LG Chem's "Real Folding Window" Promises Bendable Displays as Flexible as Plastic Yet Hard as Glass

LG Chem, one of the largest chemical companies in Korea, has unveiled a bendable display component which it hopes will find a home in future foldable smartphones, tablets, and wearables — and which it claims to be as flexible as plastic but hard as glass.

"Unlike existing polyimide films and tempered glass-type materials, the cover window that applied LG Chem’s new coating technologies will maximize flexibility," a company spokesperson claims of the material, "while also providing optimized solutions for foldable phones such as making improvements to chronic issues like fold impressions on the connecting part of the screen."

What LG Chem has created isn't a display itself, but the upper layer — a cover window, designed to protect the display against damage. It's a troubling balancing act for product designers: Too hard and the display won't bend, too soft and it will crease or even crack.

LG Chem's "Real Folding Window," the company claims, manages both, with a surface as hard as glass but the flexibility of plastic. As well as being just as hard as tempered glass, the usual material for smartphone screen windows, it's claimed to be cheaper than existing approaches for foldable displays — and is far less susceptible to fold lines forming.

"Through the Real Folding Window that we newly developed, we were able to take a step closer to resolving the pain points of customers, and we have already received proposals for joint projects from multiple clients," LG Chem's vice president for advanced materials Chang Do Ki claims.

"We will strengthen our partnerships with leading companies of the smartphone industry and expand our market starting with mobiles and going on to new foldable applications such as laptops and tablets."

The company has not, however, yet announced when the first displays using its window will appear on the market.