LG Display Co., South Korea’s leading display maker under LG Electronics Inc., has developed the industry’s first display that can be stretched by 50% from its original size without image distortion, the company announced on Sunday.
This is a significant upgrade from the company’s previous stretchable display prototype unveiled in 2022. The predecessor was expanded to a maximum of 14 inches from 12 inches, boasting a 20% stretchability.
But the latest upgrade can be stretched to up to 18 inches from 12 inches, according to the company’s demonstration, showing off that its flexibility is the industry’s best.
The company said that the newer version can be extended, folded and twisted without damaging its 100-pixels-per-inch (PPI) resolution and full-color RGB, raising expectations for its commercialization.
Stretchable displays are considered the next-generation display thanks to their free-form factor that ensures greater versatility in designs and applications than foldable or rollable display technology.
It can be attached easily to curved surfaces such as skin, clothing, furniture, automobiles and aircraft, expanding the potential of the display in various industries ranging from fashion to wearables to mobility to gaming.
In early September, LG Display showcased clothing designed with stretchable displays at the 2025 S/S Seoul Fashion Week held in Seoul.
NEXT-GENERATION DISPLAY WITH GREAT VERSATILITY
LG Display has significantly improved the flexibility of the latest stretchable display by enhancing its substrate, which is made of special silicon generally used in contact lenses, and developing a new wired system, according to the company.
The new stretchable display withstood more than 10,000 repetitive stretches during tests, demonstrating incredible durability and reliability, the company said.
It also uses a micro-LED light source with a pixel pitch of less than 40 micrometers (μm), securing a high level of durability to withstand significant external impacts as well as a resolution, the company added.
LG Display has developed the stretchable display as part of Korea’s five-year national research and development project commissioned by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy in 2020.
The company led the project with 19 institutions in an industry-academia partnership.
After completing the project, the company has secured a core source technology for stretchable displays.
The new display technology is expected to help LG Display transform into a high-end display producer after withdrawing from the large-size liquid crystal display (LCD) market following the sale of its large-size LCD plant in China to TCL China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co. (CSOT) in late September.
LG Display will focus on premium organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panels for TVs, automotive displays and IT devices.
By Jeong-Soo Hwang
hjs@hankyung.com
Sookyung Seo edited this article.
