Samsung Display may use transparent polyimide film on large foldable devices
Samsung Display is considering the use of ultra-thin glass (UTG) or transparent polyimide (PI) film as the cover window on its foldable OLED panels.
Image: The Elec
According to The Elec, Samsung Display’s current foldable OLED panels, such as those used on the Galaxy Z Fold and Galaxy Z Flip phones, have a cover window made of ultra-thin glass. One of the advantages of ultra-thin glass is that its light transmittance and visibility are high, but compared with transparent polyimide film, it is more easily damaged by external conflicting forces.
In fact, Samsung Electronics has already used transparent polyimide film on the first-generation Galaxy Fold launched in 2019, however, ultra-thin glass has been replaced on subsequent new models, including the current Galaxy Z Fold 4 and Galaxy Z Flip 4.
However, in addition to folding mobile phones, Samsung also plans to launch folding notebooks or tablet computers, and the durability of ultra-thin glass on such large-sized devices is a problem. The larger the size, the easier it is to crack the ultra-thin glass, and devices such as folding screen notebooks have a much larger panel size than mobile phones. Therefore, Samsung Display is also considering the use of transparent polyimide films on the OLED panels of these large-scale folding devices.
As the main rival of Samsung Display, LG Display currently uses transparent polyimide film as the glass cover on the display panel of the folding device.
