Flexible OLED displays to go mainstream sooner than expected

The dream of owning an OLED TV may still be far off, but flexible OLED displays may get here sooner, than expected. Scientists at the University of Toronto claim to have found a method to manufacture flexible OLED displays that are more durable and impact-resistant. They believe that this technology can reduce the cost of production of OLEDs and bring the flexible OLEDs to the mainstream market very soon.

The next stage in display evolution

The technology co-invented by Zhibin Wang and Michael Helander, involves a 50-100nm thin layer of tantalum oxide on plastic in order to achieve a refractive index previously only delivered by heavy metal-doped glass. According to the University, their display is the first high-efficiency OLED on plastic. There aren’t too many details on when we can expect a commercial product, yet.

Samsung is another company who're currently toying with the idea of incorporating flexible displays for mobile phones. The South Korean electronics giant is really pushing it hard to make this a reality and from what we hear, we can expect a first actual product from them as early as next year. We’ve already seen dual-cores, large HD displays bigger than your palm and some have even dabbled with 3D screens. 2012 may just be the year of flexible displays.