Samsung Showcases Rollable Screen

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Samsung has been demonstrating its cutting edge technology at the SID Display Week event in San Francisco, and attracting a lot of attention is the rollable display screen, which as the name suggests, can actually be rolled up, like you would a newspaper or magazine, and put inside a tube.

Samsung Rollable Screen

Flexible screen technology is nothing new, (LG showed off similar OLED technology at CES at the beginning of they year), but this was a chance for Samsung to demonstrate just how far down the road they have journeyed and the image quality they can attain using the new technology.

Although this technology is not available to the public yet, Samsung always enjoys the opportunity given to display its newest and most impressive technologies.  The latest is an OLED 5.7 inch screen boasting a 1920 x 1080 resolution, combined with a pixel density of 386p.  This new rollable display can be rolled up into a 10mm radius tube (known as 10R), has a weight of just five grams and a screen thickness of only 0.3mm.

The demonstration was performed behind a glass screen and was powered by an external power source.  Currently the display screen does not have touch capabilities, and whether that can be added without compromising the thin profile remains to be seen.

Samsung declined to comment on questions about durability and expected lifespan of the screen.  It is still unknown just how many times you can expect the to be able to roll and unroll the screen before damage or wear and tear start to reduce performance.

Like fashion shows for designers latest clothes, these trade shows are an opportunity to give the public a taste of things being worked on, but don’t expect to find this technology on Main Street (something the Internet has already killed) anytime soon, this is still in its infancy and there is much work to be done before it can be manufactured for the masses.

OLEDs

Traditional screens provide their image through backlighting.  This requires a bulb that generates the light (and with that comes heat). By using circuitry not behind the screen, OLEDs operate via wires and electric charge that produce the image.  With a wire, it can be rolled, folded and manipulated with ease unlike the usual LED or plasma display units, and hence how it is able to have such a previously unthinkable malleability with minimal thickness.

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