Exciting Developments in Bendable Phone Technology

An iPhone bent around your wrist to become an Apple Watch. A touch screen car display curved across the entire dashboard. An iPad rolled up and slid into your pocket. Thanks to new bendable electronics technology invented by scientists at the Australian National University and experimental designs created by smartphone companies, these futuristic gadgets may not be that far away.
On October 5th, scientists from the ANU Research School of Engineering reported that they invented a thin, flexible semiconductor that could retain the efficiency of light conversion to electricity. Associate Professor Lu stated, “For the first time, we have developed an ultra-thin electronics component with excellent semiconducting properties that is an organic-inorganic hybrid structure and thin and flexible enough for future technologies, such as bendable mobile phones and display screens.” The semiconductor’s small width can be attributed to its hybrid structure: a one-atom-thick organic component paired with a two-atom-thick inorganic component. This hybrid structure enables the semiconductor to emit precise light beams to produce high quality images. According to PhD student Ankur Sharma, “The light emission from our semiconducting structure is very sharp, so it can be used for high-resolution displays and, since the materials are ultra-thin, they have the flexibility to be made into bendable screens and mobile phones in the near future.” The scientists also reported that the semiconductor is much faster than conventional smartphone semiconductors made only of inorganic materials like silicon. According to Mr. Sharma, there is “potential with this semiconductor to make mobile phones as powerful as today’s supercomputers.” Moreover, because of the organic component, the new semiconductor is now biodegradable and recyclable. The technology’s environmental benefits make the invention highly desirable in a world where the amount of global e-waste is projected to reach 49.8 million tons this year. This new invention arrives as major smartphone companies – including Apple, Samsung, and LG – have begun filing patents for designs and prototypes of bendable phones. These designs capitalize on the flexibility of OLED displays, the most common type of display used as the screen for every major flagship phone. These displays emit their own light, meaning they do not require a backlight to illuminate them so that they may be fastened to flexible plastics. However, smartphone screens are not flexible in spite of their OLED screens because these screens are trapped inside robust metal cases. The main issue with creating a bendable phone is that not only the screen has to be flexible but also the other components of the phone. Phone batteries, in particular, are extremely difficult to bend. Among the prototypes for flexible phones, Samsung has created one of the more notable designs. Samsung’s patent describes a 7.3-inch OLED display encased inside a metal frame with a hinge. The diagrams included in the patent show the phone opening and closing like a notebook. When the screen reaches the completely open and closed states, a locking and unlocking mechanism solidifies the screen to prevent the phone from collapsing in the user’s hand. At the launch of the Samsung Galaxy A9, CEO Dong Jin Koh announced that the device will be able to be unfolded to a fully-functioning tablet with multitasking capabilities and then folded back to a portable phone. Due to the flexibility of the screen, the phone is also reported to be virtually unbreakable. In July of this year, the phone was certified by Underwriters Laboratories to be able to survive several rigorous drop tests and temperature tests based on military standards set by the US Department of Defense without any damage or impact on functionality. However, the most exciting news from Samsung is that these new designs will be used to build the screen for the Samsung Galaxy X, the next flagship phone for the company set to be released next year. According to Mr. Koh, “When we deliver a foldable phone, it has to be really meaningful to our customer… If the user experience is not up to my standard, I don’t want to deliver those kind of products.” In addition to Samsung, LG has also filed a patent for the design of foldable phone. However, LG’s phone, unlike the Samsung Galaxy X, folds vertically instead of horizontally. The patent focuses on the phone’s hinge mechanism, which extends the device’s outer side as the phone folds to reduce stress and pressure on the screen. Each edge of the phone also contains magnets that keep the phone closed when folded, as well as a microphone, speaker, and antenna. This suggests that users could use the phone from both orientations. The camera, on the other hand, is placed near the center of the device, next to the hinge. This camera placement corresponds to another diagram in the patent paperwork that shows a user with the phone folded over his front shirt pocket like a pocket protector and the camera centered on the front-facing side of the phone. LG likely intended the phone to be clamped onto the front pocket for hands-free video recording. Bendable electronics are expected to be the future of the smartphone industry and the consumer electronics industry. Phone companies like Samsung and LG are already creating innovative and futuristic designs, while research laboratories in institutes like the Australian National Universities invent new and improved bendable technologies. Hopefully, these new bendable electronics will be able to live up to their full potential in the near future.

References

ANU College of Engineering & Computer Science. (2018, October 04). Part-organic invention can be used in bendable mobile phones. Retrieved October 13, 2018, from https://cecs.anu.edu.au/news/part-organic-invention-can-be-used-bendable-mobile-phones

Lam, S. (2017, November 24). Global E-waste To Hit 49.8M Tons By 2018 – Here’s What Japan Is Doing To Combat It. Retrieved October 13, 2018, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/lamsharon/2017/11/23/global-e-waste-to-hit-49-8m-tons-by-2018-heres-what-japan-is-doing-to-combat-it/

Porter, J. (2018, October 12). Samsung says its foldable phone is also a tablet that fits in your pocket. Retrieved October 13, 2018, from https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2018/10/12/17967078/samsung-foldable-phone-tablet-galaxy-x

Torres, J. (2018, July 05). LG foldable phone patent has some interesting twists. Retrieved October 13, 2018, from https://www.slashgear.com/lg-foldable-phone-patent-has-some-interesting-twists-05536542/