LG said to be mass producing foldable display products

[HEXUS]

A 'global software business' based in the US will be its main customer.

Read more.

[cheesemp]

'global software business' = Microsoft? Only other option is google or facebook which I don't see as very likely...

(Of course it could be related to the new Nexus models?)

[sykobee]

Could be smoke and mirrors to hide the true customer. Everyone is going to think "Microsoft" given that description! If it is Microsoft, they might as well have written "Microsoft"!

100,000 times unfolding is fairly decent. A phone could be unfolded 100 times a day for three years before the display started breaking. It would provide a 7"-8" tablet within a standard mobile phone form factor (probably a fat mobile phone however).

I wonder what downside the technology has - for example, lower resolution, image quality, etc.

[DemonHighwayman]

Beat me to it cheesemp, my bet would be on Microsoft seeing as their phone buisness isn't doing all that well.

[LSG501]

Microsoft courier mk2 was my first thought, I can't see it being facebook (don't really class them as software) but google is a maybe as a module for project ara.

But then I started thinking a little more, a lot of companies seem to be focusing on the digital 'notepad and pen' so it could be adobe or evermotion as outside bets too. Having said that global software business could also include several linux distro's (ubuntu for example) as they're supported by some major brands too

[Corky34]

Could be smoke and mirrors to hide the true customer.

Could well be, especially as Samsung filed a patent for a foldable phone just a few weeks ago.
Then again companies file speculative patents all the time don't they.

[LSG501]

Could well be, especially as Samsung filed a patent for a foldable phone just a few weeks ago.

seriously, the patent system is just so broken it's stupid.... I saw designs like that at uni 10+ years ago if not before, not to mention flexible display ideas have been around as long if not longer. Also didn't someone bring out an eink version of that patent, at least to prototype level anyway.

[Ttaskmaster]

I want one of them foldable screen phones with the physical QWERTY keyboard!!

[DanceswithUnix]

Foldable means it has to be thin, which should mean it is light, which means it would be ideal for making a VR headset.

That would point me at Microsoft or Valve.

Edit to add: Would you call Google a software business? I think of them as advertising, but they could be a possible.

[spolsh]

Google were my second thought.

[edzieba]

VR won't benefit much if at all from a flexible display. At best you can add one-axis cylindrical curvature, but this just means you need to use asymmetric lenses. And if you're using asymmetric lenses, you may as well stick with a cheaper (volume production) and higher quality (smoother substrate) flat display panel and compensate in the optics.

Now a TWO-axis curvature display panel would be useful, and would allow for things like reflective rather than refractive optics. But two-axis curvature requires the substrate and panel to STRETCH rather than merely flex, something that no manufacturer has demonstrated even with a lab prototype.

[DanceswithUnix]

VR won't benefit much if at all from a flexible display. At best you can add one-axis cylindrical curvature, but this just means you need to use asymmetric lenses. And if you're using asymmetric lenses, you may as well stick with a cheaper (volume production) and higher quality (smoother substrate) flat display panel and compensate in the optics.

Now a TWO-axis curvature display panel would be useful, and would allow for things like reflective rather than refractive optics. But two-axis curvature requires the substrate and panel to STRETCH rather than merely flex, something that no manufacturer has demonstrated even with a lab prototype.

Read again, I was ignoring the folding aspect and saying I was expecting them to have a weight advantage. Traditional LCD displays are on glass, and that is heavy. Glass doesn't fold well, so I assume these are different. It would also be nice if you trip over something while wearing your VR headset to not end up with broken glass flying around your face.

[kellyharding]

The stumbling block will remain the battery likely not being foldable, needing a block for that. If they can make foldable batteries too then it'd be great.

Sci-fi becoming Sci-non-fi

[Ttaskmaster]

The stumbling block will remain the battery likely not being foldable, needing a block for that. If they can make foldable batteries too then it'd be great.

Can they not just have two smaller cells with a wire connecting them in series?