JDI) has announced that it’s developing a flexible smartphone display. The Full Active Flex screen uses a plastic substrate on both sides of the liquid crystal layer, enabling the display to to easily form curved shapes and avoid cracking when the display is dropped.
JDI also touts that its Full Active Flex screen supports a normal 60Hz driving scheme as well as a driving scheme as low as 15Hz, which can lead to significantly lower power consumption on mobile devices.
The Full Active Flex technology will be used on a 5.5-inch 1920x1080 display, and JDI expects to begin mass production of this display in 2017.
Smartphones with non-flat displays are popular right now, with several companies crafting devices with curved edge screens. JDI’s new screen sounds like it’d be a good fit for these curved edge displays, but its ability to withstand drops without cracking makes it pretty appealing, too. With production starting in 2018, it’ll be awhile before we see any phones actually come to market with this display, but JDI’s screen definitely sounds like something to look forward to.