FLEXIBLE displays to reach users in less than a year - LG

A flexible display is a display which is flexible in nature; differentiable from the more prevalent traditional flat screen displays used in most electronics devices. In the recent years there's has been a growing interest from numerous consumer electronics manufacturers to apply this display technology in e-readers, mobile phones and other consumer electronics.LG spokesman Frank Lee said the Korean company is set to start mass production of flexible displays in the fourth quarter of this year.Furthermore, LG Electronics plans on releasing its first smartphone with a flexible display before the year’s end.The new displays are of the organic light-emitting diode (OLED) variety, which LG first introduced in its products via a 55-inch OLED television unveiled at CES last year.LG also plans on selling the technology with to other major mobile producers, as the company predicts its flexible display technology will become the latest trend in mobiles. This, in turn, raises speculation as to which next generation device we could see with flexible displays this year, or in the first half of 2014.In LG’s own camp, the rumored LG Nexus 5 is one such candidate, as is the LG Optimus G2 (although not according to these leaked images).The anticipated Apple iPhone 6 could also be in store for a flexible display, although that product is not expected until at least 2014.Finally, LG hopes that its flexible display technology will give it the upper hand over hometown rival Samsung, who are supposedly facing problems with the development of their own flexible display tech. Then there’s also last year’s OLED panel leak, which makes this a hot button issue between the two Korean giants.LG Display is about to embark on the mass production of smartphone display panels that reportedly don't break, crack, or shatter -- because they can bend.By the fourth quarter of this year, the electronics company plans to be supplying the flexible displays to a host of major clientsLG will apply a 4.5th generation glass-cutting technology for the OLED flexible displays. Monthly capacity for the line was set as 12,000 sheetsThe push for flexible displays comes at a time of growing demand for new screen technology. LG spokesman Frank Lee told The Korea Times that one of the reasons the company was heading toward mass production was to meet "the rapid need for display advancements."Flexible displays could be the new frontier for electronics; and, it appears that LG wants to get a leg-up on the market and become the first company to mass-produce the display panels for mobile devices. In April, LG Electronics (a stakeholder of LG Display) announced its plans to debut its first flexible smartphone sometime this year.LG isn't the only company working on the bendable displays. Samsung, Nokia, and even Apple have been working on flexible smartphone and tablet screens for years.Until handset manufacturers can make an entirely flexible smartphone, which would require a new design for internal components, flexible displays screens will remain ‘a novelty’