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LG just unveiled the world’s first expandable screen

Pabio November 20, 2024

Forget one foldable screen on your smartphone. LG has just unveiled the world’s first extendable, yes, extendable, display.

Able to extend and twist, the crazy new screen measures 12 inches but can extend up to 50% beyond its original size to 18 inches. And it does so while maintaining its high-resolution, 100-pixel-per-inch, full-color image. According to the tech brand, the foldable prototype can be safely stretched 10,000 times, even when exposed to extreme temperatures, without any distortion of its display.

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Beyond the novelty of LG’s creation, the technology could have countless uses in various vocations. The extendable screen is not only thin and lightweight, but it can also easily adapt to irregularly shaped or curved surfaces. The company suggested two potential use cases: as a touch-activated automotive panel and as a wearable display included in a firefighter’s uniform that provides real-time information updates.

Disembodied hands twist a flexible screen with a colorful display on a black background. — LG’s extendable screen is flexible enough to twist and expand.

This incarnation of the extendable screen comes four years after the South Korean government launched an initiative in partnership with LG to develop the technology. The success of this category is one of the main goals for next-generation displays set by South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, but despite inter-organizational support, the process has not progressed. carried out without difficulty. In 2022, a previous attempt at an expandable display allowed it to increase by 20%, or less than half of its current capacity. Only after improving the properties of a silicon substrate used in contact lenses and developing a new wiring design structure was the current model possible.

Although it’s just a start, the project has allowed LG to begin locating the necessary materials, components and equipment that could one day help advance the technology. It may take years, but the prospect of a display that can be taken anywhere while making cracked screens a thing of the past seems like it won’t take long to catch on.

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