📺
Survey of Alternative Displays
  • Survey of Alternative Displays - 2024 Update Notes
  • 2022 Update Notes
  • Introduction
  • Outline
  • Standard Displays
    • Standard Displays Overview
    • LED
    • Projector
  • Alternative Displays
    • Overview
    • Transparent
    • Volumetric Displays
    • Modified Polarizers
    • Electronic Paper/E-Ink
    • Flexible Displays
    • Lasers and Laser Projectors
    • Lenticular and Multiview Displays
    • Light-field Displays
    • Head Mounted Displays
    • Circular and Non Rectangular
  • Techniques
    • Overview
    • Pepper's Ghost
    • Projection on Static Transparent Material
    • Volumetric Projection
    • Projection on Water or Fog
    • Diffusion and Distortion Techniques
  • Experimental/Other
    • Overview
    • Physical/Mechanical Displays
    • Switchable Glass
    • Drone Displays
    • Ultrasonic Atomization of Water
    • Electrochromic Paint
    • Light activated and other Reactive Surfaces and Materials
    • Scanning Fiber Optics
    • Acoustic Levitation Display
    • Plasma Combustion
    • High Refresh Rate Displays
    • Other Experiments
  • Legacy
    • Overview
    • Cathode Ray Tube
    • Eggcrate and other Numeric Displays
    • Glasses-enabled 3D
    • Pyrotechnics and Other Curiosities
  • Closing Notes
  • Appendix
    • Holograms and the Ideal Display
    • Misleading Terms
    • Notes about Touch Screens
    • Virtual Production and XR
    • LCD Polarizer Removal
    • DIY Transparent Screens
    • Acknowledgements and Additional References
Powered by GitBook
On this page
  • Flexible OLED
  • Flexible LED

Was this helpful?

Edit on GitHub
  1. Alternative Displays

Flexible Displays

PreviousElectronic Paper/E-InkNextLasers and Laser Projectors

Last updated 1 year ago

Was this helpful?

  • Flexible OLED

  • Flexible LED panels

Flexible OLED

OLED is the technology of choice for fleible displays because it can be manufactured on very thin layers on a plastic substrate. OLED’s also emit their own light, so there is no need for an additional backlight, allowing for the thinnest possible display. The screens can be bent or rolled a considerable amount, and only one full edge needs to be connected to the electronics that drive the display. There is also a greater potential for these displays to be manufactured in unusual shapes other than rectangles.

While making flexible LCD’s isn’t impossible, there is a limit to the amount of bend that can be achieved and the cost implications make them a less than ideal choice.

Actual sources for flexible displays that can be used for artistic or commercial purposes still requires some research.

Royole's Rokit:

LG Signature OLED R rollable TV:

Flexible LED

microLED stretchable prototype below:

See also:

have been appearing in tech news for years, but very few have reached consumers due to their niche uses and currently high cost of production. In the original version of this writeup in 2016, flexible screens were around in some form, but they were mostly concept units displayed at events liked CES. In 2022, flexible screens are still a niche area and come at a price premium, but they are much more accessible for consumers than they were.

One of the intriguing uses of a flexible display is that it can potentially be utilized as a element. The flex of the screen could be sensed by software and used as a gesture in addition to swipe and tap gestures.

LG is a common manufacturer of flexible displays - they do offer a "roll up TV" that is featured in a video below. They also offer a few different options for displays that can be bent around the vertical or horizontal axes with a limited radius, depending on whether you get the or model. These displays come with a pricetag of about $20000-25000 (retail, but you can get better partner pricing via integrators) for a 55" display. When installing a display, you need a —some larger AV integrators may already have this device. These displays also require a detached, rigid control blox, which is connected via a ribbon cable. In theory, the ribbon cable could be extended, but you should assume that the control box is somewhat visible from the sides. LG had a 77" version in 2017 that was also , but it looks like it never fully made it to market.

Samsung has released a number of smaller scale flexible OLED products as well. They currently advertise their as having a very small 1.4R bend radius that allows them to bend the display almost completely flat. They recently announced their new Flex G and S devices that explore different ways of bending a smartphone to transition from a phone to a tablet. A couple years ago they also released the commercially available Galaxy Z Fold3 and Flip3 that offered a sort of flipphone experience. The first test iterations of the Flip and Fold had a number of manufacturing and usage issues that led to a .

Royole offers the for about $959 as an open source development kit for working with their Cicada Wing small scale flexible displays. They also have their own Android Smartphone, the .

Flexible LED is a very different thing from OLED. There are large scale for architectural purposes (like wrapping a column) and there are that function similarly to OLED.

Royole RoTree

Flexible displays
user interface
"open frame"
portrait
landscape
curve calibrator
40% transparent
FlexOLED
recall
RoKit
Flexpai
flexible LED displays
microLED displays
https://global.royole.com/us/rotree
Rollable OLED
amFlex LED
Royole Flexible microLED