LG's stretchable display could literally reshape the future of phones, wearables and cars

Over the past decade we’ve seen an explosion in displays in devices, with LG being one of the core companies developing solutions for a wide range of innovative products. Now the company has shown off a flexible display that could be a game changer.

We’ve all got used to LG showing off what it can do with an OLED display, not just from its TV range where the LG C4 remains one of the top OLED TVs to buy, but through any number of concept devices that we’ve seen in the past, like the LG Rollable.

LG Display has been the main brand pushing the idea of flexibility in displays, but where we’ve seen folding displays and plenty of rollable displays, LG’s latest tech takes screens in a new direction – literally. The company has now shown off a stretchable display, that will allow up to 50% screen extension.

This new display can be twisted, folded and stretched, opening the door to more diverse device designs. It will no longer be constrained to fairly conservative curves or folds, instead allowing for expansion without having to store the excess screen elsewhere, which you’d have to do with a rolling display.

The prototype is a 12-inch screen which can be extended to 18-inches, while offering full RGB colours. LG Display says that this is a 100ppi display, which isn’t hugely high by modern smartphone or tablet standards, but could be perfectly suitable for other display types.

LG says that the display can withstand 10,000 repeated stretches without any degradation. Whether this would suit the lifespan of a consumer device remains to be seen, but the Korean firm highlights that this display is thin and light, so can be applied to all sorts of forms, from wearables to car displays.

LD Display has shown off a number of concept applications, including a convex vehicle display and wearable display designed to give information to firefighters.

This technology breakthrough is encouraging, suggesting we’re closer than ever to a stable display that will provide the flexibility to move beyond current device designs. That might not lead to a revolution in smartphones just yet, but it certainly opens the door to more interesting designs across a range of categories.