Samsung Display wins IR52 Jang Young-shil Award for foldable OLED technology

[Courtesy of IR52 Jang Young-shil Award]

Samsung Display has been honored with the 41st IR52 Jang Young-shil Award for its pioneering work in the field of foldable displays, particularly for the development of a revolutionary flexible OLED technology that eliminates the need for polarizer films.

OLED displays commonly use polarizer films to reduce light reflection. However, these films come with drawbacks, including a low transmittance rate and vulnerability when folded, and these challenges historically hindered the adoption of foldable displays.

Samsung Display’s award-winning product features a flexible OLED technology that eliminates the need for polarizer films. The removal of these films not only enhances energy efficiency by reducing power consumption by 52 percent compared to conventional displays but also achieves a higher transmittance rate, allowing for the perfect representation of natural colors.

Foldable displays, while ultra-thin at about 800 micrometers (μm) – about the thickness of eight sheets of A4 paper when stacked – are intricately layered. Samsung Display’s development team designed a novel layered structure optimized with materials tailored to each layer’s specific function, improving optical efficiency.

The greatly enhanced light transmittance of the foldable display, which is double the previous level, enables the implementation of Under Panel Camera (UPC) technology beneath the display. Typically, smartphones have required a camera hole in the display, positioning the camera lens underneath it. However, UPC technology enables a unique form factor that leverages the entire display without the need for any holes.

The development of a thinner layered structure also enables more efficient folding of the display. By applying high-performance adhesive to the newly introduced Ultra Thin Glass (UTG), Samsung Display achieved a minimum folding radius of 1.4mm, creating the smallest folding curvature to date. This breakthrough allows for over 30,000 folds at temperatures as low as -20 degrees Celsius and up to 200,000 folds at room temperature. Additionally, digitizer technology has been incorporated to support pen functionality, resulting in a completely new foldable display.

Introduced in 2021, Samsung Display’s foldable displays have seen a remarkable sales growth, which hit $1.6 billion in 2021 and $2.1 billion in 2022 and the company aims to hit a revenue target of $2.7 billion in 2023. The foldable display market is expected to witness an annual growth rate of 30 to 50 percent in the coming years.